South Carolina Irish Memorial

In 2008, the St Columbia division of the Ancient Order of Hibernian dedicated a memorial to the Irish canal workers that built the Columbia Canal. Known as the South Carolina Irish Memorial is located by the park restroom, this granite memorial pays tribute to the Irish workers that built and also died digging this canal, many that are buried at the nearby St Peter’s Catholic Church.

The monument was erected in 2008 to honor the Irish workers who built the Columbia Canal in 1820. They were brought here (as well to Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and other states) as indentured servants to build the canal and to serve as the diggers and stone carvers for the construction project.

Coming from a much cooler climate, many succumbed to the Southern heat and the diseases common to the area and were buried in the canal embankment. Those who survived and worked to free themselves of servitude went on to form a large Irish community called “Little Dublin” here in Columbia, near the present day University of South Carolina campus. They also formed the first Catholic Church in the Upstate of South Carolina (which included the present day Midlands) St. Peter’s Catholic Church at Assembly and Taylor Streets.

The canal these Irish workers built was the first public “transportation infrastructure” in South Carolina, and was used to transport good and materials from the Upstate to the ports in Charleston.