Albion native chronicles rise and fall of Medina Sandstone industry
Photos by Tom Rivers: Jim Friday, shown speaking last week during a Medina Historical Society meeting, talks about the sandstone industry in Orleans County. The cover of his book is at left. The cover includes an image of the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion, which is made of Medina Sandstone.
MEDINA – Jim Friday marvels at the immensity of the Medina Sandstone industry. At its peak from 1890 to 1910, there were 50 quarries in the county employing 2,000 people.
The county’s population in 1900 was 30,164, according to the census. (In 2020, the population was 40,343).
“That was a huge percentage of the workforce,” said Friday, an Albion native who lives in North Chili. “It was just a huge industry.”
Friday, 75, is a Kodak retiree and loves local history. He wrote a book about the local sandstone industry, “The History of Sandstone in Orleans County NY.” The 108-page book includes many photos of the county’s dominant industry.
He spoke about the big business last week during the Medina Historical Society’s monthly meeting.
The quarries produced stone in some of the finest buildings in communities along the canal. They were used in churches, mansions and other public buildings. The stone also was utilized for sidewalks, curbs and street pavers.
The quarries were independently owned and competed against each other. The owners brought in immigrants from Poland, Italy, Britain and Ireland.
Friday is a descendant of Polish immigrants. His paternal grandparents (John Piatek/Friday and Stefania Siebak) lived on Moore Street in Albion. His maternal grandparents (Tony Rice and Rose Lucas) owned the farm at the end of Orchard Street along the canal in Albion. When he was a child, Friday spent a lot of time in Albion and often swam in the quarries.
He explores the geology of how and when the stone was formed, the rise and fall of the regional quarry industry and what remains today.
Jim Friday of North Chili was the featured speaker at the Medina Historical Society meeting last week at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library.
Friday presents this timeline of the Medina Sandstone industry. During construction of Erie Canal from 1817 to 1825 large deposits of sandstone were discovered. In 1836, John Ryan opened the first commercial sandstone quarry in Medina to supply stone for the second expansion of the canal.
In 1906, there were 50 quarries in the county, employing 2,000 workers. From 1919 t 1930, there were only a few independently leased quarries.
He includes includes vintage quarry photos from the early 1900s that give insight into the products, work conditions, methods and equipment used to quarry the stone. The experiences of some of the many immigrants who toiled in the quarries are presented along with photos of stone structures that remain as prominent reminders of a bygone era, Friday said.
The quarries were consolidated by New York City bankers, which led to the demise of most of the local operations. It was also cheaper to use cement rather than sandstone in buildings and public works projects.
For more information about the book, click here or send Friday an email at photos.JimFriday@gmail.com.
“It was a lot of fun to learn about the history of Albion and Orleans County,” Friday said. “The sandstone industry was huge in Orleans County, and it is interwoven with the history of the Erie Canal.”
Friday also serves as the coordinator of the orleans.nygenweb.net website that includes a wealth of local genealogy data about Orleans County. The late Sharron Kerridge and her friends were the driving force behind establishing this website.
