Stone Cutting Shed
Datec. 1904-1905
MediumPhotography
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall height x width): 4 3/4 × 3 3/4in. (12 × 9.5cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineBequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie
DescriptionBlack and white photograph, view of the John Beattie Granite Works stone cutting shed and crane with snow on the ground c. 1904-1905.
Object number2023.17.97
CopyrightPublic Domain
InscribedTyped on envelope: “QUARRY PICTURES / The Stone cutting shed 1905 / This is the new shed with crane, built / to cut the granite for Bulkley [sic] Bridge / Hartford, Conn. The picture shows the / start of the ramp timbers set up to / run the Niles, Bement & Pond Crane up / on to the tracks with.”Handwritten in black ink below typed label, “There is a negative”
Handwritten on reverse of photograph in pencil in upper left corner: “March?”
Handwritten on reverse of photograph in blue ink: “1904 Estate of John Beattie / Leetes Island Conn. / Air Compressor Power / House. / New stone cutting shed with / ramp in place to erect new / Niles, Bement + Pond Traveling / Crane / Shed equipped with H. G. KOTTEN / air powered surfacing machines”
Handwritten in pencil below blue ink inscription: “Bigelow HT Boiler 66” x 16’ / Norwalk Steam Sr. 2 Stage / tandem air comp."NotesSubject Note: John Beattie's granite quarry, situated in Guilford on the Long Island Sound, was well-positioned to distribute granite via a fleet of schooners to locations in Connecticut and New York. Notably, granite from Beattie's quarry was used in the pedestal at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
The quarry operated from 1869, when Scottish immigrant Beattie purchased 400 acres of land on Leetes Island, until about 1918, when Beattie's sons closed up shop 20 years after his death. At its height, the quarry employed 700 people, many of them immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, England, Finland, Sweden, and Italy.
On View
Not on view
1904
1890-1918
1904
1890-1918
1910
c. 1912-1913
