Granite National Historic District
The Granite National Historic District is a rural quarrying community located in the Patapsco Valley of western Baltimore County, Maryland. In 1994, Granite was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The District includes properties along Old Court Road and several side streets, between Granite Road on the east and Hernwood Road on the west.
Some 62 properties within the District contribute to its National Historic District status, including two churches, a school, a social hall, and over fifty houses and outbuildings. These structures represent the period from the initial settlement of the area around 1750 through the early 20th century, when the village achieved its current form.
QUARRYING INDUSTRY
The quarries were at their peak during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. Two significant quarries during the peak mining time were Waltersville and Fox Rock. Granite was originally named Waltersville, after one of the quarries.
The granite was used in the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the 1830s. The most important early project was the B&O's Thomas Viaduct between Relay and Elkridge, completed on July 4, 1835. Later these quarries provided the granite for such projects as the Library of Congress, old Treasury Building, and parts of the inner walls of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Locally, stones from the Granite quarries can be seen in the Baltimore City Courthouse and Post Office, the old Baltimore County Courthouse in Towson, the Randallstown Elementary School on Liberty Road, and the public and residential buildings within Granite. Granite also appears throughout the district in gateposts, garden walls, and cemetery monuments.
GRANITE'S ORIGIN
The area around the village of Granite was effectively settled in the mid-18th century when Samuel Walters built his residence, "Mt. Welcome." This 1-1/2-story frame hall-parlor house, is reminiscent of a structure called the Chesapeake Tidewater house, seen on Walters' native Eastern Shore.
QUARRY WORKERS
Many of the quarrymen (1870 - 1900s) were immigrants from Scotland, Wales, England, France and Italy. A significant African-American community developed in Granite during this time. This mix of humanity worked together in various occupations connected with the quarry industry.
ARCHITECTURE
To this day, the buildings of early Granite appear remarkably the same as they did at the heyday of the quarrying era. The village has experienced few modern intrusions. The homes are typically two-story cross-gabled types, characteristic of rural communities throughout the region in the post-Civil War era.
St. Paul's Methodist Church (now the Granite Missionary Baptist Church), located on the north side of St. Paul Avenue, was built in 1878 of granite. A round-arched entrance holds double-leaf doors, sheltered by a peaked hood.
On the south side of Old Court Road stands the Granite Presbyterian Church, established in 1844. The present Gothic-style building was erected in 1924 of granite and features a crenelated entrance tower. The original belltower was hit by lightening and burned in 1926, and not replaced.
The Odd Fellows constructed the Shiloh Lodge No. 3 at the southwest corner of Old Court Road and Bunker Hill in 1888. This two-story, gable-front frame meeting hall has a raised granite foundation.
The Granite Public School #3 was built in 1878 and designed by Thomas C. Kennedy, a prominent Baltimore architect. It stands on the south side of Old Court Road, across from Bunker Hill Road. The school house, which is now a private residence, is eight bays wide by two bays deep and features large 12 by 12 windows and a steeply-pitched, hipped roof with multiple gabled dormers.
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