American Doughboy

The “Pacific Community” was a Columbia area near Pacific Mills, a textile mill. The cost of the Doughboy and the base was raised in a campaign with committee members in each mill department. All committee members were listed in the May-June 1930 edition of “The Spinner” a Pacific Mills house organ. The acquisition was a joint idea of four men, shown below. From the left, they are Fred B. Spigner and son Jack, W. R. (Bill) Connelly and daughter Julia Ann, John H. Nickhols and Nancy Hammond, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. R. R. Hammond and grandaughter of W. P. Hamrick, and John J. Lever and daughter, Nell. The dedication ceremony was attended by the governor of South Carolina, mayor of Columbia, and state American Legion commander.

On October 21, 2014, the Columbia City Council honored resident Larry Gates in part for his help in the 2002 restoration of the statue by approving a resolution for the honorary naming of the 100 block of Wayne Street, between Whaley Street and Heyward Street, as Larry Gates Way

-The E.M. Vequesney Doughboy Database