Barre's granite timeline, going all the way back
Toolbox
By Paul Wood - Published: April 21, 2008
330 million years ago: Barre granite was formed.
Late 1700s/early 1800s: Stone masons (often part-time farmers) split granite boulders into foundation stones, steps, sills, lentils, hearthstones and posts.
Around 1810s: Robert Parker became the first professional stonecutter to systematically quarry and manufacture granite in Barre. The first commercial quarry in Barre was opened on Cobble Hill, operated by Robert Parker and Thomas Courser and owned by Pliny Wheaton.
1824: The State Gazetteer by Thompson declared granite "the principle rock" of the state.
Mid 1820s: First quarry opened on Millstone Hill, owned by Abijah Abbott and later sold to Ira Harrington. Millstones were shipped to New England, New York, and Canada. This later became the Wells-Lamson quarry.
1833-37: The pillars, foundation, window caps, sills and cornices for the second Vermont State House were extracted from the Wheaton Quarry and the ashlars to construct the walls came from the Abbott Quarry.
1834: An advertisement for granite by John Parker and Eliphalet Hewett appeared in the Vermont Patriot and read, in part: "They continue to cut Granite Stone on that extensive quarry of superior Granite situated about two miles south east from Barre Lower Village"
1840: Pliny Wheaton built a house at Cobble Hill using granite from the Ira Harrington Quarry.
1854: The Congregational churchyard burial ground (est. 1808) was expanded and named Elmwood Cemetery. Elmwood Cemetery includes slate, marble and granite monuments in a broad range of styles.
1857: The Ethan Allen Monument was erected in the Green Mount Cemetery in Burlington. It consists of an 8'4" high statue on a 41 foot high by 4 1/3 foot diameter Tuscan column made of granite from the Ira Harrington Quarry at a cost of $2,000.
1859: After a fire, Barre granite was used to rebuild and improve the second Vermont State House.
1862: The Wetmore-Morse Quarry was opened on Millstone Hill by Henry Wetmore and Azro Morse.
1867-68: The first shed in Barre specifically for stonecut-ting was built by John S. Collins at the bottom of Hill St. At the time of his death in 1908, there were 5,000 stone workers employed in over 136 Barre firms.
1870s: Water-powered granite sawing, grinding and polishing machines were introduced into Barre's granite sheds. Smith, Whitcomb & Cook constructed the first Barre boom derrick. The first stone cutting and polishing lathes were installed.
1875: The first railroad connection to the Barre stone sheds came via a Central Vermont Railroad branch from Montpelier. Barre raised $55,000 to finance the branch.
1877: Barre's granite workers joined the Granite Cutters' International Association.
1880: George Mackie and J.C. Simpson were the first Scottish immigrants to own a granite shed in Barre. Most Scotch immigrants were from the granite region of Aberdeen and, by 1890, made up 20 percent of Barre's population.
1880s: Steam-powered boom derrick hoists were introduced. The first galvanic battery-powered system for quarry blasting and the first steam-driven quarry drill were used at the E. L. Smith Quarry. The first overhead traveling yard crane, based on Scottish designs and manufactured by the Lane Manufacturing Co. was installed at the McDonald & Buchan shed. Mackie & Sons installed the first non-pneumatic (McDonald) surfacing machine.
1882: Jones Brothers Co. was established in a small office on Kilby St. in Boston and the Pirie Granite Co. was founded.
1885: The New England Granite Tool Works, the first stone working tool manufactory in Barre, was established by James Ahern.
1886: Jones Brothers Co. moved from Boston to Barre, purchasing the Mackie & Simpson plant on Granite St.
1886: The Barre Branch of Granite Cutters' International Association was organized and eventually became the largest branch of the GCIA.
1888-89: The Barre & Chelsea "Skyline" Railroad was built from the stone sheds in Barre Village to the quarries. Barre voted a $40,000 bond to finance the railroad.
1889: The Barre Granite Manufacturers Association was born, later renamed The Barre Granite Association.
1890s: The immigration wave of Italian stone workers was well under way. Most came from the granite area surrounding Viggiu or the marble area surrounding Carrara.
1890s: Detachable tool bits for quarry drills were introduced. Lane Mfg. Co. manufactured a 20-ton "flying rope" overhead bridge crane. Willis A. Lane of Barre invented a polishing machine ("The Granite City") with an arm that swung in an entire circle, allowing double-bed polishing. Wet quarry drilling was introduced which cleaned the drilled hole and to kept down dust.
1891: Trow & Holden was established by John Trow and Clark Holden.
1892: Hand-held pneumatic tools were introduced at Marr & Gordon and soon after at Barclay Brothers and Jones Brothers (cost: $200 each). The pneumatic plug drill was introduced at the E.L. Smith quarry. This coincided with the first availability of reliable electric power in Barre to drive the air compressors.
1892: A five-month strike was the longest in the history of the granite industry.
1893: Pneumatic surfacing machines were introduced into the C. H. More and Wetmore & Morse stone sheds (cost: $3,500 each). These machines filled the air with granite dust and led to many premature deaths from silicosis-induced tuberculosis.
1894: Grearson & Lane Co., Barre's premier granite turning works, was established.
1895: Hope Cemetery, a showcase of Barre granite artistry, was founded.
1896: Seventy Barre granite quarries were in operation.
1899: The Robert Burns Monument, Barre's most famous, was erected. Samuel Novelli carved the statue of Burns and Elia Corti carved the pedestal panels.
1899-1900: The Old Labor Hall (Socialist Block) was erected, primarily by Italian stonecutters in their spare time.
1900: Over 90 percent of the skilled granite cutters in Barre were unionized. Granite workers now had a reduced eight-hour workday.
1901: Novelli & Corti Co., the earliest Barre firm noted for fine sculpture, was established by Samuel Novelli and Elia Corti,
1902: The Barre Italian Evening Drawing School was founded by Carlo Abate.
1903: Elia Corti, one of Barre's outstanding sculptors, was killed in a Socialist riot. After Corti's death, Joseph Calcagni, a key Barre figure in fine sculpture, joined with Samuel Novelli to form Novelli & Calcagni Co.
1905: About 2,000 granite workers were employed in Barre; about 1,400 of these were stonecutters. The average pay was $2.50 per day with highly-skilled Italian sculptors earning as much as $5.00 per day.
1906: Trow & Holden began the manufacture of hand-held pneumatic tools.
1910: An estimated 3,000 granite workers were employed in Barre.
1911: Barre union member families took in the children of striking workers at the Lawrence, Mass., textile mills.
1915: Initial testing of sand blasting was carried out. It took many years to perfect the sandblast process.
1915-25: The granite industry first felt the lack of skilled workers, partially due to deaths from silicosis-induced tuberculosis. Stone shed dust removal devices were first introduced in 1915 at Canton Granite Co by Fred Healy.
1917: Granite City Tool Co, successor to New England Granite Tool Works, was established by William G. Cumming.
1917-18: Barre's largest granite firms included: Boutwell, Milne & Varnum; Jones Brothers; Wells-Lamson Quarry; E.L. Smith; Barclay Brothers; and Marr & Gordon.
1920: The average life expectancy of Barre granite workers was 16 years less than the national average.
1921: Washington County Sanatorium was opened to treat patients with silicosis.
1922: During the strike of 1922, manufacturers "imported" large numbers of French Canadian strikebreakers, most from the granite area east of Montreal.
1925: Boutwell, Milne, and Varnum Co. changed its name to Rock of Ages Corp.
1927: The November 3-4 flood took seven lives and caused $1,250,000 in property damage in Barre. The primary damage was to railroad bridges and the water supply, causing the granite industry to shut down for four months. Before the granite industry could fully recover it was hit by the Great Depression.
1929: "The Health of Workers in Dusty Trades, II. Exposure to Siliceous Dust (Granite Industry)" by Albert E. Russell, et. al. was published by the U.S. Public Health Service. This was a landmark study of silicosis and silicosis-induced tuberculosis in Vermont's granite industry.
1930: Ten Barre granite firms were consolidated into the Rock of Age Corporation, representing about one-third of all the granite manufactured in Barre.
1933: Wage reductions triggered a strike. The National Guard was called out to restore calm. Strikebreakers were escorted to and from work by National Guardsmen with fixed bayonets!
1936: The union and shed owners agreed to universal installation of dust control equipment. Shed owners faced closure for non-compliance; however, full compliance did not occur for another two years.
Late 1930s: Interviews of Barre granite workers were sponsored by the Works Progress Administration and conducted primarily by Roaldus Richmond and Mari Tomasi.
1945: Wire saws using silicon-carbide abrasive were first used in the stone sheds and gradually displaced gang saws.
1940s-50s: Rock of Ages purchased the E.L. Smith, Wetmore-Morse, and Pirie Quarries, giving Rock of Ages control over most of Barre's quarry production.
1950: Carbide-tip tools were introduced, greatly decreasing the frequency of needed sharpening and eliminating the jobs of most blacksmiths in the granite industry.
1950s: Flatbed trucks displaced the railroad as the primary means of granite transport.
1952: A bitter six-month strike allowed granite companies from Georgia, North Carolina, Minnesota and other states to capture part of Barre's markets.
1954: Wire saw manufacturing was started in Barre by Dessureau Machine Co.
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1957: Flame jet channeling was introduced into the quarries.
Late 1950s/early 1960s: Rouleau Granite Co. and others installed modern high-efficiency machinery for mass production of standardized monuments.
1970s – Semi-automatic granite-working machines and conveyor systems were introduced into many manufacturing plants. Large circular diamond segment saws were introduced, replacing wire saws.
1980s – European manufacturers (Italy, France, Germany, Finland) took the lead in the manufacture of sophisticated computer-controlled granite-working machinery.
1980s – The diamond engraving tool for surface illustration (etching) was introduced.
1985 – The Italian-American Monument was dedicated. It was designed by Elmo Peduzzi, sculpted by Giuliano Cecchinelli, and carved by Philip Paini.
1985 – Some granite manufacturers (Swenson Granite Co., Hillside Granite Co. and Granite Importers) began emphasizing architectural granite.
1990s – Low-cost imported granite, principally from China and India, entered the American market in ever increasing amounts.
1995 – Barre granite sales reached $100 million but employment dropped to 1,000, partly due to efficiencies made possible by new granite-working technology.
1995 – The Vermont Granite Museum was established as way to celebrate Barre's granite history and to help attract tourists to the Central Vermont region.
1997 – The Vermont Granite Museum purchased the Jones Brothers Co. site and shed.
1998 – The Vermont Granite Museum held its first Granite Festival.
2000 – The Vermont Granite Museum received $1,000,000 from the City of Barre.
2000 – The Vermont Granite Museum purchased the Pinsley Railroad Depot.
2001 – The Vermont Granite Museum received a $948,000 grant from Save America's Treasures.
2000-2002 – The Jones Brothers Co. shed was raised onto a new foundation and restored.
2002 – Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy dedicated the restored Jones Brothers shed.
2003 – The Vermont Granite Museum's Stone Arts School opened in the Jones Brothers shed.
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