(The following list of Kentucky quarries is not a complete list of all of the historical quarries in the state, only the ones I have been able to locate. If you know of more historical quarries in Kentucky, please contact me. Peggy B. Perazzo)
"...Barren and Caldwell have produced considerable stone from time to time from points near Glasgow Junction and Princeton. There is little doubt that the stone of these localities is approximately at the same horizon as the Bedford and Bowling Green stones."
"Of these counties, Barren and Caldwell have produced considerable stone from time to time from points near Glasgow Junction and Princeton. There is little doubt that the stone of these localities is approximately at the same horizon as the Bedford and Bowling Green stones."
(dated 1/25/13)
(Name & Address) Yellow Rock, A Division of Hinkle, 2850 New Yellow Rock Road, Beattyville, KY 41311
(Location) Beattyville, Kentucky – 6 ½ miles north west on KY 52. Turn left on Yellowrock Road and go 7 miles.
(Phone) 606) 464-2206; (County) Lee
<http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Programs/BlackAcre/welcome.html>
<http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Programs/BlackAcre/html/settling.htm>
<http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Programs/BlackAcre/html/p9.htm>"There are two quarries from which the Tylers and later farmers at Blackacre got limestone to shape into blocks for use in building. One of these quarries is a small operation not far from the intermittent waterfall east of the farmstead. Another quarry is now the site of the Tucker Lake Aquatic Club on the east side of Tucker Station Road. It was a major limestone quarry well into this century. It is said that the quarry was dug in a stair-step fashion until it hit a depth of 90 feet."
Click here to read the history of Blackacre on the Blackacre Foundation web site.
When the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad began operation in Rowan County, the stone, coal, and timber resources in the county began to be exploited. "Rockville and Bluestone developed as rock quarry centers."
"The Allen Company operates two limestone quarries in Central Kentucky. The first, Boonesborough Quarry, opened in 1939, and provides a varied of limestone rock to customers in Clark and Madison County. The second,...Lexington Quarry, opened in 1966 and provides limestone rock to customers in Jessamine, Fayette, and Woodford County. In addition to providing limestone the quarries are also essential to the four asphalt plants that are operated by the Allen Company in Boonesborough, Lexington, Berea, and Danville Kentucky."
Arlando Marine
7 East 42d Street, New York
Wholesale Building Stone Dealer
Indiana "Briar Hill" Stone
Bowling Green, Ky., Limestone
Buff Mountain Stone
"Quarries now (1909) in operation on the 'Bowling Green oolite' are as follows: The Bowling Green White Stone Quarry Company and the Oman Bowling Green Stone Company, on adjacent property 5 miles west of town; the Bowling Green Quarries Company, 5 miles northwest; and the Caden Quarry Company, 9 miles northwest of town. The total output of these quarries in the year 1908 was as follows: Rough dimension stone, 111, 620 cubic feet, valued at $33,486; and dressed stone, 67,308 cubic feet, valued at $42,654. In connection with the work of the Bowling Green White Stone Quarry Company a considerable amount of the ordinary limestone capping the oolite is crushed for concrete, road metal, and railroad ballast by the Newsom Crushed Stone Company. Practically the entire output of dimension stone is shipped over the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which is the only rail route; a small quantity is sent to market on barges by Barren and Green rivers.
"The stone is quarried by means of steam drills and channelers, handled by steam derricks, and cut by rapid steam Pitman saws to blocks averaging about 150 cubic feet in volume. The blocks are shipped in this form to retail stone cutters or dressed to various ornamental designs on the ground. Among prominent buildings constructed of this stone are the following: Custom-house, Nashville, Tenn.; Carnegie Library, Nashville, Tenn.; post-office, Columbia, Tenn.; custom-house, Mobile, Ala.; residences of Alfred Burke, Philadelphia, Pa., and A. M. Lothrop, Washington, D. C."
Bowling Green, Kentucky - the White Stone Quarry, Warren County. The White Stone Quarry in Warren County is one of the subjects covered in the Ophelia Ellen Johnson Hanna Collection. This interview is a part of the Ophelia Ellen Johnson Hanna Collection, July 4, 1987, Oct. 15, 1990), housed at the Western Kentucky University's Department of Library Special Collections; an interview with Hanna by Louis M. Beck, October 15, 1990. (Source: FA 76) (This entry was found on the Kentuckiana Digital Library web site.)
Limestone: "Quarried primarily from the 1870s through the 1920s, the county's oolitic or fish roe limestone is renowned for its superior qualities. Soft and easily workable, Warren County limestone develops an extraordinary hardness and turns white when exposed to the elements. Trademarked by the White Stone Quarry as 'Bowlinggreen Stone,' oolitic limestone won awards at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition."
Quarry Stone. One of the major businesses in Warren County from the 1870s to the 1930s was quarrying limestone. Oolitic limestone quarried in Warren County is famous worldwide. Over time a building constructed of this limestone naturally bleaches to white. According to this web site, the following buildings in Bowling Green were constructed of Kentucky limestone: the "Warren County Courthouse, Van Meter Hall and the Helm Library on Western Kentucky University's campus."
The trade name for the oolitic or "fish roe" limestone is "Bowlinggreen Stone." At the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, this stone won awards.
".Barren and Caldwell have produced considerable stone from time to time from points near Glasgow Junction and Princeton. There is little doubt that the stone of these localities is approximately at the same horizon as the Bedford and Bowling Green stones."
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Front cover of the Michaels Bronze Tablets Catalog (circa 1932) |
No. 454 Bronze plaque |
The Standard Tablet Letter Patterns Chart |
Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky - the Crow-Barbee House, today known as the Old Crow Inn Bed and Breakfast. This house was called "Old Crow Inn," named for John Crow, who settled here in 1776. The Crow-Barbee House is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places as the "oldest Stone structure west of the Allegheny Mountains." The estate was also called "Oakland" from 1781 to 1874. The stone used in the construction of the house was quarried on the farm in 1780. The stone walls are twenty-four inches thick.
A couple of sights you will view on the trail are a small quarry and an 1800s mill ruins.
"A Tip of The Hat to Jack Cassity
"I'm very sorry to say that I never knew my Granddad, Jack Cassity, personally as he died in 1920 and I wasn't born until twelve years later in 1932. I have four pictures of him. The earliest of these pictures is one taken at the 'Doc.Van' Stone Quarry in Farmers, KY in the early days of this century. The picture is a group of employees that worked at the mill. Standing on top of one of the large blocks of stone is Grandpa Jack. He was over six feet in height and stood straight as an arrow.
"Three of these stone quarries operated in the Triplett Creek valley. One was at the town of Rockville (later Bluestone), one at Freestone and the one mentioned above at Farmers. These quarries were the economic backbone of this area. The stone was sawed into various sizes and used to build bridge abutments for the many rivers and streams that had to be crossed as the C & O laid track toward Ashland and on into West Virginia. Shortly before World War One the demand for stone began to slow down and that is when many of the workers went to Harvey, Illinois to seek employment. But, that is another story for later."
The town of Garrison was previously known as Stone City "because of all the stone quarries that were operated in the general vicinity." Freestone was quarried behind Garrison and Quincy and shipped outside of the area.
Vulcan Materials, Reed Quarry (photographs) Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists (KSPG) Fall Fieldtrip, November 2-4, 2000, University of Kentucky. There are many photographs of the quarry including a panoramic view of the Vulcan Materials Reed Quarry. This web site includes the PDF version of the field trip: Economic and Engineering Geology of the Jackson Purchase Area Kentucky, Year 2000 Annual Field Conference of the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists, November 2-4, 2000, compiled by Richard A. Smath and Bart Davidson. (The web site also includes photographs of a clay pit ("quarry") and a sand and gravel operation.)
Glasgow Junction (near), Kansas - Oolitic Limestone Quarries. ".Barren and Caldwell have produced considerable stone from time to time from points near Glasgow Junction and Princeton. There is little doubt that the stone of these localities is approximately at the same horizon as the Bedford and Bowling Green stones." (From the chapter entitled, "Oolitic Limestone at Bowling Green and Other Places in Kentucky," by James H. Gardner, excerpt from Structural Materials, Advance Chapter from Contributions to Economic Geology, Bulletin 430-F, 1909, (Short Papers and Preliminary Reports) Part 1. Metals and Nonmetals, Except Fuels, United States Geological Survey, 1910.) (Use the link above to view an analysis of the oolitic limestone quarried near Glasgow Junction.)
Hadley, Warren County, Kentucky – Caden Stone Company, Green River Stone Quarries (Advertisement from The Monumental News, April 1906, pp. 307)
Caden Stone Company quarries located in Hadley, Warren County, Kentucky. The Caden Stone Company office and yard were located in Evansville, Indiana.
(photo caption) “Erected from Green River Stone in Calvary Cemetery, Chicago” (Illinois)
For Vaults, Monuments and General Cemetery Work Use Green River Stone. The best stone on the market for Monumental and Building purposes, as it bleaches white upon exposure and then retains its whiteness; does not become dark and discolored.
Caden Stone Company, Quarries: Hadley, Warren Co., Kentucky
Office and Yard: 411 to 425 E. Ohio St., Evansville, Indiana
The above link is to a web site on Abraham Lincoln. It mentions that the Pioneer Memorial State Park included a quarry site. The type of quarry or stone quarried is not stated. Click here to visit the Old Fort Harrod State Park official web site.
A 1940 Walking Tour Of High Bridge is an account by Clyde E. Major of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in 2000, about the town of Highbridge, the people, and the area.
High Bridge was constructed across the deep gorge of the Kentucky River between Jessamine and Mercer Counties in Kentucky and opened 1877. The bridge is located five miles south of Wilmore on State Highway 29.
Mr. Major writes that the large stone quarry once employed about 25 men and that there were three houses on the property, which were used by employees of the quarry. The quarry was located across from the High Bridge Depot. Stone was transported out of the town of Highbridge first by truck and then shipped out by the railroad. The stone from the Highbridge quarry was used to build the base of many of the roads in Jessamine and surrounding counties.
The H. M. Dalton Rock Co.
The H. M. Dalton Rock Co., of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, has been incorporated at Indianapolis, with a capital stock of $45,000. The officers are: President, C. P. White, of Boonville, Indiana; vice-president and general manager, H. M. Dalton, of Hopkinsville; secretary, John P. Weyerbacher, of Boonville. The company owns 150 acres of quarry land.
Mailing address: P.O. Box 4108, Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42241; (270) 885-6798.
Location: 380 Harry Barry Lane, Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42240.
Horse Cave (south of), Hart County, Kentucky - the Hart Stone Company (limestone quarry) (present-day company) Mailing address: 1588 East Main Street, Horse Cave, KY 42749; (270) 786-2127. Location: Horse Cave, Kentucky – 1 mile south on KY 218. Quarry on left. The Hart Stone Company was established in 1940, and it was one of the first 30 quarries developed in Kentucky. The company produces crushed stone and agricultural lime.
(No. 2456 - Item 2456, Box 13) and (No. 2458 - Item 2458, Box 13)
Before the Devou family presented the Devou Park property to the city, there was a stone quarry that was worked by the prisoners from the Covington Jail beginning in 1916. There was a rock crusher and several buildings. The stone from the quarry was crushed stone used to repair city streets and in building in the area. By 1924 the quarry was transformed into a large lake called "Prisoners' Lake" that has been used for boating and fishing.
Commercial use of material within this site is strictly prohibited. It is not to be captured, reworked, and placed inside another web site ©. All rights reserved. Peggy B. and George (Pat) Perazzo.