A Kansas community will honor a deaf, double amputee who became a famous bricklayer before his death more than six decades ago.

On Thursday, the northeast Kansas town of Atchison will unveil a statute honoring William Boular. He once was featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and was credited with installing 48,000 paving bricks in one day.

Boular lost his hearing and ability to speak from spinal meningitis at age 4. When he was 10, he was hit by a train, severing both his legs. The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/1b4OWJp ) he got around on boots that allowed him to walk on his knees.

Boular was a bricklayer, foundry worker and beekeeper. Many of the bricks he laid on Atchison’s streets are still intact.

—

Associated Press information from: The Wichita Eagle