Commercial buildings; Indianapolis (Ind.); Matthews Brothers Stone Company
A 1968 photograph of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company Headquarters Building in Indianapolis, Indiana. "Return to Matthews Bros. Stone Co." written on back.
Employees; Derricks; Quarries and quarrying; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
In this image, worker Joe Berry operates a Bull Wheel, a platform atop which derricks rested that could be rotated 360 degrees, allowing for derricks to transport stone in different parts of the quarry. "Return to Fred Barrett" written on back.
Limestone mills; Quarries and quarrying; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
An exterior shot of the factory, probably dating from the late 19th century. The block is painted with the number that corresponds to the drafting ticket for the mill.
Employees--Stone carvers; Stone carving--Friezes; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
In this image, carver Harold Elgar shows off a frieze destined for the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, MD, alongside mill owner Fred Matthews.
Employees; Lathes; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
The worker, pictured here with a pair of calipers used to measure the diameter of the stone, stands atop a lathe--a machine tool used to shape various objects, in this case a limestone column. As a tool which had been employed in various...
Employees--Stone carvers; Stone carving--Friezes; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
While certain stoneworkers engaged themselves in the backbreaking work--from hoisting and cutting to transport--normally associated with the limestone industry, others found work as cutters and carvers. This image depicts one such group working on...
Milling machinery; Employees; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
By the late nineteenth-century technological advances greatly reduced the time and effort formerly required to work the stone. In this image a man operates a rotary milling machine by hand, used for drilling holes in large slabs of stone. The...
Employees; Planing-machines; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
Like the milling machine, planers--which had long been employed in metal and woodworking--gradually came to occupy a central place in the stoneworker's tool kit. In this example, a stoneworker draws the machine across the stone by means of a...
Employees; Quarries and quarrying; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
Although women occasionally found employment in the front office as secretaries, bookkeepers and the like, the stone working was a profession overwhelmingly dominated by white males, a fact aptly demonstrated in this photograph. William Matthews,...
Railroads; Switching locomotives; Quarries and quarrying; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
Switch engines like the one pictured were widely employed in the stone industry and instrumental in transporting the material over great distances both within and outside of Indiana. While stone mills would make use of the existing rail...
Steam power plants; Quarries and quarrying; Limestone mills; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
The advent of steam registered an enormous impact on the stone industry as steam power was harnessed to existing technologies ranging from the derrick to the saw. By the time this image was taken (ca. 1880), steam had already made deep inroads into...
Bull wheels; Employees; Quarries and quarrying; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
Prior to steam, most quarries relied on manually powered devices, similar to the one pictured here. When attached to derricks, these wheels, commonly referred to as "bull masts," rotate 360 degrees, thus allowing workers to raise stone slabs from...
Employees; Limestone mills; Quarries and quarrying; Matthews Brothers Stone Company
In this exterior shot of an early limestone mill, several figures can be seen posing in front of the workshops in the background. Stacked stone in the gang saws inside bar on the left onto diamond saw, which were inverted for the planer.
In 1962, The Matthews Company celebrated the centennial of their founding one hundred years earlier. While many of the Matthews descendants attended the event, invitations were extended to several other interested parties to participate in the...
In 1962, The Matthews Company celebrated the centennial of their founding one hundred years earlier. While many of the Matthews descendants attended the event, invitations were extended to several other interested parties to participate in the...
