This was so cool! I grew up in Proctor and Renzo Palmerini was my next door neighbor! Incredible man, talented, funny, humble and warm. He was almost completely responsible for the Hall of Presidents at the Vermont Marble Museum and they should be moved to the Smithsonian, they're incredible. I thank you for this!
Couple of corrections: Marble is not “ ground into calcium carbonate. It IS calcium carbonate. It is ground into powder. Second, OMYA mines and grinds marble that fractures easily and is not suitable for slabs for building and monument applications. This quality of marble is known as dimension stone. OMYA subleases their dimension stone quarry to an Italian company that still mines this grade of marble for use in building and monuments. The crushed marble OMYA grinds is far more than just “a filler.” Used in the manufacture of plastics, pharmaceuticals, paints and paper making (among other applications), the crushed marble provides neutral pH, brightness, whiteness, and opacity (in paper). Additionally, ground marble reduces the amount of petrochemicals needed to make plastics and reduces the number of trees needed to make paper.
ha, sounds like you work as PR for OMYA? While you may disagree, I think it's an absolute shame that marble from Vermont is no longer used to build America's proudest structures. And seeing marble that has taken millions of years to form simply ground into dust for paper, paints, and plastics feels even more appalling. OMYA killed Vermont's mighty marble industry. And while this Swedish company's profits have soared, the architecture and artisans of this nation have suffered greatly because of it.
Live down the street and walk through the little outdoor art/garden every once and a while. Its been closed for a while now and just another dead relic in this town. Growing up here in the early 90's when it was dying and closing up it was a different town. Still had a bank, power company as we generated our own power from the falls, at least 4 or 5 stores and the yard in front of the marble company used to have stack after stack of ton blocks of marble stacked up 2 high after being quarried and now that is gone. Now there's nothing here but a single restaurant and we are lucky to have even that and it probably wont last long. Company towns go to shit when the company funding the town shut down. Proctor was a community and a great place to live that you didn't have to leave very often if you didn't want to but now its a just Housing and you have to go to Rutland for everything. Pretty much the only reason to come here is to drive home from work because there's almost no chance your getting a job in town as I said it before it now just housing.
I learned about the Vermont Marble Company earlier this year when doing research for a video on a WW2 memorial for the IBM Endicott men who were killed. Great job on this video. Here is link to the video on that memorial if you're interested. ua-cam.com/video/00pQif4dNv4/v-deo.html
This was so cool! I grew up in Proctor and Renzo Palmerini was my next door neighbor! Incredible man, talented, funny, humble and warm. He was almost completely responsible for the Hall of Presidents at the Vermont Marble Museum and they should be moved to the Smithsonian, they're incredible. I thank you for this!
My great grandfather is on the list of original Vermont marblers in front of the proctor building.
Very familiar with the company since I grew up in that area. Great that you took the time to let others know about its history.
Thank you! Spread the word/link :)
Couple of corrections: Marble is not “ ground into calcium carbonate. It IS calcium carbonate. It is ground into powder. Second, OMYA mines and grinds marble that fractures easily and is not suitable for slabs for building and monument applications. This quality of marble is known as dimension stone. OMYA subleases their dimension stone quarry to an Italian company that still mines this grade of marble for use in building and monuments. The crushed marble OMYA grinds is far more than just “a filler.” Used in the manufacture of plastics, pharmaceuticals, paints and paper making (among other applications), the crushed marble provides neutral pH, brightness, whiteness, and opacity (in paper). Additionally, ground marble reduces the amount of petrochemicals needed to make plastics and reduces the number of trees needed to make paper.
ha, sounds like you work as PR for OMYA? While you may disagree, I think it's an absolute shame that marble from Vermont is no longer used to build America's proudest structures. And seeing marble that has taken millions of years to form simply ground into dust for paper, paints, and plastics feels even more appalling. OMYA killed Vermont's mighty marble industry. And while this Swedish company's profits have soared, the architecture and artisans of this nation have suffered greatly because of it.
Wow. Fascinating!
Nicely presented.
Thank you!
Very interesting. My husbands family mausoleum in East LA was made in 1912 from the same granite that was used to build the US capitol building
Has any environmentalists been able to close down the marble mining in Vermont?
Live down the street and walk through the little outdoor art/garden every once and a while. Its been closed for a while now and just another dead relic in this town. Growing up here in the early 90's when it was dying and closing up it was a different town. Still had a bank, power company as we generated our own power from the falls, at least 4 or 5 stores and the yard in front of the marble company used to have stack after stack of ton blocks of marble stacked up 2 high after being quarried and now that is gone. Now there's nothing here but a single restaurant and we are lucky to have even that and it probably wont last long. Company towns go to shit when the company funding the town shut down. Proctor was a community and a great place to live that you didn't have to leave very often if you didn't want to but now its a just Housing and you have to go to Rutland for everything. Pretty much the only reason to come here is to drive home from work because there's almost no chance your getting a job in town as I said it before it now just housing.
I learned about the Vermont Marble Company earlier this year when doing research for a video on a WW2 memorial for the IBM Endicott men who were killed. Great job on this video. Here is link to the video on that memorial if you're interested. ua-cam.com/video/00pQif4dNv4/v-deo.html
Thank you!
How do you erase a species? Hide their architecture.
What a waste of beautiful stone. Surely another source of carbonate can be found - there is plenty of low-grade marble all over the world.