[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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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