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Origins Philip Cummings was born November 19, 1906, in Hardwick, Vermont, a small town of about 2,500 in the north-central part of the state. Hardwick was a busy commercial and cultural center when Cummings was a boy, with thriving schools, churches, and fraternal organizations. Its banks, hotels, general stores, specialty shops, and multiple other businesses offered all the products and services local townspeople, farmers, and tradesmen might need. The St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad made several daily stops and telephone service was available to those who could afford it. The Vermont granite industry was flourishing then, and Hardwick was a granite town. The Woodbury Granite Company, headquartered in Hardwick, operated a quarry eight miles outside the town, extensive stone-cutting and finishing sheds within the town, and a railroad line connecting the two. The company was internationally famous for the efficiency of its operation and the quality of its stone; in 1910 and 1911 alone, it produced the finished granite for 50 post office buildings nationwide. By 1913, the Woodbury Granite Company was the largest granite business in the world under single management, employing many hundreds of skilled workers from Scotland, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden, and other granite-rich regions of Europe. |
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Copyright © 2022 Patricia A. Billingsley |