Inside the Chester Granite Company. The Bowe Quarry originally opened in 1890 being the first in Otis, then was reopened about 1920 by a group of men of Finnish men, and was thereafter known as the “Finn’s Quarry.” Officially it was “Chester Granite and Polishing Works.” Since the rails to it had been taken up and sold for scrap during the war, the new company used trucks. At first they trucked their stone only as far as the siding at Turner’s Switch, the right to erect a derrick there was granted them by the District Court in 1920. The upper, “Finn’s” quarry, “Chester Granite and Polishing Works,” lost its finishing shed on the Knox Place in Chester to fire in 1930. It was reorganized as the “Chester Granite Company” and continued to operate using facilities at the quarry. In 1946, Lester Williams left the lower quarry to do finishing work for the upper. The finishing works of the upper quarry again burned in 1952, and the stock was bought by the treasurer, who failed to make the quarry operate. Mr. Williams purchased the stock from him in 1953 and is now successfully operating the business with his family. Many of the granite curbing blocks on the Massachusetts Turnpike were cut from this quarry. There are several “lost” quarries along the granite vien, search our blog to see them all!

A big thank you goes out to Mr. Allen Williams for spending his Saturday giving us a tour of his Chester Granite Company, site of the historic Bowe Quarry in Otis! All photos contributed by Karen, Tom and our members

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