Milford pink granite, also known as Milford granite or Milford pink is a Proterozoicigneous rock located in and around the town of Milford, Massachusetts, covering an area of approximately 39 square miles (100 km2), as mapped by the USGS. It is also sometimes referred to as Braggville granite, for several quarries in the neighboring village of Braggville, Massachusetts.[2]
From 1870 to 1940, the town of Milford became famous for the "pink" variety of this stone, prized as a building material. According to local legend, the granite was "discovered" in the early 1870s by two brothers, James and William Sherman at Rocky Woods in Milford.[3]At its peak, over 1,000 men labored in dozens of quarries in Milford and nearby Hopkinton. A sample of Milford Pink is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.[4]
Milford pink granite is quarried by the Fletcher Granite Company, at their Lumber Street quarry in Hopkinton.[5]
Description
The granite is described as a light gray or light pinkish-gray to a medium, slightly pinkish or pinkish and greenish-gray biotitegranite with spots from 0.2 to 0.5 inches (5.1 to 12.7 mm) across and in some cases tapering out to 1 inch (25 mm) in length.[1] The biotite is typically in clots or short streaks. It is commonly locally gneissic.[6] The color of the stone is governed mainly by its feldspars, pink from the potash and green from the soda lime feldspar.[1]
^ a b cT. Nelson Dale (1923). "The Commercial Granites of New England" (PDF). United States Geological Survey. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
^"TAWANI Foundation Donates $150,000 for Preservation of Glessner House Museum". Tawani Enterprises, Inc. August 29, 2017.
Sweetser, Moses Foster (1889). "braggville+granite"&pg=PA205 King's Handbook of Newton, Massachusetts. Moses King Corporation. p. 205.
Brayley, Arthur Wellington (1913). "braggville+granite"&pg=PA33 History of the Granite Industry of New England. Vol. I. Boston: National Association of Granite Industries of the United States. p. 33.
^Blackstone River Valley Archived 2008-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
^"Did You Know Milford's Pink Granite is in the Smithsonian?". 12 June 2018.
^"Our Granites". www.fletchergranite.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03.
^Bragg, Ernest A (1958). History Of Braggville Section of Holliston, Medway and Milford. Boston. p. 13. OCLC 6115177. Retrieved 3 Jul 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
External links
Boston Public Library construction photos, showing Milford quarries