Early History of The Quarry
Quarrying on this site began in 1690 by James Stanclift, who contracted with the town of Middletown to build stonework in exchange for a deed of land. Commercial quarrying started in 1783 when the Brainerd Quarry Company began operations. During the peak of the brownstone era, more than 1500 workers were employed by the quarries, which shipped stone on their own ships for eight months out of the year. Proceeds from the quarrying business were deeded to Wesleyan University from 1833 through 1884, and stone from the quarries was used to build many campus buildings. As tastes in buildings shifted, and concrete became the material of choice, the demand for brownstone declined. A flood in 1936 and a hurricane in 1938 flooded the quarries, ending their operations. All efforts to drain the flooded quarries have been unsuccessful; one theory is that the floods opened some underground springs, making it impossible to effectively drain the quarries.
Read more about this topic: Portland Brownstone Quarries
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