In the Upper Peninsula, the readily available sandstone became the building material in the region’s finest courthouses, commercial buildings and homes. Paul and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Examples remain today in Chicago’s Tribune Building, the Germania Bank in St. Architects around the Midwest – Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit – and beyond clamored for building materials. The quality and durability of Lake Superior’s sandstone made it highly sought after. During the drying cycle, the residue served as a bonding and hardening agent. Once exposed to air, the water in the sandstone rose to the surface and the mineral residue (a clay-like substance) in the water was deposited on the stone’s surface. Sandstone, which hardens once removed from the quarry, deserved its reputation for durability. Windowsills were among the company’s most common requests. Previously all sandstone had been shipped in the rough, but Erickson could cut into square and rectangular blocks. In 1873, the Erickson Manufacturing Company in Marquette installed rock saws to cut the stone to various sizes and shapes. Quarrying stone by the ton was another method of extraction, with large chunks of stone shipped uncut to builders and sold by weight.Īs the sandstone became increasingly popular as a building material, business grew around its sale. When not used for such projects, it often got discarded. It was the cheapest sandstone, but served well on given projects. Rubble stone was the by-product of dimension stone, used for cribs, breakwaters and building foundations. Contractors then cut the stone to the shape and size required. It was quarried in blocks that measured 8 feet by 4 feet by 2 feet. The most costly and the one that many builders preferred was dimension stone. ![]() Sandstone was quarried in several different ways: dimension stone, rubble stone and ton stone. The Bayfield region primarily produced redstone, although colors ranged from pink to light brown and it, too, was sometimes called “brownstone.” In Wisconsin, the first Lake Superior quarry was founded on Basswood Island. Jacobsville sandstone, called redstone for its color, came from a small quarry in the southeast corner of the Keweenaw Peninsula near the Portage Canal. Marquette Brownstone Company was a main supplier. Marquette sandstone, termed brownstone for its brown-purple hue, was quarried close to the Lake near the southern edge of the city. While no others approached the output of these three areas, the Big Lake region did host more than 70 quarry sites, including 15 in Marquette County. On Lake Superior, sandstone quarries concentrated in three primary locations: Marquette and Jacobsville in Michigan and the Bayfield Peninsula in Wisconsin. ![]() The testament to its value? That many century-old examples of its use survive to this day. Sandstone would rebuild the Upper Peninsula. It also retained solar heat in the winter (a welcome perk). The most famous Jacobsville sandstone house in Laurium was built in 1895-6 by and for mason Paul Roehm, who also worked on the Calumet Theatre.īefore cracking or crumbling, much hotter than for granite or limestone.
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