Chatham Quarry (Portland, Conn.)

Brownstone quarry located on the Connecticut River between Portland and Middletown, Conn.; owned by the town of Portland until 1884 when it was bought out by Brainerd and Middlesex Quarry companies.

From the description of Chatham Quarry records, 1818-1942. (University of Connecticut). WorldCat record id: 28409479

The Chatham Quarry, or Town Quarry, was a small part of the extensive brownstone quarries located on the banks of the Connecticut River near the towns of Portland and Middletown, Connecticut . As early as the 1650s, settlers used small pieces of the brownstone for building materials. When the townspeople of Middletown realized the value of these enormous deposits, they hired caretakers to manage them. After the Revolutionary War, the town was forced to sell off the quarries to private interests to pay their war debt. By the 1849s, control of the quarries rested mainly with three companies— Shaler and Hall, Middlesex Quarry Company and Brainerd Brothers .

The brownstone was of excellent quality and was in demand in practically every part of the country. The stone was used extensively for gravestones and monuments throughout New England. One block of the Washington Monument was built with Portland brownstone. Other prominent buildings constructed with this stone were the old Hancock House in Boston, the Copper Institute and the Astor Library in New York City, and the mansions of such influential industrialists as William H. Vanderbilt and Fractured Gallatin in New York City, George Pullman in Chicago, and George Corliss in Providence, Rhode Island .

The Chatham Quarry, which took in about two acres, remained under municipal control for the use of the inhabitants of the towns of Chatham and Middletown throughout its existence. For almost two hundred years the residents had the right to use the stone to build cellars, steps, walks and more. In 1824, the town of Middletown leased the quarry to John Lawrence Lewis for five years in order to extract stones for the building of a scientific and military academy, although the academy was never built. In 1883, the town offered use of the quarry as an inducement to Wesleyan University to locate in Middletown. For the sum of $10,000, Wesleyan University enjoyed the usage of the quarry for almost forty years, and many of the university's finest buildings were constructed from Chatham Quarry stone.

The quarry was controlled and managed by the town until August 1884, when it was bought by Brainerd Quarry Company and the Middlesex Quarry Company for $20,000. The sum was divided among the towns of Middletown, Portland, Cromwell, and Chatham. The quarry had already been exhausted, and the town had been leasing it to the Brainerd Company for quite some time as a storage area for scrap and stone. The office of the town quarry agent closed in 1884. The last person to hold this office was William H. Beebe .

From the guide to the Chatham Quarry Records., 1818-1842, (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center .)