Baltes Stone Quarry
Baltes Stone Quarry, Montpelier, Indiana
This postcard, posted in Montpelier on November 2nd, 1909, has the printed text...
09 8871
Weixelbaum Quality Collochrom, lima, O.
Made in Germany
Montpelier is to the northeast of Indianapolis and so out of the main limestone area around Bloomington and Bedford that most of these postcards are from.
Big Four Quarry
Big Four Quarry, Mitchell, Indiana
This postcard, posted in July 1908, has the printed text...
274
Hand Colored
Art Mfg. Co., Amelia, O.
Mitchell is about 10 miles south of Bedford. The Big Four was one of the first quarries opened in the area in 1889. There were two seams were cut through the 14ft thick limestone and both turned out to be bad. The limestone was course grained and had a bad odour. The quarry was soon abandoned but appears to have been reopened for general stone quarrying.
Source: 21st Annual Report - 1896 by Indiana. Dept. of Geology and Natural ResourcesFurst & Kerber Quarry
Furst & Kerber Quarry, Bedford, Indiana
Furst-Kerber Cut Stone Company was formed in 1899 by WilliamL. Kerber and Carl and Henry Furst. The quarry was opened in June 1914, and by 1907, the Furst & Kerber quarry had one of the largest stone mills in Indiana. It was one of the companies that merged in 1926 to become the Indiana Limestone Company.
Greencastle
North of the quarry areas of Bedford and Bloomington, and west of Indianapolis is Greencastle. This area was also heavily quarried for limestone and other rock. To the west of Greencstle is DePauw University Nature Park. Between 1917 and 1977, the Nature Park was the site of a limestone quarry, owned and operated by Hanson Aggregates who once the quarries closed, leased the land to the university.
Rock Quarry Pond is in Greencastle itself.
Rock Quarry Pond, Greencastle
A reminder of what happens to abandoned quarries. Without pumping, they quickly fill with water. Be careful around old quarry ponds. The water is deep and cold and may contain submerged abandoned machinery, underwater ledges and recesses with hidden currents and tunnels.
Hoosier Quarry
Quarry scene, Hoosier Quarry, Bedford, Indiana
This quarry seems have been owned by Bedford Quarries Company, which was formed about 1893 and became one of the biggest. It eventually merged in around 1910 with the Perry, Mathews, & Buskirk (P. M. & B.) Company and the new firm was called Indiana Quarries Company.
Quarry scene, Hoosier Quarry, Bedford, Indiana
This postcard is post marked 1913. In the 1920s and 30s there were around 23 limestone companies based in or around Bedford / Bloomington.
Hunter Brothers' Stone Company
Hunter Brothers' Stone Company Quarry, Bloomington, Indiana
The Hunter Brothers Stone Company opened a quarry in Hunter Valley in 1895 or 1896 and built a mill in 1902. It milled stone until just prior to its being razed around 1939.
Indiana Cut Stone Company
Indiana Cut Stone Company Quarry, Bedford, Indiana
In 1906, the Indiana Cut Stone Company built the Black Diamond Mill. It was known by several different names in its lifetime and was demolished sometime between 1929 and 1935.