Fall River Granite is a Precambrian

Precambrian

The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...

 bedrock underlying the City of Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...

 and surrounding areas along the eastern shores of Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...

. It was formed 600 million years ago, as part of the Avalon

Avalonia

Avalonia was a microcontinent in the Paleozoic era. Crustal fragments of this former microcontinent underlie south-west Great Britain, and the eastern coast of North America. It is the source of many of the older rocks of Western Europe, Atlantic Canada, and parts of the coastal United States...

 terrane.

During the 19th Century, the City of Fall River, Massachusetts became famous for the granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 rock on which much of the city is built upon. The ridge extends approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) from the village of Assonet

Assonet, Massachusetts

Assonet is one of two villages in the town of Freetown, Massachusetts in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. An original part of the town, Assonet was settled in 1659 along with the city of Fall River, then a part of Freetown. It rests on the banks of the Assonet River...

 in the north through Fall River

Fall River

-Cities and towns:In Canada:*Fall River, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:*Fall River, Kansas*Fall River, Massachusetts, the largest city with this name*Fall River, Tennessee*Fall River, Wisconsin*Fall River County, South Dakota-Rivers:In Canada:...

 and into Tiverton, Rhode Island at its southern end, along the eastern edge of the basin that forms Narragansett Bay. The eastern edge of the underlying granite is the Hixville Fault near Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Dartmouth is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States established in 1664. The population was 30,665 at the 2000 census. It is the location of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth....

.

Physical description

From a distance, the rock exhibits a distinctive tanish-grey color. View up close, it is more pink. The granite is very hard and durable, but cannot be polished very well. As a result, its appearance on a building is almost always somewhat rough, rather than the sharp lines of other types of building stone.

Edmund Hitchcock, of the 1841 Geological Survey of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 gave the following description of the granite: "But no rock can be finer for architectural purposes than the granite of Troy...The feldspar of this rock is a mixture of the flesh red and light green varieties; the former predominating: the quartz is light gray, and the mica, usually black... it works easily and has a lighter and more lively appearance than Quincy granite."

Historical context

The granite quarry industry in Fall River had been established by 1840, employing 30 people, with the rock being transported to places such as Newport

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

, New Bedford

New Bedford, Massachusetts

New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...

, Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Bristol

Bristol, Rhode Island

Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....

 and New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Several granite quarries operated in the area in the late 19th century, the largest of which was the Beattie Granite Quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

, located near what is now North Quarry Street, near the corner of Locust Street in Fall River

Fall River

-Cities and towns:In Canada:*Fall River, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:*Fall River, Kansas*Fall River, Massachusetts, the largest city with this name*Fall River, Tennessee*Fall River, Wisconsin*Fall River County, South Dakota-Rivers:In Canada:...

. Originally called the Harrison Quarry, consisting of fewer than three acres, brothers William and John Beattie purchased the site near the end of the Civil War. By 1910, the pit was the length of three football fields and measured 700 feet wide by 60 feet deep. A 1911 U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin listed an impressive inventory of the plant's equipment, including five derricks, three hoisting engines, an air compressor, 14 air plug drills, two surfacers, three steam drills and a stone crusher with a daily capacity of 80 tons. After its abandonment in the late 1920s, the area began to filling with water from natural underground springs and aquifers. During the 1940s and 50s, the city used the pit as an open dump. In the mid 1960s, the area was reclaimed with the help of clean fill. It was acquired by the Fall River Housing Authority which built Oak Village in 1965, an apartment complex for the disabled and elderly built in 1965. It may need to be razed. At least two of the buildings' floors have cracked causing the walls to tilt. It has been attributed to settling of the stratified and poorly compacted layers of dirt-covered trash now filling the old quarry.

Another notable source of this granite was from the "Assonet Ledge" Quarry located in what now is Freetown-Fall River State Forest

Freetown-Fall River State Forest

The Freetown-Fall River State Forest is a large tract of forest land located in Freetown and Fall River, Massachusetts. It is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation...

, located in Freetown, Massachusetts

Freetown, Massachusetts

Freetown is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,870 at the 2010 census.Freetown is one of the oldest communities in the United States, having been settled by the Pilgrims and their descendants in the latter half of the 17th century. The town once included...

. The remains of the old railroad grade used to transport the stone from the quarry are still visible within the state forest.

Other quarries include Major Bradford Durfee's Bigberry Ledge on the shores of the Quequechan near 16th Street, the Earle quarry off Bell Rock Road, Thurston's Ledge east of Freelove Street, the Savoie quarry on Beauregard Street and the Ross quarry on Barlow Street near Watuppa Pond.

During World War I, when both manpower and the gunpowder used to blow apart the rock were in short supply, granite quarrying slowed not only here, but nationwide. In the 1920s, competing with improved structural steel and reinforced concrete construction methods, demand for granite diminished further, leading to the eventual closure of most of Fall River's quarries.

Examples of use

Many of the cotton textile mills in the city were built from this native stone, and it was highly regarded as a building material for many public buildings and private homes alike. Examples of the stones use within Fall River

Fall River

-Cities and towns:In Canada:*Fall River, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:*Fall River, Kansas*Fall River, Massachusetts, the largest city with this name*Fall River, Tennessee*Fall River, Wisconsin*Fall River County, South Dakota-Rivers:In Canada:...

 include St. Mary's Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral and Rectory

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, colloquially simply known as Saint Mary's Cathedral, is a historic church on 327 Second Street, in Fall River, Massachusetts. It is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River. The cathedral, built in 1852, was added to the National...

, The Fall River Historical Society Mansion and the base of St. Anne's Church

St. Anne's Church and Parish Complex

St. Anne's Church and Parish Complex is an historic church complex located at 818 Middle Street Fall River, Massachusetts. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River. In addition to the church, the complex also includes the former rectory as well as the former Dominican Academy,...

. The first floor of the former B.M.C. Durfee High School

B.M.C. Durfee High School

B.M.C. Durfee High School is an historic former high school building at 289 Rock Street in Fall River, Massachusetts.The school was built in 1886 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981...

 in Fall River is also constructed of native granite. Another fine example of the use of this material was the Notre Dame de Lourdes Church, Fall River Massachusetts. The entire lower portion of this structure below the roof and steeples was constructed of Fall River Granite. Unfortunately this building was destroyed by fire on May 11, 1982.

The Chateau-sur-Mer

Chateau-sur-Mer

Chateau-sur-Mer is the first of the grand Bellevue Avenue mansions of the Gilded Age mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. It is now open to the public as a museum...

 mansion in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 is perhaps the best example of Fall River Granite being used for private home construction.

External links

• Vintage Photo of Beattie Granite Quarry
• History of Fall River, Massachusetts
  History of Fall River, Massachusetts
  For much of its history, the city of Fall River, Massachusetts has been defined by the rise and fall of its cotton textile industry. From its beginnings as a rural outpost of the Plymouth Colony, the city grew to become the largest textile producing center in the United States during the 19th...
  
  
• Fall River Historical Society