Quarries
Babcock & Willcox Quarry blocks and workers, 1912. This limestone provided the finished interior walls of the State Capitol building.
Photo courtesy Fred Danner collection
Stone for the Minnesota Capitol came from quarries across Minnesota, as well as locations in other states and countries.
The base of the Capitol dome was cut out of sandstone from a quarry in what is now Banning State Park, near Sanstone, MN.
The granite for the outside base and steps of the Minnesota Capitol came from Stearns County, Minnesota. This granite came from a quarry operated by William Baxter in St. Joseph Township, west of St. Cloud. Two columns inside the rotunda were cut from Rockville granite and sculpted by a lathe operated by the Rockville Granite Company. (Two other columns of stone from Ortonville, in southwestern Minnesota, were also cut by this lathe.) The company was founded by Henry Alexander, an immigrant from Scotland, is now the Cold Spring Granite Company.
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Photo: Limestone for the foundation of the Capitol came from a Winina quarry operated by Albert Steinbauer. The quarry site is now on the grounds of Biesanz Stone.
