Collection Title : Quincy’s Granite Legacy (1875-1963)
1.4 linear feet consisting of bound volumes and photographs

Collection Location : Quincy Room, Thomas Crane Public Library
40 Washington Street, Quincy , Massachusetts 02169

Prepared by : Staff of the Thomas Crane Public Library 9/2000

Restrictions : Bound volumes, photographs and glass negatives and slides can only be viewed in the Library under the supervision of the Reference Librarian. The digitized collection is available through the Library’s web site http://thomascranelibrary.org/legacy/grant.htm . This includes all the items on the container list. In addition, the collection is available on a dedicated PC in the Reference Room in CD format.

Provenance : Volumes owned by the Thomas Crane Public Library
Warren S. Parker Collection photographs purchased by the Library (1944)

Historical Note: In 1999 the Library began a digital imaging project of materials related to the granite industry in Quincy. The project is funded by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant under the direction of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commisioners. The goal of the grant is to provide world-wide electronic access to researchers and interested parties of this significant local history material. Preservation and physical integrity of the original items is also assured by this project. As Quincy is known as the "Granite City," it is appropriate that this material be the subject of the digitizing project. The significance of this material was recognized in 1995 when items from the collection were included in the Massachusetts Archives Exhibit, "The Foundation of Massachusetts : An Enduring Legacy of Granite."

Quincy, Massachusetts was established as a granite center as early as the 1700’s. King’s Chapel in Boston, built in 1753, was constructed of Quincy granite. Stone quarrying grew into a thriving industry in the late 19^th and early 20^th century in part due to the Bunker Hill Monument construction. The industry played a significant role in the economic and social development of the area. Immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Finland and Germany provided the workforce and talent as well as enriching Quincy’s neighborhoods with their cultural heritages. The demand for transporting huge quantities of Quincy granite, an extremely durable and heavy material, led to the construction of the first commercial railroad in America. Many buildings around the country were contructed of Quincy granite such as the Palmer House (Chicago) and the custom houses of New Orleans, Galveston, Savannah and San Francisco. Locally, the use of this granite can be seen at the Custom House (Boston), the Parker House Hotel (Boston) and Minot’s Light (Boston Harbor). Old City Hall and the Church of the Presidents in downtown Quincy are also fine architectural examples of Quincy granite.

Scope and Contents Note: This is an artificial collection created by the Thomas Crane Public Library. The items selected are part of the Quincy Historical Room Collection which houses materials relating to Quincy’s history and material by Quincy authors. A majority of the photographs are taken from the Warren S. Parker Collection. Bound volumes are housed in the Quincy Room on open shelves. The numbered glass negatives and slides are filed in the Quincy Room.

Mr. Parker held the position of city building inspector. He created a series of lectures about Quincy history using glass slides as illustrations. These photographs date between 1875 and 1932. There are approximately 110 glass negatives reproduced to black and white photographs. The categories represented include specific quarries (such as Badger Brothers, Swingles, Reinhalters and Prouts), the transportation system used to carry the granite (Granite Railway), and significant monuments such as the Bunker Hill Monument (Charlestown, Ma.) and the Titanic Women’s Memorial (Washington,D.C.). The Granite Ball located at the Fore River Bridge (Quincy,Ma.) is a local reminder of the many granite companies and workers who labored here.

Also included in the photograph collection is a notebook of 54 mounted 8 x 10 sepia-tone prints by R.W. Plummer. They date from 1916 and include workshop photos of the cutting of the Titanic Memorial . It was carved by John Horrigan and designed by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Other photos show workers engaged in quarry activities from blasting to transporting. These photos are particularly interesting due to their size which allows a close up view of the quarries and the quarry workers.

The history of the Granite Railway is well documented through the approximately 200 illustrations contained in the Scholes notebook. It chronicles the building of the railroad to facilitate the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument, as well as the railroad’s demise. There is a combination of maps, technical drawings and black and white photos. Most of the photographs are 4 x 3 ½ inches taken in the late 1950’s as the railroad beds and quarry areas looked then.

The Library owns other material relating to the granite industry and specifically the Bunker Hill Monument. Numerous books written about Quincy history include chapters on the granite industry, for example, Three hundred years of Quincy 1625-1925.These can be found in the library’s catalog by subject access. There is also a periodical entitled Granite Railway Magazine from 1911-1913 housed in the Quincy Room . Articles relating to the Granite railroad are located in the library’s vertical file. The lectures and notes of Warren S. Parker are located in the Quincy Room collection.

First railway in America, Granite Railway Co., Boston, 1926. Shelf Q. R. 656 G76

Granite Railway and its associated enterprises, Robert Edge Scholes : Braintree, Ma,
1963. Shelf Q.R. 622.22 SCH6

Historic Quincy and its precious gems : Quincy granite and precious gems, William M.
Adrian : Quincy Ma., c1925. Shelf Q.R. 553.52 AD83

History of the granite industry of New England, Arthur Wellington Brayley : Boston,
National Assn. of Granite Industries of the United States, 1913. Shelf Q.R. 622.22 B73 V.1,2

Plans and sections, of the obelisk on Bunker’s Hill : with the details of experiments made
in quarrying the granite, by Solomon Willard : Boston, Printed by S.N. Dickinson, 1843.
Shelf Q.R. 718 W66

Quarries of the Granite Railway Company, the first railway in America, The Granite
Railway Company : Quincy, Ma., 1928. Shelf Q.R. 622.22 QUAR

Warren S. Parker Collection - 110 photographs catalogued by the following subject
access (Appendix A):

• Quarries
• Granite companies and workers
• Transportation
• Granite Railway
• Monuments

Quincy granite industry, R.W. Plummer (photographer) Shelf Q.R. 622.22 P73
54 photographs in a loose-leaf notebook with informative text (Appendix B)