Splitting Granite, Hallowell Granite Quarries, Hallowell, Maine, 1909. Courtesy of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
Splitting Granite, Hallowell Granite Quarries, Hallowell, Maine, 1909. Courtesy of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
The artist chose to depict granite workers in the background of this panel. The Granite Cutter’s National Union was organized at Rockland, Maine in 1877. The first secretary was the Honorable Thompson H. Murch (1838-1886). He later represented Maine’s 5th district in the U.S. House of Representatives. At first the union was largely confined to Maine and was committed "to raise ourselves to that condition in society to which we, as mechanics, are justly entitled…and to…secure us from further encroachment and to elevate the moral, social and intellectual condition of every stone worker in the country.” By 1900, there were 102 branches nation-wide, with 15 in Maine.
The men in this photo work in Hallowell, extracting granite.