Stone City Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Stone City Historic District is located in Stone City
Stone City, Iowa
Stone City is an unincorporated community in Jones County, Iowa, United States. Stone City began as a company town for the workers of the local quarries. Stone City is known for its Anamosa Limestone quarries, historic limestone architecture, and 1930's art colony...

, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 as a Historic District
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....

 in November 2008. The buildings of Stone City Historic District were constructed using Anamosa Limestone
Anamosa Limestone
Anamosa Limestone is a dolomitic limestone quarried out of Stone City, Iowa, which is located along the Wapsipinicon River about two miles west of Anamosa, Iowa. It is distinguished by its uniform texture, color, and banding, its durability and most of all by its distinct veining. This distinctive...

 quarried locally and built between 1870 and 1913.

History

In 1870 Henry Dearborn, owner of Stone City Quarries, built his home near his business. With the help of John Green
John Aloysius Green
John Aloysius Green was born in the parish of Moore, County Roscommon, Ireland, 10 December 1844. His parents were John Green and Bridget Green. John A. Green came to Boston, Massachusetts, September 2, 1852, and attended the common schools. In 1860 he learned the monumental trade and worked at it...

 Mr. Dearborn also built what became known as the General Store in 1897. The General Store at one time was the location of the town post office.

Contributing Properties

  • Columbia Hall was a three-story hotel and opera house complex. It was completed in 1883 and made of 500,000 tons of stone. The theater offered some of the most well known entertainers of the day. Columbia Hall was purchased in the 1930s and torn down in 1938 to use the stone elsewhere. The foundation is all that remains.

  • The John A. Green Estate
    John A. Green Estate
    The John A. Green Estate is a historic property in Stone City, Iowa, United States. The estate covers of land. The buildings were constructed of Anamosa Limestone quarried from John Green's own local business. The estate was placed on the U.S...

     (also known as the Green-Nissen Estate) covers 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land. The estate consists of the Green mansion, ice house, water tower, barn, and office building were each built of Anamosa Limestone
    Anamosa Limestone
    Anamosa Limestone is a dolomitic limestone quarried out of Stone City, Iowa, which is located along the Wapsipinicon River about two miles west of Anamosa, Iowa. It is distinguished by its uniform texture, color, and banding, its durability and most of all by its distinct veining. This distinctive...

     quarried from John Green's
    John Aloysius Green
    John Aloysius Green was born in the parish of Moore, County Roscommon, Ireland, 10 December 1844. His parents were John Green and Bridget Green. John A. Green came to Boston, Massachusetts, September 2, 1852, and attended the common schools. In 1860 he learned the monumental trade and worked at it...

     own local business. During the summers of 1932 and 1933 the Green Estate became the loaction of Stone City Art Colony
    Stone City art colony
    The Stone City Art Colony was an art colony founded by Edward Rowan, Adrian Dornbush, and Grant Wood. The colony gathered on the John A. Green Estate in Stone City, Iowa during the summers of 1932 and 1933.- History :...

    .

  • Construction began on St. Joseph's Church
    St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (Stone City, Iowa)
    The cornerstone of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Stone City, Iowa was laid in 1913. The first mass was held in 1914. The church was designed by Dubuque, Iowa architect Guido Beck. The stained glass windows of the church were imported from Germany. The limestone used for the building was...

     in 1913. The first mass was held in 1914. The church was designed by Dubuque, Iowa
    Dubuque, Iowa
    Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....

     architect Guido Beck. The stained glass
    Stained glass
    The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

     windows of the church were imported from Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

    . The limestone used for the building was donated by local quarries. The labor to construct the church was also donated by city quarry businesses.

  • The General Store was owned by Henry Dearborn. In the late 1890s he commissioned John Green
    John Aloysius Green
    John Aloysius Green was born in the parish of Moore, County Roscommon, Ireland, 10 December 1844. His parents were John Green and Bridget Green. John A. Green came to Boston, Massachusetts, September 2, 1852, and attended the common schools. In 1860 he learned the monumental trade and worked at it...

     to build the general store. In 1897 the city post office
    Post office
    A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

     was moved from the Dearborn residence to the general store where it remained in operation until the government closed it down in 1954. The store was also headquarters for the village telegraph and was the town's only gas station. The store remained in the Dearborn family until the late 1950s.
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