Gantts Quarry

Town of Gantts Quarry
Incorporated	1910–2001
Population	0
Mayor	-
School district	Talladega County Schools
Government	Gantts Quarry Town Council - -
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Gantts Quarry was a marble quarry and former community and incorporated municipality near Sylacauga in southern Talladega County.

The marble deposit was discovered by Dr Edward Gantt who purchased the property in 1830. By 1840 Gantt was quarrying marble, and employed ox teams to haul slabs 9 miles to a landing on the Coosa River. He abandoned the operation in the late 1850s, unable to successfully recoup his costs without rail service.

Two 2-foot by 4-foot blocks of marble from Gantt Quarry represent Alabama as "Commemmorative Stones" inside the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.

The quarry was purchased in the late 1890s by Amos Mylin and Alexander King of Pennsylvania with Dr George A. Hill of Talladega County. They formed the Alabama Marble & Stone Co. in 1899, with newspaper publisher and Mayor Frank Evans of Birmingham as a major shareholder. The partners obtained modern quarrying equipment, arranged for a rail spur from the Alabama Mineral Railroad, and constructed housing and other facilities. To promote the venture, they removed large specimens of marble to be exhibited around the country. One such block— displayed in Alabama's exhibit at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York— was compared favorably to the best marble from Carrara, Italy or Paros, Greece, and reportedly generated much interest from sculptors visiting the fair.

Gantts Quarry was incorporated as a municipality in 1910, an action generally interpreted as a defense against being annexed by Sylacauga. A Gannts Quarry Post Office shared space with a small public library in a framed building which was later relocated to grounds of Sylacauga's B. B. Comer Museum and restored.

The population of Gantts Quarry peaked in the 1930 U.S. Census with 542 residents. The Great Depression suppressed the market for marble, and the town shrank to 456 by 1940.

The vacant company houses were demolished in the 1960s and the others sold to their occupants. The quarry was still active in producing structural and dimensional stone, as well as crushed stone used in roofing and terrazzo.

By 2001 no residents were reported, and the municipality lost its status officially on December 31 of that year.

Demographics

year    pop.   %change

1920 |  413 |     -   |
1930 |  542 |  +31.2% |
1940 |  456 |  -15.9% |
1950 |  426 |   -6.6% |
1960 |  238 |  -44.1% |
1970 |   63 |  -73.5% |
1980 |   71 |  +12.7% |
1990 |    7 |  -90.1% |
2000 |    0 | -100.0% |

References

• "Equal to Carrara is Alabama Marble" (July 28, 1901) The Birmingham Age-Herald, p. 15
• Jacob, Judith M. (2005) "The Washington Monument A Technical History and Catalog of the Commemorative Stones" National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior
• "Gantts Quarry, Alabama" (October 20, 2022) Wikipedia - accessed March 3, 2023

External links

• Gannts Quarry at the Historic American Engineering Record, Library of Congress