Our Past Is Present September 25, 2017

September 25, 2017

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story is another written by Gaylynn Childs, our former and now retired Executive Director during the year of the sesquicentennial anniversary celebration of the founding of Junction City.

            “One of Junction City’s great selling points in the beginning years was the existence in abundance of quality building stone.  Early promoters described the stone quarried in the immediate area as “magnesium limestone of a light gray or buff tint.”  It was found in the outcroppings sometimes called rim rock, which ran throughout the area.  However the best stone for sawing purposes was found beneath the surface of the soil down to a depth of 12 to 15 feet.

            One of the great advantages of Junction City stone was its workability when it was first taken from the ground and the fact that it hardened with exposure to the air and elements.  Thus, it could be worked and carved into beautiful shapes and forms that would endure as the stone aged.  Junction City’s first real industry came as a result of the effort to utilize this building stone.       

            Major O.J. Hopkins, who had earlier served at Fort Riley, settled in Junction City after the Civil War and in 1866 he initiated the commercial process of sawing this local limestone.  It is reported that he probably got the idea from Daniel Mitchell, an area settler, who in the summer of 1864, experimented with the use of a hand saw to saw this stone while constructing his house.  Hopkins had apparently witnessed this experiment and later initiated correspondence with the operation of eastern quarries to learn more about quarrying methods. 

            He then interested Junction City founder James McClure and others and formed a company to undertake the sawing of local limestone.  This venture became one of the largest industries in the early history of Junction City employing as many as 60 men and turning out about $1,500 worth of stone per month.  The company used the McFarland Quarry, which was probably the earliest quarry in the area. 

            In 1867, primarily through the efforts of George W. Martin, editor of the “Junction City Union”, The Junction City Stone Sawing Company secured a contract to furnish all the stone needed in the construction of the State Capitol building, which is now the east wing.

            Although the Junction City Sawing Company eventually went bankrupt, it had paved the way for the production of building stone, which would be used throughout Kansas and in the surrounding states for over a century.

            This has been “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.