286 REPORT ON NATIOKAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



for steps aud foundations for some years previous to this, until at last 

 the inhabitants fearing lest the supply should become exhausted, as- 

 sembled in town meeting and voted that " no person shall dig or carry 

 off" any stone " on the said commons or undivided lands upon any ac- 

 count whatever without license from the committee, upon penalty of 

 the forfeiture of 10 shillings for every and each cartload so dug and 

 carried away." 



It was not, however, until the early part of the present century that 

 granite began to be used at all extensively in and about Boston, when 

 the material was introduced in considerable quantities by canal from 

 Chelmsford,* 30 miles distant. It was from Chelmsford stone that was 

 constructed in 1810 the Boston court-house ; in 1814 the New South 

 church ; and about the same time the Congregational house on Beacon 

 street; the old Parkman house on Bowdoin square ; University hall in 

 Cambridge; and in 1818-'19 the first stone block in the city, a portion 

 of which is still standing, on Brattle street. In this year also a consider- 

 able quantity of the stone was shipped to Savannah, Ga., for the con- 

 struction of a church at that place. The greater part of this granite 

 was, however, obtained from bowlders, and it was not until the opening 

 of quarries at Quincy, in 1825, that the business assumed any great 

 importance. From this time the use of granite for building material 

 increased in a marked degree, and the history of stone quarrying in 

 Massachusetts may properly begin with this date. 



The opening of quarries at Quincy was due very largely to the demand 

 for stone for the construction of the Bunker Hill monument. Prior to 

 this time it is stated not much thought had been given to the quarries 

 of the vicinity, although the business had been carried on in a small 

 way by several parties. The quarry at Quincy from whence the stone 

 for the monument was taken is stated to have been previously purchased 

 by a Mr. Gridley Bryant in 1825 at a cost of $250. This gentleman 

 afterwards sold the same to Mr. Amos Lawrence, acting for the monu- 

 ment committee. The develoi^ment of this quarry led to the discovery 

 of others in the immediate vicinity, and with slight retardations there 

 has been a gradual increase ever since. It is stated that in 1837 the 

 total amount of stone quarried in the town was 61,590 tons, valued at 

 $248,737, in the iiroduction of which some 533 men were employed ; in 

 1845 the value of the total product had increased to $324,500, though 

 the number of men employed was but 526. In 1855 there appears to 

 have been a falling off, since the value of the product for that year was 

 but $238,000, and but 324 men furnished with employment. Twenty- 

 five years later (1880) the census returns for the towns of Quincy and 

 West Quincy show a total of thirty quarries, producing annually not less 

 than 723,000 cubic feet of stone, valued at some $226,940, and giving 

 emj)loyment to some 820 men. 



* It is stated by Hitchcock, Geol. of Mass., Vol. i, p. 148, that the so-called Chelms- 

 ford granite in reality came from Westford and Tyngsborough, in the same State. 



