[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 60 (Friday, May 4, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4398-S4400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                         VERMONT GRANITE MUSEUM

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this week I had the pleasure of 
attending the raising of the old Jones Brothers granite shed in Barre, 
Vermont. This historic wooden building built in 1895 will be raised 
four feet off the ground for several months while a new foundation is 
poured and the building is secured. Once one of the largest granite 
manufacturing plants in the world, this building will soon be home to 
the Vermont Granite Museum, a tribute to one of Vermont's oldest and 
proudest industries. As the grandson of a stonecutter I cannot think of 
a better way to honor this heritage than a world class museum and 
learning center in the heart of Vermont. I would like to share with my 
colleagues the comments of my fellow Vermonters, Edwin Granai and 
Marsha Davis, who spoke eloquently of this building, its history and 
what the museum will mean to our state.
  I ask consent that the statements of Edwin Granai and Marcia Davis be 
printed in the Record.

[[Page S4399]]

  The statements follow:

                        Remarks of Edwin Granai

       ``In Italia,'' my grandmother used to say, ``Una volta un 
     portiere sempre un portiere (Once a porter always a 
     porter).'' At the beginning of the last century in Italy 
     those born into poverty lived a life of poverty. The rigid 
     class structure of the monarchy would prevail in Italy for 
     another half century. My grandparents did not have a half 
     century to wait, so they came America, the ``Promised Land.'' 
     My grandfather emigrated from the quarries of Carrara, Italy, 
     to the quarries of Barre, Vermont to find work and above all 
     opportunity.
       The Promised Land did not materialize for him. His earnings 
     never rose above subsistence level and he lost his health at 
     mid-life. He died in his forties with empty pockets and dust-
     filled lungs. My father, after completing the fourth grade at 
     Brook Street School, went to work at the age of ten years in 
     1907 in this very building to help support his family. In 
     time America did become the Promised Land for my father and 
     for his children, of which I am one. But my grandfather died 
     as he came, poor.
       Other immigrants made it in the first generation. Last Fall 
     I stayed an extra day in Washington to visit the recently 
     completed National Cathedral. It is one of the world's great 
     churches. Roger Marigi was the Master Carver for a quarter 
     century during the completion years. His grandfather came to 
     Barre at the same time mine did. Marigi says: ``My 
     grandfather came to America from Italy in 1890 . . . He went 
     to Barre, Vermont, because all the Italian stone carvers were 
     up there. That's where you got your job . . . You went up to 
     Barre because that's where the work was. Granite. You stayed 
     there and learned . . .''
       The work was here because we have Barre Gray, the durable 
     and aesthetically pleasing stone that adorns memorials, 
     buildings, and plazas throughout the world. And we had the 
     skilled quarriers, artisans and sculptors to extract and 
     shape that stone. They came from Italy, Scotland, Sweden, 
     England, Spain, France, Canada, and around the world to 
     Barre.
       The work is still here for the same reasons. We have a 
     4500-year supply of Barre Gray. And we still have the finest 
     quarriers, manufacturers, artisans and sculptors shaping that 
     stone. Sculptors from all over America and around the world 
     come to Barre today to learn from and work with Barre stone 
     artisans.
       These assets--the stone and skilled workers--are like the 
     foundation we dedicate today. This foundation is the starting 
     point for the restoration of this historic building. Our 
     granite and our skilled workers are both out heritage and the 
     starting point for the renewal of Barre's granite industry.
       At the beginning of this new century we live in a very 
     different world from that of our fathers. The citizens of 
     Barre City and Barre Town recognized this when they gathered 
     in 1994 to brainstorm their vision for the future. They saw 
     the challenge of the global marketplace. They recognized that 
     in today's world economy our granite industry is in fierce 
     competition with lesser quality stone and inferior artistry. 
     In the vision of the Vermont Granite Museum they recognized 
     the value of combining and displaying the wisdom of the past 
     with a modern learning environment that will create a 
     dynamic marketing force for the industry. The educational 
     programs of the museum will invigorate the worldwide 
     learning connection. The tourist benefit, 90,000 people 
     per year, will infuse six million dollars annually into 
     the central Vermont economy. More importantly together 
     they will create a new level of awareness for the beauty, 
     function and utility of Barre Gray in all its uses, and a 
     new level of appreciation for stone finishing and carving 
     as both art and vocation.
       This is an ambitious project and it is happening thanks in 
     large part to everyone here assembled. I grew up in Barre and 
     maintain strong family and community ties. I have never seen 
     such a strong focus and wide spread support for a community 
     project. The scale requires it.
       I had never been in this building until I toured it with 
     Marcia a year and a half ago. I came to see what we were 
     starting with and to imagine what it could become. I was not 
     prepared for what happened to me within minutes of my entry. 
     Suddenly and unexpectedly I was keenly aware of the ghost of 
     my deceased father working here as a child and young man. His 
     presence was so real it penetrated my heart and threatened my 
     composure. It took my breath away. And, when I got my breath, 
     I then thought of my grandfather and said a silent prayer of 
     thanks to Coriolano for his courage to leave his homeland to 
     come to America.
       I will never forget that moment. It profoundly deepened my 
     connection to my heritage here in Barre, to my father and 
     grandfather through the work that they did and the sacrifices 
     they made. It connected me in a new way to their courage and 
     spirit, and in so doing strengthened my determination to put 
     my shoulder to this project. The pay-off of this project 
     began for me on that day when the rehabilitation of this 
     building had barely begun. I can only imagine the impact of 
     the finished museum. If I seem enthused about this project it 
     is because I am. And my enthusiasm increases each step of the 
     way.
       As we dedicate this foundation of what is to be a world 
     class museum and learning center we are half way to our 
     twelve million-dollar goal. That is remarkable. But just as 
     remarkable is the energy that has emerged around this 
     project. It is the kind of energy that will create a new 
     prosperity for this community and region. The glass is half 
     full--enough to toast the courage and fortitude of our 
     ancestors and to say with certainty to our heirs that the 
     future of Barre is as solid as the rock--Barre Gray--upon 
     which it is build.
                                  ____


Remarks of Marcia A. Davis, Executive Director, Vermont Granite Museum 
                                of Barre

       Welcome.
       We are here today to celebrate Vermont's granite industry: 
     its past, present and future.
       The Jones Brothers granite shed represents the industry's 
     distinguished past. Built in 1895, with Douglas Fir timbers, 
     brought by rail from the Pacific Northwest, this building was 
     one of the first straight shed designs to be constructed in 
     Barre to house water powered overhead cranes.
       Who were the Jones Brothers?
       The Jones Brothers were sons of Hugh Jones, whom at age 2 
     immigrated to America with his parents from Wales, and 
     settled in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. When the Civil War broke 
     out, Hugh Jones enlisted and became the first Union soldier 
     to be killed at the Battle of Fort Stedman, Virginia, in 
     1865, leaving behind a widow and six children all under the 
     age of 13.
       Fifteen years later, the two older Jones Brothers, 
     Marshall, and Seward, ``imbued with faith in an industry, in 
     themselves, in their friends, and in a nation'', opened their 
     own wholesale monumental business in 1882 in Boston, 
     Massachusetts. Marshall was 29 years old. Seward was four 
     years younger.
       Their monument dealership dealt in light pink and gray 
     granite from Scotland, darker granites from Sweden, Norway, 
     and Finland, and native granite from Quincy, Massachusetts.
       Later on two younger brothers, Dayton and Hugh Jones, 
     joined the company, and they opened an office in Aberdeen, 
     Scotland in 1884.
       While searching for granites in New England, the Jones 
     Brothers were introduced to Barre Gray granite. They 
     described it as having a ``color and texture far surpassing 
     the gray Scotch in beauty and quality''.
       In 1886, they decided to expand again, purchasing a dark 
     gray granite quarry on Millstone Hill, Barre, and leased a 
     granite manufacturing shed from Mackie & Simpson, on 46 
     Granite Street, the very same site of the Socialist Block, 
     now known as the Old Labor Hall.
       The Jones Brothers Company also owned and operated the 
     Wells Lamson Quarry in Barre Town.
       The Jones Brothers Company was the first granite enterprise 
     to advertise finished granite monuments nationally in 1927.
       The Jones Brothers Company employed as many as 500 people 
     on this very site.
       The Jones Brothers Company was referred to as the largest 
     and oldest granite manufacturing plant in the world. The 
     business closed in 1975.
       The company's trademark, registered in 1926, portrays an 
     angel with arms and wings outstretched above a rectangular 
     memorial which says ``Guardian Memorials of Everlasting 
     Beauty. To mark the place with beauty forever.''
       And they did.
       Thousands of monuments, family mausoleums, memorials, and 
     buildings were designed, commissioned and produced on this 
     very site for eighty years.
       Some of the more notable structures located throughout the 
     country are:

     The Green Beret Memorial, dedicated by John Wayne, in Fort 
         Bragg, No. Carolina
     The Beacon Monument for the Massachusetts State House, in 
         Boston, Massachusetts
     Sixteen Massive Pillars in the nave of St. John the Divine 
         Cathedral, in New York City (Eight of which were six feet 
         in diameter, 38 feet high, weighing 100 tons each, and 
         took a year to produce, transport and set them prior to 
         construction of the cathedral itself.)
     The Brigham Young Memorial in Salt Lake City, Utah
     The Shevchenko Memorial in Washington, DC
     The Coal Miners Memorial in West Virginia
     The U.S. President William Henry Harrison Memorial
     And mausoleums for the Woolrich, Firestone, Heinz, Hood, 
         Hershey, Ringling and Webb families.

       With technological advances in power, transportation, and 
     machinery came the ``boom years'' of the granite industry. 
     Between 1880 and 1900, in Barre alone, the population grew 
     from 2060 to 11,754. Montpelier, Northfield, Woodbury, 
     Hardwick, Bethel and South Ryegate were full of granite sheds 
     and quarries.
       Waves of immigrants came from Scotland, Italy, England, 
     Ireland, France, Spain, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark 
     to work in Vermont's stone industry. They came through Ellis 
     Island, Boston and other ports of entry, many of them having 
     to leave their families behind, yet full of hope for a better 
     life in America.
       These men cut, hauled, shaped, lettered and carved stone 
     with a passion for their families, and for Vermont, 
     ultimately becoming Americans.
       Even under extremely difficult working conditions, these 
     men and this industry not

[[Page S4400]]

     only survived, but flourished, transforming this country's 
     landscape as we know it today.
       Today, granite countertops are to be expected in luxury 
     homes and offices. NASA's subcontractors use granite 
     precision surface plates to check for flaws or aberrations in 
     the shuttle's engine parts, as do numerous other 
     manufacturers for products that require the most stable and 
     accurate conditions are required for manufacturing.
       No one can predict the future, however, we do know the 
     granite industry is up for whatever challenges may come its 
     way, and that will become a new exhibit.

                          ____________________