Business and Industry | Page 111

Cold Spring Granite Company Loading Area

Cold Spring Granite Company Loading Area, c.2007.

Henry Alexander's Children

Henry Alexander Children L. to R., Bill, John, Marion, Isabel in Rockville, Minnesota. c.1915.

Cold Spring Granite Company Plant

Cold Spring Granite Company Plant, Cold Spring, Minnesota, c.1940.

Splitting Granite

Splitting Granite, Cold Spring Granite Company, Cold Spring, Minnesota, c.1938.

Hilter's Tombstone

Hiltler's Tombstone, Cold Spring Granite Company, Cold Spring, Minnesota, c. 1945.

Marine Engine Block, War Production

Marine Engine Block, War Production, Cold Spring Granite Company, Cold Spring, c.1943.

Quarry, Rockville Granite Company, Rockville, Minnesota

Quarry, Rockville Granite Company, Rockville, Minnesota, Henry Alexander left, c.1910.

Cold Spring Granite Company and the Henry N. Alexander Family

St. Cloud was an ideal place to settle if you were a quarryman looking to make a living in the 1880s. The area was rich with a multitude of colors of granite. All that was needed was the right skill set. It was an opportunity just waiting for the likes of the experienced, Scottish-born quarryman Henry N. Alexander who at age nine began learning the craft from his stonemason father near Aberdeen, Scotland. Henry came to the United States in 1880 and established a family granite dynasty that today is the largest granite producing company in the United States.