You-gee, I-gee, We-all-gee for Huger.

This is an installment of our monthly #TBT Series in collaboration with Historic Columbia.

What are the stories behind Cola’s iconic streets like Huger, Bull, Gervais, Greene, etc.?

Here’s the historical dirt on Huger St. ⬇️

☝️ First thing’s first. How exactly is it pronounced?

🗣The historically accurate way is ‘You-gee.’ You may hear people call it ‘Hooger’ or ‘Hugger’ – read below for why this just ain’t right.

🤷‍ Who is Huger named after?

🗣 Isaac Huger – brigadier general + veteran of the Cherokee War and the American Revolution. Born in 1742 (some say 1743), he also served in the S.C. Senate + House of Reps and the First Provincial Congress. (Huger pronounced his name ‘You-gee,’ and came from a French Huguenot background.)

🏙 What used to be on Huger St.?

🗣 Houses, churches, and businesses like the Glencoe textile mill and this gas works plant that was contiguous with the Mount Vernon Mills facility (now S.C. State Museum), pictured here in the 1960s. ⬇️

Photo by Joseph Winter / courtesy Historic Columbia

Today, some businesses – like Cromer’s 🥜 (1700 Huger St.) + Copper Horse Distilling 🥃 (929 Huger St.) – call Huger St. home, and it’s a direct line into The Vista. For other districts, Huger St. is a major ‘artery’ that gets people from 1-26 or Elmwood Ave., Gervais St. or Blossom St. to where they need to go. Here’s what Huger St. looks like today. ⬇️

Here’s what Huger St. looked like in the 1960s. ⬇️

Photo by Joseph Winter, 1960s / courtesy Historic Columbia

This photo depicts the original configuration of streets coming into Cola (standing on Elmwood, with the cemetery to your right and the city to your left).

And here’s an old church – still standing today as New Samaritan Baptist Church – across the street from Copper Horse Distilling. ⬇️

Photo by Joseph Winter, 1960s / courtesy Historic Columbia

Hooger, Hugger, Hue-gee, You-gee – Tomato, To-mah-toe... Call it what you want, but remember that Isaac Huger may be frowning down on you.

– Sam