The Georgia Marble Company was founded in 1884 by Samuel Tate. Tate leased out all the land in
Pickens County, Georgia
Pickens County is a county located in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,431. The county seat is Jasper. Pickens County is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia m ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, that contained rich
Georgia marble
Creole marble, also called Georgia creole or Georgia marble, is a marble from quarries in Pickens County, Georgia, United States. It is coarse-grained, displays a white or gray background while veins or clouds are black or dark blue. Based on th ...
. Pickens County has a vein of marble long, a half mile wide, and up to deep.
Company history
In the 1830s Henry Fitzsimmons established the first marble quarry in Pickens County, which was part of the Murphy Marble Belt.
In 1884, Samuel Tate founded the Georgia Marble Company, and leased out the land for others to use. In 1905 Colonel Sam Tate partnered with Dawson Mathias Caldwell and the two became co-presidents and general managers of the company. The business grew rapidly, until concrete began to replace marble in buildings.
In 1969, with business falling, the company was purchased by Jim Walter Corporation.
Over the next few decades it changed hands several times, passing through ownership by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company, Hillsborough Holding Corporation, First Chicago Corporation and IMERYS.
Finally, in 2003, the dimension stone division of Georgia Marble Company was acquired by
Polycor.
Flood
On January 7, 1946 the
Etowah River in nearby Cherokee County reached a depth of , and flooded the county including the Georgia Marble Company plant, which was covered with one foot of water.
Notable commissions
*
Bok Tower Gardens
Bok Tower Gardens is a contemplative garden and bird sanctuary located atop Iron Mountain, north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. Formerly known as the Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower, the gardens' attractions include the ...
in Lake Wales, FL. Designed by architect
Milton Bennett Medary
Milton Bennett Medary Jr. (February 6, 1874 – August 7, 1929) was an American architect from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, practicing with the firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary from 1910 until his death.
Biography
Medary attended the University ...
, features sculpture by
Lee Lawrie.
*
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
annex as well as the pediment in it created by
John Quincy Adams Ward
John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City.
Early ye ...
and carved by the
Piccirilli Brothers,
*
Daniel Chester French's
Abraham Lincoln statue in the
Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, carved by the Piccirill Brothers,
*
National Air and Space Museum
* East Wing of the
National Gallery of Art
*
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is the Cleveland-based headquarters of the U.S. Federal Reserve System's Fourth District. The district is composed of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia ...
and ''Integrity'' and ''Security'' allegorical figures by
Henry Hering
Henry Hering (February 15, 1874 – January 15, 1949) was an American sculptor.
Early career
He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York. He then went to Paris wher ...
, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers
Cleveland, Ohio ca. 1923
*
Civic Virtue Triumphant Over Unrighteousness sculpture group and fountain created by sculptor
Frederick William MacMonnies
Frederick William MacMonnies (September 28, 1863 – March 22, 1937) was the best known expatriate American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school, as successful and lauded in France as he was in the United States. He was also a highly accomplishe ...
and architect
Thomas Hastings, and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers.(1922)
*
Buckingham Fountain
Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
(1927)
*
National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
The National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Library and Museum is the national memorial to President William McKinley, located in Niles, Ohio. Also known as the McKinley Memorial Library, Museum & Birthplace Home, the memorial is a marble monum ...
,
McKim, Mead and White
McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), ...
architects and
J. Massey Rhind
John Massey Rhind (9 July 1860 – 1 January 1936) was a Scottish-American sculptor. Among Rhind's better known works is the marble statue of Dr. Crawford W. Long located in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington D.C. (1926).
E ...
’s statue of William McKinley, in
Niles, Ohio
Niles is a city in southern Trumbull County, Ohio, United States, situated at the confluence of the Mahoning River and Mosquito Creek. The city's population was 18,443 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan a ...
, (1915)
*
Our Lady of Victory Basilica,
Emile Ulrich architect, in
Lackawanna, New York
Lackawanna is a city in Erie County, New York, United States, just south of the city of Buffalo in western New York State. The population was 19,949 at the 2020 census. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in New York, growing in populat ...
, (1924)
[OLV archives]
Marble
The company's mines contain some of the best quality marble, and almost every type of marble found in the USA. The marble, when exposed to the weather tends to become less durable from acid rain. The mine is plentiful and every variety with every size is extractable with machinery,
and transported by railroad.
Types of marble include crystallized marble, and white sanctuary marble ranging in a variety of colors.
Historic district
Numerous company buildings and Tate community structures are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in the
Georgia Marble Company and Tate Historic District.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.polycor.com
Pickens county marble festivalBeauty in Stone: The Industrial Films of the Georgia Marble Companyfrom the
Digital Library of Georgia
The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is an online, public collection of documents and media about the history and culture of the state of Georgia, United States. The collection includes more than a million digitized objects from more than 200 Georg ...
Georgia Marble Company Recordsat th
Kennesaw State University Archives
Companies based in Pickens County, Georgia
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1884
Monumental masonry companies
1884 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Quarries in the United States
Marble