Limestone Lives Voices from the Indiana Stone Belt

Look up at the Empire State Building in New York City and you will see an almost endless ribbon of soaring stone--Indiana limestone, to be precise. The Empire State Building, Pentagon, Chicago Tribune Building, and many university structures, state capitols, post offices, and churches in every state (and buildings in other countries) are constructed of this exceptional material, renowned for its durability, consistency, and capacity to accept and retain fine detail. When part of the Pentagon was destroyed after 9/11, an Indiana quarry went to work, mining 46 truckloads of limestone to be sent to the Washington site and enabling reconstruction to be completed ahead of schedule.

Limestone Lives pays tribute to the skill and dedication of the men and women who work with stone. It combines 79 striking fine art photographic images with engaging oral histories, representing a range of voices of the workers themselves. We hear from sculptors, drill runners, stone polishers, planermen, forklift operators, a union leader, and the president of a stone company. The book also features brief descriptions of the region's stone companies, a map locating Indiana quarries and stone mills, and a look at how the industry has changed over the years.

Limestone Lives is a testament to men and women who take enormous pride in the quality of their work, as well as to the role this unique industry plays in creating buildings that last.

"Striking photographic images are interwoven with a series of oral histories in a tribute to the dedication and skill of Indiana's men and women who work with stone, including sculptors, stone polishers, planermen, forklift operators, drill runners, union leaders, and the president of a stone company, accompanied by profiles of the region's stone companies, a detailed map of Indiana quarries and stone mills, and historical overview of the stone industry." --Forecast Indiana University Press Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

"In Limestone Lives Katherine Ferrucci documents the men and women who carved that stone from the ground. Filled with personal accounts and historic photographs, the book proves that there is as much beauty in the chiseled face of a stonecutter as there is in any towering architectural achievement." --Indiana Alumni Magazine

Katherine Ferrucci is a freelance graphic designer, writer, photographer, and bookbinder. She is the founder of the People to People Press, a publisher of limited-edition books that document and preserve collections of oral history stories. A version of this book printed on a letterpress and bound by hand in an edition of 50 copies was selected as one of the "Fifty Books of the Year" by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Ferrucci lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Foreword

Preface

Dedication

Tom Dixon: It All Started Right Here

Bob Thrasher: What a Penny Used to Mean

Dale Enochs: A Humble Stone

Vollie Staggs: Washington Crossing the Delaware

Ned Cunningham: Hanging Around the Drafting Room

Wilbern Terrell: Something Different Everyday

Will Bybee: Rebuilding the Pentagon

Amy Brier: Build It and They Will Come

Amos Hawkins: He'll Make You a Good Man

John Bolin: First Day on the Job

Winfred "Buck" Prince: Twelve Princes

Michael Donham: Passion for the Unique

Brian Smith: Being Green

Patsy Fell-Barker: Our Changing Times

Frank Young: The Form Within

Jim Owens: The Processing of Indiana Limestone

Map

Stone Company Descriptions

The Quarry and Mill: Yesterday and Today

Acknowledgments

Photo Credits