Structures and Monuments in Which Missouri Stone was Used

• Finished Products from Missouri Stone in Missouri
  • Missouri - Missouri Courthouses: Building Memories on the Square, a Windows Media Player Presentation, by Dennis Weiser, January 18, 2007, presented via Windows Media Player. This is a Missouri State Archives presentation. (There is also a link to the transcript of the presentation.)
  • Missouri - the Iron Markers Dividing Missouri from Iowa, (photograph and history) presented by the Worth County RIII School District. (The following quotation is used with permission.)

    Iron Markers Dividing Missouri from Iowa

    “On October 2, 1989 a bronze plaque on a stone of Missouri red granite was dedicated by the Virginia Daughters Chapter of the D.A.R. at the location of the original Northwest corner of Missouri, located four miles northeast of Sheridan. The plaque was placed beside the old cast iron post boundary marker, remnant of the Honey War, placed there in 1950 marking the boundary as determined by the Sullivan Survey in 1816. The iron post was placed due north of Kansas City, but because of the Platte Purchase in 1836, the boundary was later extended west to the Missouri River.”

  • Missouri - the Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Bridge Abutments & Culverts (from “Notes on The Building Stones, Clays and Sands of Iron, St. Francois and Madison Counties,” by G. E. Ladd, Assistant Geologist, in Bulletin 1, Geological Survey of Missouri, Jefferson City, April 1890.)

    Magnesian limestone quarried from the Holman Bros. quarry located in township 33 north, range 3, east, section 27, near Hogan, Iron County, Missouri, was used in the construction of the Iron Mountain & Southern railway, bridge abutments and culverts. “Its color is bluish, streaked here and there with drab or yellow.”

  • Missouri (?) - the Media & Williamsfield Bridges (The following quotation is from “Selections From Meade’s Manual,” Missouri Division - J. M. Meade's History of the Santa Fe), presented on the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society)

    “Just East of Dumas there is an old roadbed graded on the North side of the track leading to stone quarry put in by L. W. Lewis for a stone crusher in 1888. Pulled up in 1890. Relaid in 1892. The stone for the Media & Williamsfield Bridges came from this quarry. L. W. Lewis installed a crusher plant there again in 1894-’95. The tracks were taken up in 1896. It is about a mile from the Main Line to the quarry.”

  • Missouri - the Missouri Pacific Railroad Bridge Abutments (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “...The first stone quarried at this place...was used for bridge abutments on the Missouri Pacific railroad....”

    “(The Carthage Consolidated Quarry Co. limestone) quarry, which is located in the N. E. ¼ of the S. E. ¼ of sec. 11, T. 28 N., R. 32 W., was opened in 1895 by W. B. Myers who later sold it to the Carthage Consolidated Quarry Co. It has not been worked since 1900.”

  • Missouri - “The New Deal, the CCC, and Missouri State Parks,” by James Denny, in Ozark Watch, Vol. VII, No. 3, Spring 1994.

    According to this article states that the CCC workers were involved in many types of work “ranging from quarrying to road, bridge and dam construction” on Missouri park lands beginning in June 1933.

    Included in the article is a photograph with the caption: “Limestone quarry work, CCC construction for Missouri State Parks.”

  • Missouri - Paving Blocks, Sidewalk Flags, & Rip Rap (from “Notes on The Building Stones, Clays and Sands of Iron, St. Francois and Madison Counties,” by G. E. Ladd, Assistant Geologist, in Bulletin 1, Geological Survey of Missouri, Jefferson City, April 1890.)

    “Since 1882 is about 250,000 cubic feet of dimension stone, about 5,000,000 paving blocks, and a large amount of ‘rip-rap,’ which has been used for ballast by the Iron Mountain Southern railway, and also extensively in the manufacture of granitoid pavement and sidewalk flags. This granite was quarried from one of the quarries at Graniteville, Iron County, Missouri, operated by the Syenite Granite Company. “The color of this stone is red or dark pink, mottled with gray and black, the red shades being due to feldspar, the others to a more or less smoky quartz....”

  • Amazonia & Vicinity, Missouri - Bridge Abutments (Limestone) (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “S. H. Atwood & Co., of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, have leased land on the farm of Jacob Schreier and have opened a quarry for crushing purposes, one mile north of Amazonia, just east of the Savannah branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad system. This quarry was opened in the spring of 1902...”

    “The stone is fine grained but contains geodes and fine seams of calcite. Where the quarry has been worked farthest into the hill the stone has a slightly bluish color. In some places it contains small flint nodules, which are not harmful for most purposes for which crushed stone is used. It spalls easily and breaks with a sharp fracture. The quality of the stone improves and the beds become more solid as the quarry is worked into the hill....”

    “At present the output is used mainly in the construction of concrete bridge abutments in railroad work.”

  • Appleton City, Missouri – the Luchsinger Block Buildings (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by Ernest Robertson Buckley and H. A. Buehler, 1904, pages 133-134.)

    Limestone quarried from the Carthage, Missouri, area was used with wholly or in part in the construction of the buildings. The color of the Carthage limestone ranges from brown and gray to white. Some of the stone has a faint blue tint.

  • Bear Creek, Missouri - the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Bridge Abutments (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “(The Morris sandstone) quarry, which is owned and operated by W. H. Morris, was opened about twenty-five years ago, but at present it is operated only intermittently.

    “The quarry is located three and one-half miles north of town and is situated on the west side of a ravine, along which the sandstone outcrops....”

    “The abutments for the bridge on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad, at Bear Creek, were constructed out of stone from the opening on the west side of the ravine.”

  • Benton, Missouri - the Benton Public School (built prior to 1904) (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “(The Richardson limestone) quarry is located in the S.E. ¼ of the N.W. ¼ of sec. 2, T. 48 N., R. 13 W., two and one-half miles northwest of the city....”

    “The stone is apparently well adapted for ashler blocks, caps, sills and steps. Flagging and curbing are obtained from some parts of the quarry. This stone was used in Stevens College Chapel and the Benton public school. At present it is being quarried for use at the State University.”

  • Bolivar (southeast part of), Missouri - the Bolivar Southwestern Baptist College - Foundation of the “New” Wing circa 1904 (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “(The Vilas Limestone) quarry is located near the southeast limits of the city. It has a west face 85 feet long. The principal bed is 32 inches thick and consists of siliceous, magnesian, pitted, limestone. It has a dark gray color, is finely crystalline and contains cavities filled with granular white quartz, which gives the stone a mottled appearance...The stone from the thick mottled bed was used in the foundation of the new wing of the Bolivar Southwestern Baptist College.”

  • Bonne Terre Area, St. Francois County, Missouri - the Foundations, Edge Stones, Paving, Flagging, etc. (from “Notes on The Building Stones, Clays and Sands of Iron, St. Francois and Madison Counties,” by G. E. Ladd, Assistant Geologist, in Bulletin 1, Geological Survey of Missouri, Jefferson City, April 1890.)

    Limestone quarried from St. Joe Lead Company quarries located in township 37 north, range 4 east, section 23, near Bonne Terre, St. Francois County, Missouri, was used in the construction of foundations, edge stones, paving, flagging, etc. in and about Bonne Terre.

  • Bonne Terre, St. Francois County, Missouri - the Superintendent Parson’s House (from “Notes on The Building Stones, Clays and Sands of Iron, St. Francois and Madison Counties, ” by G. E. Ladd, Assistant Geologist, in Bulletin 1, Geological Survey of Missouri, Jefferson City, April 1890.)

    Limestone quarried from St. Joe Lead Company quarries located in township 37 north, range 4 east, section 23, near Bonne Terre, St. Francois County, Missouri. “The dwelling house of Superintendent Parsons is built of it, and it is there shown to be a very handsome and durable building stone

  • Bowling Green (east of), Missouri - the Chicago and Alton Railroad Bridge Abutments built about the late 1870s (The following information is from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “(The Butters & Son Limestone) quarry is located two miles east of the city and consists of two openings, one on each side of the Chicago and Alton railroad. The one south of the railroad was opened about thirty-five years ago, but has not been operated for ten or fifteen years. The one north of the tracks was opened about two years ago and is the only one now operated.

    “It has a face about 60 feet long and 32 feet high....”

    “The abutments of the Chicago and Alton railroad bridge, near the quarries were constructed out of this stone. After twenty-five years exposure to the atmosphere, these abutments show no sign of wear. The edges and corners of the blocks are clean cut and sharp and the faces still retain clear and distinct the chisel marks.”

  • Breckenridge, Missouri - Limestone Bridge Abutments (The following information is from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “Messrs. J. W. Gibeaut and J. L. Amick lease quarry rights upon land owned by Mrs. Luetts Bush north of Breckenridge. Three openings have been worked on the east side of the road. The one farthest north is three-fourths of a mile from town....”

    “These quarries can produce a very durable building stone and one which is especially well adapted for bridge abutments...The lower beds are of a pleasing gray color and contain very little iron oxide....”

    “The stone has been used locally for foundation work and has also been shipped to St. Joseph....”

  • Brookfield, Missouri - Limestone Foundations, Coursing, Caps & Sills in Brookfield (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “(The Bottomly limestone) quarry, which is located two miles east of town, in the S.W. ¼ of N.W. ¼, sec. 4, T. 57, R. 19 W., is owned and operated by J. C. Bottomly....”

    “The stone is used for foundations, coursing, caps and sills. The rough stone is sold for one dollar and fifty cents per perch in Brookfield. The output in 1900 was 300 perch and in 1901, 200 perch. This quarry was not operated during 1903.”

    “(The McClintock limestone) quarry, which is located two and one-half miles southeast of Brookfield, in the S.W. ¼, sec. 9, T. 57, R. 19 W., is owned by James McClintock and is operated by John and Ed. McClintock. It has been worked intermittently since 1870....”

    “...It works nicely into steps, sills, cap and coursing....”

  • Butler, Missouri – the Bates County Court House (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by Ernest Robertson Buckley and H. A. Buehler, 1904, pages 133-134.)

    Limestone quarried from the Carthage, Missouri, area was used with wholly or in part in the construction of the Court House. The color of the Carthage limestone ranges from brown and gray to white. Some of the stone has a faint blue tint.

    • Butler, Missouri - the Court House in Butler (from Building Stones and Clay-Products: A Handbook For Architects, by Heinrich Ries, Ph.D., 1912)

      “This state does not produce any true marble, but the dense, light cream white limestone quarried near Carthage is often classed as such in the trade. This stone takes a polish and might be classed as a monotone marble.” Limestone quarried near Carthage, Missouri, was used in the construction of the Court House in Butler, Missouri.

  • Butler, Missouri - Limestone Curbing, Foundations & Sidewalks Limestone Quarry (Limestone) (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “(The Trimble limestone) quarry is located in the southwestern part of the city....”

    “The stone is used for curbing, foundations and sidewalks. A small amount of the stone has been broken by hand and used to macadamize the city streets.

    “This quarry must be abandoned soon unless additional land is acquired.”

  • Butler Area, Bates County, Missouri - Monument Bases & Tombstones from Sandstone quarried in the Butler Area (from “Notes on The Clays and Building Stones of Certain Western Central Counties Tributary to Kansas City,” by G. E. Ladd, Assistant Geologist, in Bulletin No. 5, Geological Survey of Missouri, Jefferson City, July 1891, pp. 46-86.)

    Sandstone quarried from J. J. Day’s quarry, which was located on the bluff of a creek about three and one-half miles south of Butler, was used “for bases to monuments and tombstones, and for building purposes.” “Its greatest defect is that it contains, occasionally, concretions or crystals of iron ore which oxidize and stain the stone, and which spoil the chisels of the workmen who dress it.” The color varies from light grey to a dark bluish color.

    • Butler, Missouri - Sandstone Monument Bases (The following information is from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

      “(The Day sandstone) quarry, owned and operated by J. T. Day, is located four miles south of Butler, in the S.W. ¼ of sec. 4, T. 39, R. 31 W. It has been worked intermittently since 1882. It consists of a single heavy bed of fine grained, micaceous sandstone, from 16 to 18 feet in thickness, which has been worked 160 feet along the north side of a hill...It contains considerable brown oxide of iron, in the form of small specks, giving the stone a light buff color. The lower ten feet has a bluish gray color and contains occasional small nodules of iron sulphide which decomposes into iron oxide and eventually weathers out, leaving cavities. The lower three to five feet is practically free from iron sulphide....”

      “The stone from this quarry is used almost exclusively for monument bases, although it is suitable for caps, sills and coursing. The massive character of the stone permits the quarrying of blocks of any desired dimensions. The quarrying and dressing are both done by hand. The rock is quite soft when first quarried, but hardens upon exposure.”

  • Cape Girardeau, Missouri - Old House built of Sandstone in 1853 (The following information is from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “This quarry is located near the north limits of the city and is situated on one of the Mississippi river bluffs. The stone, which is known as the Thebes or Cape Girardeau sandstone, caps the hills along the river. The first stone used in Cape Girardeau was obtained from this formation.

    “It is a yellow, fine grained sandstone which is soft when first quarried but hardens upon exposure...When used above the ground, it appears to be very durable, as shown by a dwelling house built out of it in 1853. For half a century, this building has been exposed to the weather without showing any very marked evidence of deterioration. At one time, this stone was shipped quite extensively through the extreme southeastern part of Missouri along the Mississippi river. At present very little is being quarried....”

  • Cape Girardeau, Missouri - the Normal School Buildings & Basements (The following information is from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    Plate XVII. Trenton Limestone (Cape Marble). State Normal School, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

    “Mr. Regenhardt operates two quarries, one, the ‘Normal’ quarry, is located just east of the fair grounds, near the west limits of the city; and the other is located two miles south of the city; and the other is located two miles south of the city, just beyond the Killebrew quarry.

    “The Normal quarry consists of a single irregular opening, 70 feet east and west and 100 feet north and south, having a maximum vertical face of 35 feet. This quarry was opened in 1901 to obtain the stone to be used in the Normal school building at Cape Girardeau.

    “This stone is a coarsely crystalline, heavily bedded limestone, having much the appearance of marble. It is almost pure white in the bottom of the quarry, but has a faint pinkish or bluish gray tint near the surface....”

    “...It is the practice to quarry irregular blocks by hand and saw them in the mill...The stone works nicely under the hammer, and has a pleasing appearance when used in the Normal school buildings at Cape Girardeau....”

    “The second quarry operated by Mr. Regenhardt is located about two miles south of the city on a bluff just south of the Killebrew crusher, on land leased from St. Vincent’s College....”

    “All the stone in this quarry has the same general texture and color. It is a very fine grained, compact limestone, having a brownish black to very dark blue color....”

    “The stone has been used in the basement of the New Normal school buildings and in other structures in Cape Girardeau. The dark color of the stone is in striking contrast to the nearly white ‘ Cape marble.’”

    • Cape Girardeau, Missouri – the Cape Girardeau Normal School –“The Granite of Cape Girardeau,” in Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, August 1916, Vol. XXXVII, No. 8, pp. 426)

      The Granite of Cape Girardeau

      “A writer in one of the newspapers at St. Joseph, Mo., says: There is a splendid quality of granite and marble in southeast Missouri, although it is not quarried to any great extent. The Cape Girardeau normal school was builded (sic) with this stone, quarried within the city limits. The contractor who erected the structure informed me that the contract ruined him financially, because of the enormous expense necessary to quarry and dress the stone. The building, however, is a beauty, and a splendid advertisement of Missouri’s building material. There are a large number of banks throughout the southeastern counties that have interior finishings of the same stone, which makes a very beautiful appearance when properly dressed and polished. In time there will be organized a company with sufficient capital to make the development of this industry profitable, but until that day our Missouri granite will be little known outside the locality in which it is produced, since it cannot be produced on a small scale with profit to the producer.”

  • Cape Girardeau, Missouri - Southeast State Missouri University - Academic Hall (photograph and history)

    Academic Hall designed in the neo-classical style, was built in 1906. The stone used in the construction of the southeast Missouri limestone originated from the quarry area on which Houck Stadium is located today.

  • Cappeln, Missouri - the St. John’s United Church of Christ Building (photograph and history) The following information is presented by St. John’s United Church of Christ in the “Historical Timeline” section.

    According to the St. John’s United Church of Christ web site, Missouri limestone quarried near Marthasville, Missouri, was used for the building material for the church building which was begun in 1863.

  • Carrollton, Missouri - the Methodist Church (from The Quarrying Industry of Missouri, by E. R. Buckley, Director and State Geologist, and H. A. Buehler, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines Vol. II, 2nd Series, 1904.)

    “The Carroll County Sandstone Company, by which (the White Rock sandstone) quarry is owned, is a corporation consisting of A. T. Kendrick, B. D. Kendrick, O. A. Kendrick and Wm. Bushy. The quarry was opened in 1868 and has been operated almost continuously ever since....”

    “As a whole, the stone consists of fine rounded grains of translucent quartz, cemented together chiefly with calcium carbonate. Small flakes of mica, grains of iron oxide and nodules of pyrites are lesser constituents of the rock. Large oval areas in the stone have been changed practically to a quartzite....”

    “This sandstone has been used in the construction of the Iowa State Capitol, the Methodist Church at Carrollton, the Public Library at Fulton and for bridge abutments along the Wabash railroad. It has also been shipped to the following cities for miscellaneous uses: St. Joseph, St. Louis, Kansas City and Marysville, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; Ottumwa, Des Moines, Atlantic, and Bloomfield, Iowa.”

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