Quarry Story

John Baldwin, Sr., Later founder of Baldwin University (now Baldwin-Wallace College), Berea, Ohio, arrived from Connecticut in 1828 and located in Middleburg Township, Cuyahoga County, where he purchased a large tract of land (now part of Berea), and established his home. In 1842, near his home, he noticed a thin slab of stone, which had a gritty nature and led him to believe that it would be suitable for grindstones. He took it home and shaped it into a grindstone with an old axe and after using it, found it had excellent sharpening qualities, much better than any stone he had seen in Connecticut. He started turning grindstones out on a lathe, which he operated with waterpower. For the next decade, he turned out grindstones made of Berea Grit. During the years 1850 to 1870, Berea Sandstone came into use as a building material and was recognized as a standard among the building stones of the country.

Henry Warner first opened the Brownhelm quarry, later owned by the Worthingtons, in 1847 and is believed to have shipped the first stone sent out from this area. John Worthington, who was a contractor, then purchased this quarry. Mr. Warner gave $600.00 for this quarry land, worked it for six years, and then sold it for $6,000.00. He was a native of Middlesex County, Connecticut and had varied experiences before he became one of the pioneer quarrymen of Lorain County. He later became associated with Baxter Clough in the quarry business around 1854 or 1855.

The first stone sawmill was built and operated by George E. Hall and Co. in 1868. In the early spring of 1869, R.P. Wilson of Cleveland purchased about 40 acres of land and began quarry operations. This quarry was the beginning of what later became the renowned No. 6 (Gray Canyon) Quarry, reputed to be the largest single sandstone quarry unit in the world.

In 1871, when Jon Worthington & Sons took over the quarry and mill of George E. Hall located at the east of North Amherst, they constructed a railroad track from Brownhelm Station to the lake at Vermillion. Docks were built and equipped to transport their output to the various lake ports and the first boatload of stone was shipped to Toronto.

Baxter Clough was originally associated with Henry Warner and bought into a quarry and soon became its sole owner. Clough was one of the first to have a direct outlet of his own water by building a dock on the lake and a railroad equipped with steam engines and flats. His North and Middle Quarries were in North Amherst and his South Quarry in South Amherst.

In July, 1886, the Cleveland Stone Company was incorporated succeeding several of the early pioneers at Berea and Amherst, and as the years past, they continued to absorb quarry land, not only at Amherst and Berea, but Kipton, Elyria, Euclid and outlying points, until they became the largest producers of sandstone in the world.

In 1903, John R. Walsh, Chicago banker and large quarry operator in Bedford, Indiana territory, entered the sandstone field in Amherst, purchasing several large tracts of quarry land located about three miles southwest of North Amherst. He organized the Ohio Quarries Co., which opened and developed large quarries and built modern stone sawing mills. Its chief product was named Buckeye Gray Sandstone. The Buckeye Quarry is said to be one of the largest in the world, stone has been taken out to a depth of 240 feet. It is 3,090 ft. wide and 1,056 ft. long. It is no longer quarried.

The Cleveland Stone Co. and the Ohio Quarries Co. were practically the only two concerns quarrying sandstone in Amherst Township during the years 1903 to 1922. During this period two other concerns who worked with the stone were Blum and Delbridge Cut Stone Co. and the Amherst Cut Stone Co. Blum and Delbridge moved from Cleveland and began operations in Amherst in 1911. The Amherst Cut Stone CO. began operations in 1914 and was located on the west side of Amherst off Milan Ave.

In 1919, the Ohio Quarries Co. purchased the assets of Blum and Delbridge as well as those of the Amherst Cut Stone Co. and incorporated their operations under the name of the Ohio Cut Stone Co. On April 17, 1929, The Cleveland Stone Co. purchased the assets of the Ohio Quarries Co. and changed its name to what it is now known as Cleveland Quarries Co. in South Amherst.

Quarry Story

Quarry Photos