Use of domestic and imported building stones over two centuries in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

ABSTRACT Due to its location along Lake Erie and to Lake Erie’s connection with the Erie Canal, stones from diverse locales outside of Pennsylvania, USA, were used for large buildings in the heart of Erie beginning early in its history, notably the use of Vermont marble for its 1839 Customs House. Medina sandstone (Grimsby Sandstone) from New York State quarried near the Erie Canal was used for mansions, a cathedral, and roadway paving later in the 1800s. Berea Sandstone and Sandusky bluestone from northern Ohio and a great variety of European and North African decorative stones also found use in Erie in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Railway connections eventually allowed for use of more North American stones. Use of local blue stone (Panama Sandstone) was primarily restricted to foundations. This field trip identifies, using both commercial and geological rock unit names, major stones used for two dozen structures, many of them historic, in the downtown area of Erie.