hortly after Kentucky became a state in 1792, Warren County was established as a county separate from northeastern Logan County in 1797, and the city of "Bolin Green" was founded in 1798. In the early 1800s, the advent of the railways led to the development of one of Warren County's first industries, the white stone industry.

In 1833 near Bowling Green, John Howarth opened what was later called the White Stone Quarry. In 1856 William Carnes and Hugh E. Smith bought the quarry and in 1860 Mr. Carnes sold his interest to Mr. Smith who greatly expanded operations. The "Bowling Green stone," of oolite limestone, as trademarked for the White Stone Quarry, had a high oil content so that it split uniformly for cutting, shaping, and carving. It also had a beautiful bleached white color, strength, and resistance to fire. The stone received awards at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Over the years the white limestone was used for construction of many buildings and parks, which included the Warren County Courthouse; the St. Thomas Episcopal Cathedral and Pulitzer Fountain in New York City; the Sacred Heart Church and Trinity College Chapel in Washington, D.C.; the Church of Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, Connecticut; the Hartford Masonic Temple in Hartford, Ohio; the Chateau Crillon in Philadedlphia; the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort; the Seelbach Hotel, the Old Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Speed Memorial Art Museum, the First Church of Christ Scientist, and the First Christian Church in Louisville; and the columns for Western Kentucky University's Van Meter Hall and Kentucky Building.

The actual work in the white stone industry was quite interesting. Originally, quarrying, shaping and carving the stone were done at the quarry site. However, increasing technology changed the methods of operations over the years. In the 1860s, individuals used wooden derricks with geared wenches to load the stone onto ox-carts which then hauled the stone over rough roads into Bowling Green. By 1870 the city of Bowling Green had utilized the white stone for many of its public buildings and residences. However, it took the growth of the railway system in the 1870s to transport the stone to places such as Louisville, Chicago, Memphis, Nashville, and St. Louis. Additionally, in the 1870s, a small company-owned community developed. By the early 1900s there were a boarding house for stone workers, a one-room schoolhouse, a company store, and church services at Stonecutters' Hall. During the late 1880s and early 1900s, there was a steam-driven stone saw mill at the quarry site to cut the stone; stonecutters shaped the stone to fill orders; and stonecarvers cut detailed designs into the stone. By the early 1900s, a large rock crusher and a lime kiln crushed rough rock which overlay the white limestone, for road and railroad beds. A steam-driven "pumping station" supplied water to the quarry and a community reservoir.

By the 1920s, there were two large powerhouses, one with gasoline engines to energize the derricks and one with a steam boiler and engine for other power needs. Workers used dynamite to remove the earth and rough rock from atop the white limestone. Sometimes the rock was still crushed for road and railway beds; scrap rock was loaded into the "traveler" or chair lift to go by rail to a dumping area. To cut a section of the stone, a steam-powered (later electric) cutting machine called a "channeler" or "wardler" with five drill bits was driven back and forth on a track laid on the stone. Then, a line of several holes was drilled at the base of the cut, and a row of wedges was driven into the holes between slips. When the section of stone was loose, a steel derrick laid it over onto a bed of soft stone, which cushioned the fall. The stonecutters then used a straight edge to mark off the stone and the stone was split further to reach the size for a given order. Finally, a derrick loaded the stone onto the railcars to go to the mill in Bowling Green.

Over the years, several companies quarried the white stone. The White Stone Quarry itself survived several changes of owners, changes in name, and economic downturns. However, by the early 1900s, all of the readily accessible stone was quarried and labor unions had increased the cost of labor. Finally, the Great Depression caused a slowdown in orders and many employees to be laid off. The last stone quarried was for the four columns of the Kentucky Building in Bowling Green, Kentucky. These columns are unique in that each is a solid piece of stone--twenty-two feet in length.

For further reading, see:

1. Baird, Nancy D. "Warren County Kentucky." In Warren County, Kentucky Families. Paducah: Turner Publishing Company, 1991, pages 7-9.

2. Baird, Nancy and Crowe-Carraco, Carol, Consultants. Hoffman, Wayne, Director of the Center for Local Government, Western Kentucky University. Huot, Amy and Whittle, F. Grant, Design and Layout. The History of Bowling Green and Warren County. City-County Planning Commission of Warren County, 1989.

3. Smith, Christy Spurlock. "Stone of the Most Beautiful Kind": The White Stone Quarry of Bowling Green. The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 92(1), Winter, 1994, 44-72.

4. Spurlock, Christy Leigh. White Stone Quarry of Bowling Green, Ky. Bowling Green: Western Kentucky University, 1984.

5. Vertical files of the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

6. White Stone Quarry Company. Description of the White Stone of Bowling Green, Ky. Louisville: Bradley & Gilbert, 1872.