Hummelstown Brownstone
Hummelstown Brownstone: South Central PA Brownstone
If you’ve ever wondered why there is so much Brownstone at Lincoln Cemetery…. Here is the beginning of an explanation–the Hummelstown Brownstone Company.
You can find a completely thorough review of the history of the Hummelstown Brownstown Company by visiting this excellent site created by Peggy & George Pellazzo: Peggy Perrazzo and George Perrazzo. “Hummelstown Brownstone.” Accessed July 26, 2022. https://quarriesandbeyond.org/articles_and_books/hummelstown/hummelstone_brownstone_page.html.
“At the height of its business the Hummelstown Brownstone Company hired as many as 600 employees most of which were unskilled. Quite a few of them were itinerant Afro-Americans from Virginia. The Sun reported in 1887 that of the “125 Virginia Negroes now employed at the Brownstone Quarries, the majority of them can both read and write.”
“This photograph is rare in that few photographs exist of Afro-American workers despite the hundreds that labored in the pits over the years. (Photograph courtesy of Charles Wagner)” (“Hummelstown Brownstone”, p. 63)
“Few stonecutters out of the hundreds that worked for the Hummelstown Brownstone Company over the years can be identified by name; it is even more difficult to attribute specific works to any of them…. In one case a work that can be identified as that of a particular stonecutter is the headstone and plot markers of the Savastio Family in a small cemetery in Middletown. These were carved by Leonard Savastio” (“Hummelstown Brownstone”, p. 66)
“Accounts from The Sun reveal an ethnic prejudice that was evident on the newspaper staff and more than likely existed within the company as well as among the local residents.” (“Hummelstown Brownstone”, p. 66)
“Stonecutters were frequently identified by name and highly spoken of in The Sun: Mr. George Scott and Mr. Williams, two excellent young men, sailed from the port of New York on last Saturday for their respective homes in Scotland and Wales. These young gentlemen are stone cutters in the employ of the Brown Stone Company and expect to return in the spring.
While unskilled Afro-Americans and Eastern Europeans suffered invective: On Monday several Hunks were at work at the Brownstone Quarries digging away an embankment of rock and earth at #4 when a bank caved in on them. Hen Wright, a well known colored man of this place, was struck on the head by a piece of chain and put out of commission. It was said the piece of chain that struck Hen was the missing link.” (“Hummelstown Brownstone”, p. 67)
“As the largest employer in Derry Township and Hummelstown prior to the establishment of Milton Hershey’s chocolate empire, the Hummelstown Brownstone Company was the driving economic influence in the area. With the dissolution of the business most workers, both skilled and unskilled, dispersed seeking employment in other areas.” (“Hummelstown Brownstone”, p. 72)
“Of all the Afro-American workers that toiled in the quarries over the years only Oliver Cammack, who worked in the pits as a water boy and whose father worked for the Waltons, managed to buy a property in Derry Township. This was one of the company houses purchased from the Walton estate. It is most likely that he was the first Afro-American to purchase land in Derry Township and remained the sole Afro-American land owner in the township for many years.” (“Hummelstown Brownstone”, p. 72)
What Is Hummelstown Brownstone?
Learn More About The Origins & History of South Central PA Brownstone
“Hummelstown Brownstone.” In Wikipedia, February 6, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hummelstown_brownstone&oldid=1070333679.
“Hummelstown Brownstone.” Accessed July 26, 2022. https://quarriesandbeyond.org/articles_and_books/hummelstown/hummelstone_brownstone_page.html.
More About Our Lived Environment: In Brownstone
Historic Harrisburg Resource Center
Each month, during 3rd in the Burg, a stream of people enter and exit an old bank building at the corner of Verbeke and N. 3rd streets in Harrisburg.
It’s the Historic Harrisburg Resource Center, a brownstone-faced building that monthly features art, often of a local historical nature.
For many people, that’s their sole exposure to the Historic Harrisburg Association. But HHA, as it’s known, does so much more than mount the occasional art exhibit. All year long, it focuses on preservation, education and programming.
“Midland Cemetery Archives – TheBurg.” Accessed September 13, 2022. https://theburgnews.com/tag/midland-cemetery.
Barbour County Courthouse
The Barbour County Courthouse in Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia, USA is a monumental public building constructed between 1903 and 1905 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It dominates the town center and is the county’s chief symbol of government. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal
Buffalo, NY
Passengers used an entrance near Ohio Street. A long wide portico protected those going to and from the station. Passengers arriving by boat entered the station from the south side which fronted the Buffalo River. The building was three stories high and built of brownstone. There were waiting rooms on the ground floor and on the second floor. The ground floor had one ticket office and checking counter with benches along the sides. A double stairway led to the second waiting room which was fitted with accommodations for about 200 persons. There were long rows of seats back to back with shaded lights on the back.
“Forgotten Buffalo Featuring the DL&W Terminal.” Accessed September 13, 2022. http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/forgottenbuffalolost/thedlwterminal.html.
The League of Women for Community Service
(Boston, Massachusetts)
This project will restore the entry portico of the 1857 brownstone headquarters of the League of Women for Community Service, a historic Black women’s organization. It provided rooms to Black women college students who were not allowed to stay in dormitories due to segregation, such as Coretta Scott King when she attended the Boston Conservatory. Scott King was also courted here by her future husband Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who lived down the street.
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