Columbians, attired in “smart evening dress”, celebrated the opening of the Jefferson Hotel on May 13, 1913.  The city was anticipating a thoroughly modern hotel from the rathskellar in the basement to the electric sign on the roof.  The $250,000 complex, at 1800 Main St., was owned, operated and built by John Cain. Cain also built the Palmetto Building and the Arcade.

Thanks to WWII Columbia produced its first paper driver's license in 1945. Brass tags, like the one pictured, were issued prior to paper. During the war metal was in short supply and the South Carolina Highway Department's request for 8,300 lbs of brass was denied by the War Production board. Although there was a shortage of paper it was considered a less critical resource. 

On June 23, 1926 the Jefferson Hotel hosted a grand Southern Bell Telephone Company affair honoring Columbia's original telephone subscribers. The 1880 subscribers were mostly deceased but family members, the governor and city officials were on hand to celebrate Columbia's telephone subscriber pioneers.  Listed in the first telephone book were eleven city residences, including the governor's mansion.  Lorick and Lowrance were among the first businesses to dial up, as well as attorney F.W. McMaster, cotton buyer P.H. Haltiwanger and ice dealer C.C. Habenicht.  The State Lunatic Asylum also had a telephone but only in the female building.  It is not clear if that is an indication of a woman's capacity to talk or if that was just a convenient location. In all 63 businesses, government entities and homes were listed in Columbia's first telephone directory.

Columbia city officals anxiously tested the first new "mechanical signal" on Monday, November 6, 1922.  The new device was located at the intersection of Gervais and Sumter. Officials announced that "the green light gives drivers the right of way and the red light calls for a stop".  Four officers and a megaphone were available at the intersection to instruct "drivers of all kinds of vehicles." 

Officer Pruitt declared that “100,000 persons jammed the sidewalks and edges of the parade route” during Columbia’s first Carillon Christmas parade.  Since the population of Columbia in 1950 was 186,844 this must have been either an over-exaggeration or a very large crowd.