History

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 A history of ingenuity and intrepidness 

         
1880 Henry Alexander, a 32-year-old stonecutter, emigrates from Scotland
1886 Henry and Maggie Milne marry and settle in Rockville, MN
1890 Henry, with seven partners, form the Rockville Granite Company
1899 Henry purchases shares to become sole owner of Rockville Granite
1900 Rockville Granite is chosen to fabricate columns for the new Minnesota State Capitol rotunda
1913 Henry dies and Maggie (wife) and Pat (son) take over management
1917 Maggie dies, Pat enlists (WWI) and John (son) returns from college to run the business
1919 Cold Spring, MN is surveyed to develop granite business with business community’s financial backing
1920 Construction begins on plant in Cold Spring, focused on advanced production lines
1924 Name is changed to Cold Spring Granite Company
1927 John pursues monument business, opens Chicago office for new national sales manager
1929 Expansion to four granite quarries and record sales: $1.3 million
1931 The Great Depression: Chicago sales office closes
1933 Revenues decline for the first time, reaching $500,000
1935 Memorialization division moves company into profits, achieving pre-depression levels by 1939
1942 Purchase of The John Clark Granite Company (Rockville MN)
1942-45 Ship components built for the war effort
1948 Pat dies and John becomes president
1950-58 Rapid expansion: acquisition of Granite Mountain (Marble Falls, TX), Pyramid Granite Works, Royal Granite, Melrose Granite (St. Cloud, MN), Raymond Granite Company (Raymond, CA) and Lake Placid Granite (Au Sable Forks, NY)
1953 Granit Bronz is launched to supply expanding national demand for memorials in memorial parks
1954 Work begins on new Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs, CO)
1962 Royal and Melrose divisions merge after an explosion and fire at Royal Granite
1964 Completion of 11-story mural, University of Notre Dame campus
1968 John becomes CEO and nephew Tom Alexander is named president
1969-79 A second quarry in Milbank, SD opens to accommodate cladding (Carnelian granite) of nationally prominent skyscrapers, including Bank of America (San Francisco), McGraw Hill (New York), First National Bank (Boston) Coca Cola (Atlanta) and Hennepin County Government Center (Minneapolis)
1970's Memorialization division introduces colored granite for memorials and (Mountain Red, Autumn Blaze, etc.)
1976 John Alexander dies
1983 Tom retires and cousin Patrick D. Alexander becomes president
1985 Work begins on Franklin D. Roosevelt monument (Washington, DC) and Fredericksburg Red granite quarry (Fredericksburg, TX) is acquired
1986 Granite West – new fabrication center two miles west of Cold Spring – opens
1988 Capitol Marble and Granite Company (Granite Falls, TX) acquired
1989 Cold Spring Granite controls 30 percent of domestic market
1995 Korean War Memorial (Washington, DC) is dedicated; Lake Superior Green Quarry near Isabella, MN is opened
1996 Franklin Delano Roosevelt monument is dedicated (Washington, DC); Cold Spring Granite receives ISO certification; Patrick named CEO and Patrick J. Mitchell is named president and COO
1997 MonuWest facility – designed for memorial fabrication – opens
1998 Cold Spring Granite celebrates 100 years and first phase of new Granit Bronz foundry is completed
1999 Recertification for ISO 9001 standard prompts continuous improvement efforts (lean manufacturing and time-based management techniques)
2004 John H. Mattke is named president
2005 Campus consolidation – with a commitment to green building – begins its final phase at corporate headquarters to include fabricating equipment upgrade, new maintenance and engineering facility and an open, efficient office environment that reduces physical imprint by 30%
2008 The new corporate headquarters building (Cold Spring, MN) is awarded LEED Gold certification
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