Remembering Turner's Quarry

Entering the museum on N. Franklin Street, I spotted the line of Civil War veterans who were awarded the Medal of Honor with a Decatur County connection. Marion Anderson, James Dunlavy, Louis J. Bruner, John N. Opel, Jacob H. Overturf, Ruben Smalley. Heroes all, just as all veterans are heroes to us. I hope everybody appreciates our historical museum. We’re mighty lucky!

Charity Mitchell and Carrie Shoemaker had already found information I’d called about – help with a question Mary Narwold asked. I couldn’t find the answer, but knew Charity and Carrie could (and be willing to help).

Mary asked about the name of the quarry that used to be right in the city of Greensburg. I knew there was a quarry just west of South Park Cemetery, but I didn’t know a thing about it. It hasn’t been doing business for many years. But what was the name of it and who owned it?

Charity and Carrie came through with answers!

In the 1959 Bicentennial Greensburg Daily News it states: “For a number of years quarrying operations were conducted on the south edge of Greensburg off South Broadway. Carl E. Brown owned it for a number of years. It was next owned by James B. Wirt and Theodore Wanstrath who sold it to Darrell G. Rhodes. Thereafter it was operated by Paul H. Huber and Art Doty. The last owner was C. A. Sanborn who dismantled it.” At some point, certainly in the 1920s and into the 1930s, it was named Turner’s Quarry.

To the best of my knowledge, it was just called the Greensburg Stone Company until John L. Turner purchased it and worked it for a while. Later, he was general secretary of the Greensburg YMCA. Then he took members, sometimes 25 or more, for a walk to Turner’s Quarry. Here is an ad that was in an April 1931 Greensburg Daily News:

“First “Y” Hike Goes to Quarry. To open the outdoor season of the Greensburg YMCA, John L. Turner, general secretary, lead 25 members of the junior gymnasium classes on a short hike to Turner’s Quarry this morning.

“The group left the Association building at 8 o’clock and went directly to their camping site, two miles south of town. It was planned for the group to participate in games during part of the morning and to prepare their own meals over individual camp fires. Shortly after 12 o’clock they returned home to swim in the Y pool.

“Turner’s Quarry is especially suited for short hikes, as there are nearby fields for games and the water is not too deep to be dangerous.”

By 1936, Darrell G. Rhodes owned it and the name was Greensburg Stone Co. But it had been Turner’s Quarry long enough that people still called it that. Rhodes put a notice in the Daily News: REWARD. The sum of $5.00 will be paid to person furnishing information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of person or persons who molested property of the Greensburg Stone Co. on Saturday night, Oct. 31, 1936. Notify Chief of Police or Darrell G. Rhodes at Stone Quarry.”

In November 1937, there was an ad in the Daily News that read: “WARNING how’s your Drives and Lanes? Will they stand the freezing and thawing of winter? Let us repair them with clean uniformly sized crushed stone. Four sizes to choose from. Price $1.15 per cu. yd. at plant. We will deliver and spread at a reasonable price. Res. phone 766-1. Greensburg Stone Co. S. Broadway and Davis St. Darrell G. Rhodes, owner. “

And then in 1951 Darrell Rhodes died suddenly at only 45 years old. His obituary in the Daily News stated that he had come to Greensburg in 1929 to “engage in the limestone business. For several years he owned and operated the Greensburg Stone Company.” It noted that he later became a Greensburg policeman.

Apparently, the quarry workers carried on without incident when the new owner E. M. Withers bought it. But in 1952 there was, “”Notice! Anyone dumping Trash or Trespassing at former Quarry on South Broadway will be arrested and prosecuted.” I have been told that it is now full of old cars and trash.

Thanks to Mary Narwold, Charity Mitchell and Carrie Shoemaker, and much gratitude that we have such a marvelous historical museum!