Horse-Drawn Carriages in Columbia

[ResearchMan]

Part of the Main Street growth issue is the original street layout from the 1800s. Next time you are in the area compare widths of Sumter & Assembly with Main. The street is just so narrow. No one was on the streets last night but there were very few parking spaces available up to Laurel.

[Spartan]

Its interesting that Assembly st one block over is one of the widest streets in town.

Originally, Assembly and Senate streets were planned to be 150 ft accross with all the others being 100 ft. For some reason I always thought it interesting that Gervais ended up being a main thoroughfare and Senate ended up geting blocked off and split up to the point it is now.

[ResearchMan]

Perhaps there is a historical market explaining why it happened. Yesterday morning I walked by the College & South Main intersection and a marker there explains the history of the street name. I just happened to notice..acroos College from Hunter Gatherer.

[Spartan]

I just assumed that it was because Gervais led to the bridge, and Senate did not. I found an old encyclopedia (from the 50's) and it had a cool picutre that showed the State House with Senate still passing through what is now part of the state house grounds. If I had a scanner I would post it.

[ResearchMan]

There's a nice one online somwhere. But while researching buildings in downtown I found it was inaccurate and an artistic interpretation of historical downtown Coumbia. I think Jim Gambrell's shop has a map like this in the lobby. They sell them somewhere because I've seen them mounted.

If you find a good one let me know. I was thinking about the Senate Street.. Could it not have been widened to the river because of the railroad tracks? And maybe the statehouse quad layout was by design?

[Spartan]

The original wooden state house was on one block bounded by Assembly, Senate, Pendleton and Richardson (now Main). Then when they decided to build the current one they took up the bock to the east, so that it would be centered, and so that the building and its grounds could be larger.

The state has always had an office building accross Senate St. Today I think it houses the Governor's offices. Its the one at Sumter and Senate that has a very different architectural scheme than the other buildings.

I think it was in the late 80's that they decided to block off Senate to the 4 block area that it is today. I don't think that it was originally by design, but the state officials incorporated it into the plans later on.

[ResearchMan]

I know the current State house was built in 1855. If you walk around the side facing the river there are brionze stars showing where Sherman shelled and hit the building. It's impressive in that the shots were fired from across the Congaree.

The Calhoun building faces Sumter. The Governor's Office, parts of the Budget & Control Board, and the Court of Appeals are in there.

[emerging.me]

It's impressive in that the shots were fired from across the Congaree.

On a totally trivial note... My mom was born in a house that sits on the lot on Moffatt Ave. in W. Cola. where the cannon were positioned. There is a historical marker on 378 near there, but there is actually a stone marker in the ground on Moffatt supposedly showing the exact spot. Wild.

[ResearchMan]

There is a marker across from the Gonzalez Monument titled 'Senate Street' . It describes the General Assembly's decision to locate in Columbia between 1787-1790. There was no marker on the street side of the Dennis or Blatt Buildings describing the original State house. The Gonzalez monument is another tribute to South Carolina's citizens insistance on honor (and fiery tempers).

The next time Lexington County gets in a tiff with Richland or Columbia you should mention that in a letter to the editor. I think there are many Lexington County people who want to shell this side of the river. Ever since we stole the mall they don't trust us. Maybe Lexington can steal the farmer's market to make up for the tax loss?

[Spartan]

There is a marker across from the Gonzalez Monument titled 'Senate Street' . It describes the General Assembly's decision to locate in Columbia between 1787-1790.  There was no marker on the street side of the Dennis or Blatt Buildings describing the original State house.  The Gonzalez monument is another tribute to South Carolina's citizens insistance on honor (and fiery tempers).

The next time Lexington County gets in a tiff with Richland or Columbia you should mention that in a letter to the editor. I think there are many Lexington County people who want to shell this side of the river. Ever since we stole the mall they don't trust us. Maybe Lexington can steal the farmer's market to make up for the tax loss?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Gonzales monument is also to honor the editor of The State. He was shot by Governor Tillman because he wrote some nasty, but probably true -IMO-, things about him. Tillman had a bad temper, so he shot Gonzales on the corner of Gervais and Main one night. This monument is the only one in the USA that is dedicated to a civilian. This is the same Tillman that first gave some land for Clemson (as in Tillman Hall). So obviously this guy was a moron

The marker to the original state house is on the west side of the state house in what is approximately the center of that original block that it stood on. You can't see it from the street at all.

[ResearchMan]

Pitchfork Ben Tillman was the state's foremost segregationist at the turn of the century. The State paper was really formed to criticize him and his policies. He often spoke about the horrors of rape by former slaves against white women. The reality was the former slaves had far more to fear from Tillman and his friends.

I read a book once about the most violent prisoner in the New York state prison system. This guy would continually fling feces, set the cell on fire, and try to kill or stab every guard he could reach. The book was written by a journalist who traced the violence in the prisoner's family back several generations. Basically he documented the scotch-irish who settled the Savannah River area and the violence of the area. At the beginning of the century the murder rate in Saluda County was TEN times that of New York City. Whites could murder blacks with impunity (Tillman defended the practice on the senate floor). Everyone wanted every one else to 'honor' them. Disrespect was grounds for a duel or outright murder. Anyway the hotbed of crime and honor was in the Edgefield , Aiken, Saluda area. Tillman (like Strom) was from this area. Both were known for their segregationist ideas and both assaulted fellow Senators over votes they didn't like. Strom's dad was visited at home in Edgefield by Tillman in the 20s. Tillman taught Strom how to shake a voters hands..'like a man'.

Tillman's nephew shot Gonzalez. I think a State article had mentioned something about the Governor's drinking. The murder was considered a duel of honor by locals. The nephew shot him in the back while Gonzalez was running away. The nephew was acquitted by a jury. So much for a free press.

I have great respect for the public servant Strom was at the end of his life. But his early career came straight out of Tillman's playbook. I think my ancestors would have agreed whole-heartedly with whatever both said. Sixty years later I can say it was mostly wrong. But I have the benefit of living in different times with a different social environment.