Kansas Building Stone

Abstract

From the earliest pioneer days stone has been a useful building material within the state of Kansas. Reported value of dimension stone, mainly limestone, produced annually now amounts to several hundred thousand dollars.

Building stone is produced at widely scattered points across the state. Most of the stone produced each year comes from limestone beds of Permian age, but Pennsylvanian, Cretaceous, and Tertiary rocks are also quarried, and Quaternary glacial deposits provide boulders for some structures. Quarrying methods are described.

Kansas stone-processing plants produce stone in every degree of finish. In recent years, production has trended toward cut and finished stone and away from rough building stone.

As timber becomes scarcer and more expensive there is a likelihood that stone will become more widely used in buildings of all types.