(KAIR)--A downtown Atchison monument, recognizing the man who is cited, despite his loss of legs, as laying thousands of bricks in a matter of hours during the creation of Atchison’s historic brick streets, will have to be repaired.

The statue of William “Deafy” Boular was damaged early Sunday morning when a vehicle struck both the statue and a nearby store.

According to a release from Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson, 20-year-old John Hewitt was behind the wheel of the vehicle, eastbound in the 500 block of Commercial Street around 1:00 Sunday morning, when the vehicle left the roadway and struck the Boular statue and the Sacred Heart Thrift Store building, in the 400 block of Commercial Street.

Hewitt escaped injury in the crash, but was arrested for driving under the influence and transporting an open container.

Following his arrest, Hewitt was booked into the Atchison County Jail.

The life-size statue of Boular, titled “Lessons from the Master,” was dedicated in 2013, three years after Boular was named one of the most fascinating people in Kansas history in a 2010 statewide contest.

Boular, born in 1869, lost his legs at the age of 12, when he was run over by a train he could not hear because he was deaf.

Boular, after the loss of his legs, was ultimately fitted with a special pair of boots, which fit the stumps of his legs, making him what the website RoadSideAmerica.com calls “the perfect height for the job of paving the sidewalks and streets of Atchison with bricks.”

Boular’s bricklaying became known worldwide when Ripley’s Believe It or Not, showcased Boular, claiming that he once laid 46,000 bricks over the course of one, eight-hour workday.

Boular died in 1953.