Guess what new restaurant is being built at Jaco’s Corner

All things old become new again.

When it comes to Jaco’s Corner – the landmark former gas station turned bar at the corner of Rosewood Drive and Bluff Road in Columbia – that chestnut rings true.

Billed as South Carolina’s oldest continually operating bar, serving beer and food since 1912, Jaco’s Corner this spring will reopen as J’s Corner. The locally owned, 5,000-square-foot restaurant and sports bar will echo the architecture of the well-known former gas station, now being renovated along with its ancient gas pump.

“We want the building to feel like it’s a part of the community,” said architect Andrew Rogerson, of Garvin Design Group, the new building’s architects.

Jaco’s Corner was opened in 1912 by Harris and Alberta Jaco, the grandparents of Janet and Jake Jaco, the last family owners.

Janet and Jake put the bar up for sale 10 years ago, and it finally sold in May. It was purchased by a local operator for $750,000 and other considerations, according to a broker at the time.

Jake Jaco said Wednesday that the sale was “bittersweet.”

“The new restaurant is something that is going to be nice,” said Jaco, who along with his wife, Sherry, is building an Olympia Museum nearby in the mill village’s first schoolhouse. “And I like that they preserved the old bar building and the gas pump. It will go well with the museum.”

Sherry Jaco added: “I’m glad they are doing something that fits in the community. We would certainly like to see that rather than another apartment complex.”

Olympia in recent years has experienced an influx of apartments marketed to a growing University of South Carolina student body. Jaco’s closing was seen as another loss of identity for the once-tight-knit mill village.

But Scott Garvin, principal of Garvin Group, said the owners and architects of J’s Corner wanted to honor that history. They are constructing the new building in a style reminiscent of the old one, using similar materials and incorporating vintage photographs of Jaco’s and the mill village in the restaurant.

“We tried to create a marriage between the two with the materials and colors,” Garvin said.

Another remembrance is coming from the S.C. General Assembly. The S.C. House voted unanimously to rename the intersection of Rosewood and Bluff “Jaco’s Corner,” courtesy of state Rep. James Smith, a Richland Democrat.

“It’s such an iconic location for our city and that community,” said Smith, who is running for governor. “It’s exciting to see what’s happening there and important to remember its legacy.”

The vote was unanimous. Fondness for Jaco’s knows no party lines.

“They are paying respect to the memories of Olympia and the memories of what we have learned from the Jaco family over the years,” said former longtime Lexington County lawmaker Jake Knotts, a Republican who grew up on Virginia Avenue in Olympia and frequented Jaco’s. “Stand up, be a man and believe in your community.

“I hate to see history gone, and that’s a history place,” Knotts said. “A lot of great people have been raised on that corner. I know progress happens. But I’m glad they are keeping (the old building) up front like it’s always been.”

Other than its longevity, Jaco’s was known for the colorful group of patrons, from local regulars to the late night crowds of USC students.

Across the street from the State Fairgrounds and a block away from Williams-Brice Stadium, the bar was a game-day staple for Gamecock fans and a hangout for carnival workers during the annual S.C. State Fair.

And for decades, it was the home of Olympia cork ball tournaments. Cork ball is a baseball game played with broomsticks and balls of cork.

“I always went to the cork ball games,” Knotts said. “But I could never play it.”

The new restaurant is intended to be a go-to location on game days, and will harken to that cork ball history, Garvin said.

“They are going to have corn hole and other tailgate games outside,” he said.

Also, the smaller building will serve as a hotdog stand on game days, also harkening to times past.

“They are creating an island of memory inside all of the new development,” Sherry Jaco said. “The building doesn’t belong to us anymore, but the memories do. And we are hanging on to those memories.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Guess what new restaurant is being built at Jaco’s Corner."