Wordless Wednesday - Where’s the Nuts?

November 19, 2008 | Filed Under Local Attractions, Memories, Wordless Wednesday | Leave a Comment

MTM - Olmsted Falls and surrounding quarries

Olmsted Falls and some of its neighboring cities were well known for their sandstone quarries. Long before concrete, sandstone was used in construction and huge amounts of it came from the area.

There are several lakes and swimming holes that were previously quarries that have since filled with water. Jaquay quarry is just to the south of Olmsted Falls and has a notorious history that you can read about here. If you travel down Jaquay Road, you will see that there are quarries on both sides of the road. The quarry on the east side of the road has been rumored to be a testing site for underground missiles? I don’t know if that is true, but I can attest to the fact that the place is downright creepy.

John Baldwin, began excavating sandstone in the 1840s. The sandstone was used for grindstones and for building material. Mr. Baldwin was also one of the founders of Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea. By the 1880s, the Cleveland Stone Company was the sole excavator of Berea sandstone. The Cleveland Stone Company was formed in 1886 by George Worthington. The company operated quarries in Berea, Kipton, Elyria, Euclid, North Amherst, South Amherst, Amherst, Columbia, West View, La Grange, and Olmstead.

In 1929, the company purchased Ohio Quarries and became Cleveland Quarries. They moved their headquarters to Amherst, Ohio where they are still excavating sandstone today.

This lovely old Bonsey Building in the Olmsted Falls business district is a fine example of a building made of sandstone.

Visit Travis Erwin, MTM’s creator to read both his and many other MTM posts from around the world.