Hey, history buffs. Submit your unofficial historical locations around town.
Have you ever looked at a local spot and thought, “This place deserves to be commemorated?” Our city is full of legendary locations – many of which are indicated by historical markers. Historical markers reveal significant places, streets, neighborhoods, buildings, businesses, and cultural events from the past or present. Think: The Big Apple, USC’s Historic Horseshoe, or the South Carolina State House.
But not all significant areas get the attention they deserve.
What about the Hootie & the Blowfish Monument in Five Points that pays homage to USC’s own pop rock band formed in the 1980s when guitarist Mark Bryan met singer-songwriter Darius Rucker?
What about the iconic State Fair Rocket where moms have been meeting their kids when they’ve wandered off since 1969?
We want to put these places on the map — literally.
Rules + details
Submit your historic place for a chance to be featured nationwide on our historical marker map. Our favorite submissions will then be featured in our newsletter, where we’ll put it to a vote. Who knows? Maybe it will receive an official historical marker.
Submissions are open through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Finalists will be selected by our team and announced in our newsletter. These finalists will then go head-to-head in a vote for our readers’ favorite. The winner will be announced later in December. No promises that it will get an actual historical marker, but it will be one in our hearts.
Want to know more about official historical markers around town? Check out Historic Columbia’s offerings + local information.
Submit here.
The results
The votes are in for the Columbia historical markers contest. Check out the finalists below, including the contest winner decided by your votes.
Winner: Constan Car Wash
It was a close call, but when it came down to Constan Car Wash or Villa Tronco Italian Restaurant, the choice was clear for COLAtoday readers. 36% of our readers voted for the longtime Gervais Street car wash.
Nominated by reader Chip S., he said “Columbia’s first full-service car wash. Washed over 3.3 million vehicles. Happy the Bengal tiger lived there for 10 years until Riverbanks Zoo opened. First detail shop in South Carolina. Only Mobil 1 Lube change facility in the midlands.”
Today, only the sign remains and the lot has been cleared. Which makes us wonder, what’s the future of the sign?
Villa Tronco Italian Restaurant
Coming in a very close second with 34% of the vote was Villa Tronco, the downtown eatery that first introduced pizza to Columbia. Villa Tronco partnered with Historic Columbia for research supporting their historical marker application.
Fun fact: the building at 1213 Blanding St., constructed in 1867 on the site of the Palmetto Fire Engine Company, later housed the Iodine Grill in 1941 before becoming Villa Tronco in 1949.
Zesto’s “cone in the sky” in West Columbia
This iconic, West Columbia soft-serve landmark may deserve a historical marker. It’s been cooking up chicken, burgers, and soft-serve desserts for almost 75 years.
Rockafella’s
“Rockafella’s was a legendary music venue operated from 1984 to 1998. It hosted many acts, large and small over the years and was where Hootie and the Blowfish began their rise to fame.” — Reader Robert L.
Learn more Rock ‘n Roll history about the legendary Five Points venue where Jake’s is now located.
It doesn’t stop there — we got more submissions than these. Just check out our map of unofficial historical locations — both locally and across the nation.
