Amherst

by Donna M. DeBlasio, Martha I. Pallante, Amherst Historical Society

Overview

Established in 1811, Amherst has been actively engaged in the quarrying of high-quality sandstone since before the American Civil War. The products of the town's quarries have graced buildings and other structures in the United States and around the world. The promise of work at the quarries drew potential employees from the surrounding countryside, as well as from across the ocean, giving the community's population its diverse character. This photographic history presents the unique and fascinating story of Amherst, the self-described "Sandstone Center of the World."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738577333
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/22/2010
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

The Amherst Historical Society, established in 1973, holds in its collections an extensive photographic and documentary history of the community. Since 2005, the organization has collaborated with history faculty at Youngstown State University on the development of its wide-ranging Cleveland Quarries Collection. Donna M. DeBlasio, an associate professor of history and director of the Center for Applied History at Youngstown State University, and Martha I. Pallante, full professor of history at Youngstown State University and chair of the Department of History, are committed to the preservation and interpretation of Ohio's industrial communities. Both have recently published works focusing on the region and its heritage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 The Early Years 9

2 The Quarry Story 25

3 Celebrations and Commemorations 39

4 Amherst School Days 51

5 Buildings of Amherst 65

6 Amherst Sandstone around the World 75

7 A New Era 93

8 Preserving the Past for the Future 107

Bibliography 127

Editorial Reviews

Title: Book pays homage to Amherst heritage
Author: Steve Fogarty
Publisher: The Chronicle-Telegram
Date: 7/6/2010

The recent collaboration between the Amherst Historical Society and author-scholars Donna M. DeBlasio and Martha I. Pallante proved to be a happy one.

"We had to have published authors write it," the historical society's Donna Rumpler said of the newly-published "Images of America — Amherst" book by Arcadia Publishing, a publisher of regional history. "We did the research, and they graciously wrote it on our behalf."

The book is the latest in the publisher's "Images of America" series that offers photo-and-text portraits of U.S. towns and villages.

The book's wonderful collection of vintage photos of old Amherst, its businesses, people and the quarries, were culled from the historical society's files by Martha A. Pallante, a member of the society — and the wife of co-author Martha I. Pallante's cousin.

As the two women prepared an outline of subjects for the book, they paid attention to the city's fabled sandstone quarries.

"Given all of the places where the sandstone was used, we found that there are little bits of Amherst all over the country," Pallante said.

The chapter on Amherst sandstone and its widespread use in American architecture plays up notable buildings constructed of the locally quarried stone. These include Cleveland's Lorain-Carnegie Bridge noted for its carved "Lords of Transportation" figures.

"That was a monumental project," DeBlasio said. "We found pictures of Ohio workshops where men were crawling around carving the figures. That kind of thing was really exciting."

Another example was the massive carved stone eagles that once adorned the Long Beach Memorial Auditorium in California.

"They were four times the size of a human," DeBlasio said.

One of the most poignant stories the women came across was that of Clayton and Allie, described as "a storybook-like couple of the late Victorian era," by Pallante. "They were about 19 years old. Their lives were representative of the dangers of working in mines (and quarries) no matter how young or old you were."

Clayton went off to work one day and never returned, a victim of an on-the-job accident. "There were a lot of physical dangers working the quarries. The stone was tremendously heavy and it was pulled up from great depths on roles and derricks. You could drop from great heights."

Despite the ever-present risks and little protections — "there was no OSHA, no hardhats and no workers' comp" — and odds of contracting black lung from the extreme amount of dust breathed in, men readily took the quarry jobs, according to Pallante.

"The workers were very vulnerable but they knew the risks. And they were well compensated for them ... much more so than their counterparts in safer places," Pallante said.

Hailing from an area (Youngstown) which she criticized for "trying to erase the past by spending three decades running away from its heritage as a steel and iron producer," the authors were impressed with Amherst's efforts to embrace its history.

"They are deeply embedded in their sense of history, and the story they have to tell," Pallante said of the historical society and the people who volunteer their time and energy to it. "It is impressive. They are really dedicated."

To learn where to purchase "Images of America: Amherst," call the Amherst Historical Society at [phone].

From the Publisher