Georgia Marble Company
Tate, Georgia
In 1835, an outcropping of white and sparkling marble caught the eye of an Irish stone cutter, Henry T. Fitzsimmons, in the foothills of northern Georgia. He began a small quarrying operation shortly thereafter in a town that was aptly named Marble Hill. After building a small mill to manufacture monuments, Fitzsimmons, as well as other companies engaged in marble production in the area, experienced only limited success before and after the Civil War.
It wouldn’t be until 1884 that the Georgia Marble Company was officially founded, gaining control of 7,000 acres on Samuel Tate’s land. The Georgia Marble Company began an extended period of expansion in subsequent years experiencing record growth in production, facilities and sales of both memorial and building stone. Its operations were fully integrated and coordinated to solidify itself as on of the world’s largest producers of marble products of extraordinary purity. The company’s marble deposits staggered the imagination with an estimated 3,000 years of reserves, even at the high current rate of production.
Architects and engineers began specifying this unique marble for some of America’s most famous buildings and landmarks, from the U.S. Capitol building to the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C., as well as the iconic NY Stock Exchange building and Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Since then, Georgia Marble Company has continued to grow and evolve with the technology and markets. Today, Georgia Marble Company is proud to be a part of the Polycor family of brands, having been acquired by Canadian-based Polycor, the world’s largest dimension stone quarry company in 2003. Nothing has changed from an operations and service perspective, and you can continue to expect the same level of quality and trust that has been Georgia Marble Company’s foundation and which is shared by Polycor across all of its family of brands.
How Georgia Marble Was Formed
Georgia Marble began its formation at the bottom of the sea – a sea that covered North Georgia 600 million years ago. Tiny sea animals lived and died there by the trillions. Being composed of calcium carbonate, their remains, over the eons, gradually built up a reef, or bank thousands of feet thick, of calcium carbonate that rose above the level of the mud and sand around it, keeping the carbonate virtually pure.
Over many eons of time, the entire reef was buried under thousands of feet of sediment and was transformed into limestone by the tremendous pressure. Then, about 450 million years ago, a series of great upheavals buckled the reef and thrust it deep into the earth’s crust. Heat and pressure transformed it into a unique marble with sparkling calcite crystals. An upheaval occurred around 60 million years ago, forcing the huge deposit of Georgia Marble to the earth’s surface. The Cherokee and Etowah Indians used it in native crafts.
The Stone That Sparkles
Bright sunshine filtered through the pine trees, mottling the earth with an ever-shifting pattern of light and shadows. An outcropping of white stone sparkled in the sunlight as if thousands of diamond chips were embedded in its surface. Henry T. Fitzsimmons was fascinated by the pure white brilliance of the stone. He explored the outcropping eagerly, knocking off chunks to study color and hardness; stepping back to judge the size of the deposit. As an itinerant Irish stone cutter, he quickly identified the outcropping as an exceptionally fine specimen of pure marble.
So it was that in 1835, less than 20 miles from the site of our nation’s first gold rush seven years earlier at Dahlonega, the world’s richest deposit of white crystalline marble was discovered in the region known to the Cherokees as “Long Swamp Valley.” In 1838, Mr. Fitzsimmons began operations. He opened his quarry and marble works at the location now known as Marble Hill, Georgia.
By 1842 he had built a mill and was crafting marble into monuments. His extent of trade was limited because deliveries were made by ox cart. The extraordinary beauty of the monuments his skilled hands fashioned from this unique sparkling stone foretold the wide demand for Georgia Marble as a medium for artistic expression for centuries to come.
Georgia Marble Becomes an Industry
A few other companies engaged in marble production in the area before and after the Civil War with limited success. But because of their efforts and observations of others, news of the large marble deposits in Georgia spread to the North. In about 1880, an evaluation of the commercial value of the marble deposits in Long Swamp Valley startled the world.
Geologists and consultants soon confirmed a vast deposit of marble under the fertile farm land. Not only was this deposit the world’s largest; the marble proved to be denser and more durable than any other produced in America. Furthermore, it was found that no other domestic marble contained the large crystals that added the unique dimension of beauty created by reflected light.
The Georgia Marble Company: Beginning of an Era
By the 1960’s, The Georgia Marble Company was a giant of its industry worldwide. Its operations were fully integrated and coordinated; its prospects for continued growth from increasing sales of traditional and new products were never brighter.
The Georgia Marble Company quickly became one of the world’s largest producers of marble products. The company’s marble deposits stagger the imagination. Even at the high rate of production from its quarries in North Georgia’s Long Swamp Valley, it is conservatively estimated that there is enough Georgia Marble to last more than 3,000 years. Each variety is present in such abundance that any Georgia Marble now in use can be perfectly matched for future additions to existing buildings, memorials, or duplications.
Georgia Marble Company Acquired by Polycor
The Georgia Marble Company had operated continuously for nearly 120 years when economic conditions caught up with the business. After the company changed ownership several times, the dimension stone division of Georgia Marble was marked for closing. Market conditions and old technology had decreased the profitability in structural and memorial marble.
Fortunately for the residents and businesses around Tate, Ga., in 2003, Polycor bought the struggling dimension stone division of the Georgia Marble Company from Imerys, saving not only more than 70 jobs, but also a long Georgia tradition, and ultimately bringing Polycor more strongly into the U.S. market.
Georgia Marble: A Superior Stone
Georgia Marble contains important characteristics which combine to yield an unquestionably superior stone. These qualities are purity and structure.
Extraordinary Purity
Georgia Marble is composed almost entirely (over 98%) of one ingredient – calcium carbonate. This means that it is free of minerals and discoloring agents that could work from within to stain or discolor the material.
Interlocking Crystals
Georgia Marble’s structure is purely crystalline with no stratification and only traces of foreign material. The myriad crystals that distinguish Georgia Marble as “the stone that sparkles” also form an almost impenetrable barrier against moisture, dirt and discoloration.
Moisture absorption is the first step in the disintegration of a stone. Data from tests by ASTM, the United States Bureau of Standards, the United States Geological Survey, and independent labs all verify the extremely low absorption rate of Georgia Marble. This interlocking action of crystals has other advantages, too. This density contributes to the tremendous strength that enables one cubic foot of Georgia Marble to support a weight of almost 1,000 tons.
More reasons to select Georgia Marble
Whether Georgia Marble is bein chosen to commemorate a family, individual or to clad a building, there is certain to be a color variety suitable for the purpose. Marble of soft white, silvery gray and blue gray is readily available to dramatically accent an architectural design or memorialize a personality. Each variety is characterized by a distinctive clouding effect of complementary, contrasting color that makes Georgia Marble unique.
The rich, deep beauty of Georgia Marble is majestic and everlasting. No chemicals or fillers are required to bring out its natural luster and crystalline sparkle as is necessary in most granites.
Sculptors, architects and stone craftsmen appreciate the exceptional qualities of Georgia Marble. They can execute the most ambitious project without the danger of running into material flaws that would render their design useless.
The stone can be shaped, chiseled, given several finishes and inscribed with infinite skill and precision. Proof is evident in the growing number of large public and private memorials, monuments, buildings, and sculptures that are made of Georgia Marble.
