Marblecliff Quarry (Columbus, Ohio, USA) 10

The Marble Cliff Quarry Co., is located in the community of San Margherita and operated the largest

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

in the United States from its founding in 1913 until its sale in 1985.

History

In the early 1840s, quarry activities began in the area to mine a narrow belt of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

limestone which stretched all the way from the

Scioto River The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...

to the

Olentangy River The Olentangy River is a tributary of the Scioto River in Ohio, United States. History It was originally called ''keenhongsheconsepung'', a Delaware word literally translated as "sharp tool river", based on the shale found along its sh ...

adjacent to

Marble Cliff, Ohio Marble Cliff is a village in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The population was 634 at the 2020 census. Marble Cliff was one of the first suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, settled as a community in 1890 and incorporated as the "Hamlet of Marble C ...

. The Columbus formation stone was roughly 100 feet thick with the Delaware limestone deposit above at 16 to 35 feet thick. Limestone was mined through the simple process of drilling and blasting and resulted in either blocks or crushed stone of various sizes. The products were then sent to the nearby limestone markets where they were sold and used in construction or as

flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ...

to purify

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

. These activities became more extensive in 1892 with the arrival of Sylvio A. Casparis and the Casparis Stone Co. In 1913, Marble Cliff Quarries Co. was founded and shortly consolidated quarrying activities with the merger of Casparis Stone, Scioto Stone, Kiefer Stone, and Woodruff and Pausch Stone. John W. Kaufman was named president of the company and H.J. Kaufman vice president. The company grew through the expansion of stone grades from one to six and market-specific divisions that cater their products to specific industries, and at one point employed as many as 500 men. By 1928, Marble Cliff Quarry was producing 3 million tons of stone per year, and purchased land in

Muskingum County Muskingum County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,410. Its county seat is Zanesville. Nearly bisected by the Muskingum River, the county name is based on a Delaware American In ...

to expand their operations in road material.

Development

In 1985, the Kaufmans sold the quarry to investors who filled in and developed the quarry for residential use, including Marble Cliff Commons apartments and Marble Cliff Crossing, a 100 single-family and 60 double-family subdivision built between 1998 and 2003. The northern section of the original quarry remained in operation by American Aggregates Co. In 2017, Wagenbrenner Development purchased a section of the former quarry, with the intention of remediating the site's brownfields to create a mixed-use development and the region's 20th Metro Park. On November 30, 2021, the first phase of the 225-acre Quarry Trails Metro Park opened to the public.

References

External links

* Geography of Franklin County, Ohio Defunct companies based in Ohio Mining in Ohio {{Ohio-stub