Historical California Stone Carvers, Stone Cutters, & Monument Dealers

• Chronology

• A Summary of The History of the Western Granite & Marble Company as of 1888, excerpts from Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California.

• Please Note: From the articles I originally found that described the “Crystal Lake Quarries” located at Yuba Pass (in what I thought was Placer County, California), they were owned and operated by the Western Granite & Marble Co. in the 1880s. Recently, the quarries have been located in Nevada County by Central Pacific Railroad researcher G. J. Chris Graves. (It appears that the eastern border between Placer County and Nevada County has been in dispute for a long time, so the quarries are actually located in Nevada County – not Placer County.) After we visit and photograph the quarries, I will update this description with more information and photographs. In the meantime, if you'd like to read about the Crystal Lake Quarries and Mark Hopkins’ mausoleum, you will find the article at: “Mark Hopkins’ Tomb.  The Magnificent Mausoleum Completed – a Detailed Description,” Sacramento Daily Union, Vol. 12, No. 33, September 29, 1880, pp. 1, on the California Digital Newspaper web site. Peggy B. Perazzo, June 2012.

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WESTERN GRANITE & MARBLE CO., San Jose, Santa Clara County,

Mid-1880s - Name change from “Western Marble & Granite Company” to “Western Granite & Marble Co. The following excerpt is from History of Santa Clara County; With Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women, by Eugene T. Sawyer, 1922, pp. 277.

“The marble business was established in San Jose in 1870 by J. W. Combs, and in 1878 W. W. Blanchard and Timothy O’Neill opened the first granite works. In 1883 a partnership between the three men was formed and the two interests were combined under the firm name of Combs, Blanchard & O’Neill. The name was afterwards changed to the Western Marble and Granite Company, and for many years business was done on First Street near the Southern Pacific railway tracks. At last, being cramped for space, the establishment was removed to Stockton Avenue.”

1887-1888 - Western Granite & Marble Co., North First nr. S.P.R.R. depot, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (McKenney’s San Jose City Directory, Including Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz County, 1887-1888, in the “Marble Dealers” and “Granite Dealers” sections)

1887-1888 - Western Granite & Marble Co. Officials and Employees (compiled from city directory entries) Address: office and yard First Street opp. Southern Pacific Railroad Depot.

Combs, Blanchard, O’Neil, & McLannan, proprietors.

Wm. W. Blanchard; John W. Combs; Timothy O’Neil; and Angus W. Combs, foreman and carver.

1888 (See the history of the Western Granite & Marble Co. at the end of this chronology.)

1888 - Western Granite & Marble Co. Organized in May 1888. Western Granite & Marble Co. was organized in May 1888. Address: Office No. 1st St at the crossing of the So. Pacific RR. Branch office in Oakland for exhibition and sale. Their trade extended all over California and the contiguous states and territories. In 1888 business was expected to reach $100,000. 40 to 50 workmen including a special artist in designing were employed at the time. The company operated granite quarries at Yuba Pass, Placer County, California, called the Crystal Lake Quarries. (Abstracted from Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, edited by H. S. Foote, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1888 )

1889 - Western Marble & Granite Co., San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties, 1889, McKenney Directory Co., Publishers, San Francisco, CA, in the “Marble Works” section)

Some officials employees of the Western Granite & Marble Co. from the 1889 San Jose city directory: Wm. W. Blanchard, manager; John W. Combs, vice pres., Timothy O’Neil, superintendent; Allen O. Kendall, foreman.

1891 - Western Granite & Marble Co. (Advertisement)

1892 - Western Granite & Marble Co. Employees (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties, 1892, F. M. Husted, Publisher, San Francisco, CA )

A couple of employees of the Western Granite & Marble Co. compiled from city directory: Timothy O’Neil, granite cutter; Allen O. Kendall, foreman.

1892 - Western Granite and Marble Co. Article. The following excerpt is from Commercial History of San Jose, 1892, pp. 62, viewed at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Library in the California Room.

Prominent Business Houses.

“The Western Granite and Marble Company is a strong corporation, with a capital stock of $100,000, which was formed some three years ago for the purpose of engaging in the production of dressed or undressed granite or marble building material, monuments, headstones, copings, curbings, etc. This company has Mr. B. D. Murphy at its head in the position of president; Mr. O. H. Barnhart is vice president and manager; Mr. Will K. Beans is secretary. The moving spirit in the concern is the vice president and manager, Mr. O. H. Barnhart, who is ably seconded by Mr. T. O’Neil, who occupies the position of superintendent.

“This company is engaged in operations of a really extensive character. It has three granite quarries in Placer County, and one sandstone quarry in Santa Clara County, in which it gives employment to some forty men. It has also an extensive depot at Nos. 370, 372, 374, 376, and 378 North First Street, San Jose, where it gives employment to a staff of some forty men. The company is at present engaged in supplying and setting the stone material in the Santa Clara County Hall of Records, and is ready to undertake contracts for that kind of work in any part of this end of the State.

“The Western Granite and Marble Company is likely to develop into one of the great industrial enterprises of this neighborhood. It is in the hands of men who have money and the courage and brains to enable them to use it advantageously.”

Western Granite and Marble Company. (Photograph from “Commercial History of San Jose, California,” 1892)

1893 - Western Granite & Marble Co. Employees (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara Directory, 1893, F. M. Husted, Publisher, San Francisco, CA)

Some employees: Timothy O’Neil, superintendent; Allen O. Kendall, foreman; and Arthur L. Brownell, marble cutter.

1893 – Western Granite & Marble Company – The following article is from the San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, April 23, 1893, pp. 16.

“Monuments in Stone: The Output of a San Jose Manufactory”

One of Santa Clara County’s Public Buildings – A Stately Tomb.

“One of the big industries of San Jose, and in fact one that is known the whole length of the Pacific coast, is that of the Western Granite and Marble Company. This company was organized with a capital stock of $100,000 only about three years ago. From its very interception the enterprise met with success. Behind it were wide-awake, energetic business men, who whenever the opportunity presented, pushed in and established themselves. During the past year their business has increased almost 100 per cent; to-day they are giving employment to over 100 skilled mechanics, and they are producing some of the handsomest work in stone and marble to be found in the country. In all parts of the State they are rearing piles of masonry which will stand for ages as monuments of their skill and enterprise.

(Photo caption: “Western Granite and Marble Co., San Jose.”)

“The company’s works are on First street, near the broad-gauge railway depot. Their mammoth workhouse has a frontage of seventy feet on First street and runs back 275 feet to Second street. Probably the first thing to challenge the wonder of a visitor to the works is the ease with which the workmen handle the large blocks of marble, granite and sandstone which are to come under chisels and hammers. There is every facility for the handling of these great blocks of stone with the least possible waste of force and labor. The expense has been reduced to the minimum. A switch from the railway runs the whole length of the building down the middle. So complete are the company’s facilities that two men are able to unload a car of granite within twenty minutes from the time it leaves the main track. With their machinery two men are able to handle a twenty-ton block of any kind or size almost without exertion. By the aid of overhead tracks and cranes they are not only able to remove the block from the car, but to put it down on any spot within the walls of the company’s works, which, by the way, are the largest on the Pacific coast.

“The Western Granite and Marble Company has extensive quarries in Santa Clara and Placer counties. From its great sandstone quarry, seven miles out from San Jose, is obtained the finest quality of stone for facing and dressing purposes. The company’s granite quarries are in Placer county. Not far from Loomis, in two quarries, they have granite in almost inexhaustible quantity. They own another great granite quarry at Crystal Lake. Besides these native stones the company is its own importer of Italian, Vermont and Tennessee marbles and fine Italian statuary. They also handle in large quantities all kinds of American, Scotch and Swedish granites.

(Photo caption: “San Jose Hall of Records.”)

“The ability of the company to produce monumental and structural stone work of the very first class can never be questioned. The most competent draughtsmen are in their steady employ and ready at all times to supply original designs of any work desired. Under these favorable conditions it is not surprising that the company’s business is so rapidly extending to all the building centers up and down the coast.

“But more to the point perhaps, is the work that the company is doing. San Jose, or rather Santa Clara county, was not slow in showing its appreciation of the Western Granite and Marble Company’s enterprise. The result of the county’s trust in the company is a magnificent stone structure that appeals to the critical eye of every visitor to San Jose. This monument in masonry is the new Hall of Records building, which the company is now completing at a cost of $200,000. There is nothing about the structure that is not first-class. The building itself, a sketch of which is printed herewith, is a standing recommendation, not only of the company, but of the quality and beauty of the granite from its Placer county quarries.

“Another magnificent piece of work, but one of a wholly different nature, is nearing completion in this city under the hands of the Western Granite and Marble Company’s artisans. It is the stately sepulchral monument which is being reared in the Masonic Cemetery to the memory of the late John Wieland, and of which a representation is given herewith. The structure when completed is to be forty-five feet in height, twenty-one feet across at the base, and is to rest upon a mass of masonry thirty-two feet wide by forty-five feet long, covering a whole cemetery lot. The design is by Joseph Schwind, the company’s chief draghtsman, and the plans are being carried out under his direction. The tomb is after the design of the old Greek temples, with slight adaptations from the Gothic. In the sarcophagus or tomb proper are receptacles for twelve bodies, two in the center and the ten others in the circle radiating from the center. The main body of the mausoleum is of Fresno or Mount Raymond granite in what is known as a twelve-cut hammered finish. Above the tomb proper and supporting the dome are six massive pillars, each formed of six clustered columns three of Black Diamond granite from Addison, Me., and three of red beach granite, also from Maine. These columns are highly polished. The arches and interiors are of Italian marble and the interior filling of red Tennessee marble, which, with the panels, have been polished to the highest degree. In the center of the pavilion will be raised a pedestal upon which will rest a statue of ‘The Remembrance.’ The stairs shown in the picture as leading up to the pavilion are of the granite used in the body of the tomb. The rail of the staircase is of the same material, but the forty-two balusters are of polished Black Diamond granite. The tomb is erected by the heirs of the late John Wieland at a cost of $40,000.

“Throughout the State are other imposing monuments in stone from the works of this company. The C. M. Chase vault in Laurel Hill Cemetery, this city, for solidness and beauty of architecture is a model. Another fine vault is the one erected for Mrs. Dr. Bacxesto* (sic) in Oak Hill Cemetery, San Jose, at a cost of $9000. The tomb recently erected by the company at Fresno for Mrs. Fiske-Marceau over the grave of her late husband, A. J. Fiske, is a modest but most beautiful and costly design. The sarcophagus erected by the company for John E. Moore, at a cost of $4500, is considered the finest piece of work in the Stockton Cemetery. The Arguello mausoleum at Santa Clara Cemetery is another sample of their skill. The memorial arch recently erected in Santa Cruz at a cost of $10,000, also a production of the works at San Jose. For a solidity of design and beauty of construction this arch could not be improved upon.”

(Photo caption: “Wieland Vault”)

(* Backesto)

1894 - Western Granite & Marble Co., B. D. Murphy, pres., J. W. Ryland, vice pres., C. M. Shortridge, mgr., 370-378 N First St, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose and Santa Clara Directory, 1894, F. M. Husted, Publisher, San Francisco, CA, pp. 432; Western Granite & Marble Co., 370-378 N 1st in the “Marble and Granite” section, pp. 673)

Some of the officials and employees: B. D. Murphy, pres.; J. W. Ryland, vice pres.; C. M. Shortridge, manager, Timothy O’Neil, superintendent; Allen O. Kendall, foreman.

1895-1896 - Western Granite & Marble Co., B. D. Murphy, pres., John Ryland, vice pres., T. O’Niel (sic), sup. 370-378 N 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County: A Classified Business Directory of the County, 1896-1897, F. M. Husted, Publisher, San Francisco, CA, pp. 422; Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 N 1st, “Marble and Granite” section, pp. 669)

Some of the officials and employees: B. D. Murphy, pres., John Ryland, vice pres., Timothy O’Neil, superintendent; Dennis O’Neil, employee; and Allen O. Kendall, foreman.

1895 - Western Granite & Marble Co. Photograph (Santa Clara County and Its Resources: A Souvenir of the San Jose Mercury,” 1895)

1896-1897 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 N 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County: A Classified Business Directory of the County, 1896-1897, pp. 719)

Some of the employees: Timothy O’Neil, superintendent; Dennis O’Neil, stone polisher; and Allen O. Kendall, foreman.

1897 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 N 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1897, pp. 671)

Some of the employees: Timothy O’Neil, superintendent; Dennis O’Neil, stone polisher; and Allen O. Kendall, foreman.

1897 – Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 to 378 North First Street, San Jose, California (from Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, March 1897, Vol. XIV, No. 4, pp. 410)

“San Jose, Cal. – The Western Granite and Marble Co., at meeting held recently, levied an assessment of $5 per share upon the capital stock of the corporation, payable immediately in United States gold coin to the secretary of the corporation at the office, 370 to 378 North First street.”

1898-1899 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 N 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1898-1899, pp. 659)

Proprietor: Timothy O’Neil.

1899-1900 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 N 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1899-1900, pp. 619)

Proprietor: Timothy O’Neil.

1900 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 N 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory, 1900, pp. 750)

Proprietor: Timothy O’Neil.

1901-1902 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 n 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory,” 1901-1902, pp. 707)

1903-1904 - Western Granite & Marble Co., 370 n 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1903-1904, pp. 685)

Business Card and Door Plaque of T. O’Neil Company (Successors to Western Granite and Marble Co.), contributed by Bob Douat, a descendant of Timothy O’Neil.

T. O’Neil Company, Successors to Western Granite and Marble Co.

Estimates Furnished on Application - Mausoleums, Vaults, Monuments, Headstones, Copings, Curbings. All kinds of building work in Granite, Sandstone, or Marble

1905-1906 - Western Granite & Marble Co. (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1905-1906.)

Some employees of the company: Timothy O’Neil, manager; Dennis O’Neil; and L. F. Butts, manager.

1906-1907 - O’Neil, T. Co. successors to Western Granite & Marble Co., 370-378 n 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1906-1907) (Dennis O’Neil was one of the employees of the company.)

1911-1912 - Western Granite & Marble Co. (T. O’Neil Co.), San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1911-1912, pp. 696)

1920 - Western Granite & Marble Co., Stockton, S Jose 2746, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (San Jose, Santa Clara County & Redwood City, San Mateo County - The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. Telephone Directory, 1920)

1922 - Western Marble & Granite Co. (The following is an excerpt from History of Santa Clara County, by Sawyer, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women, by Eugene T. Sawyer, 1922, pp. 277.)

“The marble business was established in San Jose in 1870 by J. W. Combs, and in 1878 W. W. Blanchard and Timothy O’Neill (sic) opened the first granite works. In 1883 a partnership between the three men were formed and the two interests were combined under the firm name of Combs, Blanchard & O’Neill (sic). The name was afterwards changed to the Western Marble and Granite Company, and for many years business was done on First Street near the Southern Pacific railway tracks. At last, being cramped for space, the establishment was removed to Stockton Avenue.”

1926 - Western Granite & Marble Co. - Wm. Schuh, President, A. Morandi, Vice President, M. Vertin, Secretary, W. C. Ghetti, Manager. 254-256 W. Santa Clara, Stockton near Polhemus & Oak Hill Cemetery. (Polk Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1926)

1927 - Western Granite & Marble Co. - Wm. Schuh, President; A. Morandi, Vice President; M. Vertin, Secretary, W. E. Ghetti, Manager, W. Santa Clara, San Jose (Polk Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara, pp. 421, 629)

1961 - Western Granite & Marble Co., Oak Hill Improvement Co. Oprs., Monterey Road and Stone av, Opposite Oak Hill Cemetery, Tel Cypress 4-1610. (1961 San Jose City Directory)

1962 - Oak Hill Monument Co. (Formerly Western Granite & Monument Co.), Oak Hill Improvement Co. Oprs., 300 Curtner av, Tel Cypress 7-2447. (1962 San Jose City Directory)

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A Summary of The History of the Western Granite & Marble Company as of 1888

Excerpts from Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, edited by H. S. Foote, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1888, pp. 199.

“The Western Granite & Marble Company - J. W. Combs - was organized in May 1888. C. T. Ryland, President, John W. Combs, Vice President, D. B. Murphy, Treasurer, T. P. Ryland, Secretary, W. W. Blanchard, Manager, and T. O’Neil, superintendent.

“Their office, yard and works were on North First Street at the crossing of the Southern Pacific Railroad and are supplied with steam polishers…The company owns its own granite quarries at Yuba Pass, California, known as the Crystal Lake Quarries. The marble used is chiefly from Vermont. The company employs 40 to 50 skilled workmen, including a special artist in designing. Besides the finest and most elaborate monumental tombstone work, the company makes a specialty of building material in any style or finish. They have a branch office in Oakland for the exhibition and sale of manufactured goods. Their trade extends over California, and the contiguous states and territories and will reach $100,000 during the year 1888.

“Although this company was but recently incorporated, the history of its origin and business dates back over a period of years. J. W. Combs established the marble business in San Jose in 1870, and in 1878 W. W. Blanchard and T. O’Neil opened the first permanent granite manufactory in the city. In 1883 a partnership was formed between the three men, and the two interests combined under the firm title of Combs, Blanchard, and O’Neil. The business…(grew) to such proportions that in order to own and operation their own quarries.…”

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WESTERN GRANITE WORKS, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.

1912-1913 - Western Granite Works, W. C. Ghetti, T. O’Neil Successors to T. O’Neil Co., Granite Marble & Sandstone Cutters, Stockton av near Polhemus, Phone S J 2746, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1912-1913)

1913-1914 - Western Granite Works - Successors to T. O’Neil Co. Granite & Marble & Sandstone Cutters, W. C. Ghetti, T. O’Neil, Stockton av nr Polhemus, Phone S J 2746, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1913-1914, pp. 452)

1915 - Western Granite Works, W. C. Ghetti - Dennis O’Neil, Stockton nr Polhemus, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1915)

1916 - Western Granite Works, W. C. Ghetti - Dennis O’Neil, Stockton nr Polhemus, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1916)

1919 - Western Granite Works, W. C. Ghetti - Dennis O’Neil, Stockton nr Polhemus.

1920 - Western Granite Works, Stockton nr Polhemus, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1920)

1922 - Western Granite Works, W. C. Ghetti - Dennis O’Neil, Stockton nr Polhemus, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1922)

1923 - Western Granite Works, W. C. Ghetti, Stockton nr Polhemus, Tel. 24746W. San Jose, Santa Clara County, California (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1923)

1924 - Western Granite Works, 1401 S. 1st, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1924)

1925 - Western Granite Works - W. C. Ghelli, Manager, Stockton nr Polhemus, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. (California Polk-Husted Directory Company’s San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County, 1925)

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J. P. WHITE, Sonoma, Sonoma County, California.
(Mason)

1880-1881 - The following excerpt is from Pacific Coast Directory, for 1880-81...of California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and British Columbia, L. M. McKenney & Co., Publishers, San Francisco, Cal., presented on the Golden Nugget Library web site, by Nancy Pratt Melton.

(pp. 824) “White, J P, mason - Sonoma House.”

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William H. WILSON (Merced Marble Works), Merced, Merced County County, California.
(Marble Works)

1880-1881 - The following excerpt is from Pacific Coast Directory, for 1880-81...of California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and British Columbia, L. M. McKenney & Co., Publishers, San Francisco, Cal., presented on the Golden Nugget Library web site, by Nancy Pratt Melton.

(pp. 643) “ Merced Marble Works, Wm. H. Wilson, prop. L.”

(pp. 644) “Wilson, Wm H, Merced Marble Works, L.”

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