This episode of Vermont Edition also included a conversation with philosophy professors Tyler Doggett and Brian Glenney ahead of .
For decades, Vermont was a major player in the marble industry. The Vermont Marble Company was founded in 1880 by Redfield Proctor, and it grew to become one of the largest producers of marble in the world.
Kevin Thornton, a Brandon-based historian, filmmaker and board member of the Vermont Marble Museum, said that hundreds of banks, hotels and college buildings were made of Vermont marble, especially around Washington D.C.
The industry also attracted immigrants from Italy, Sweden, Russia and more, to work in the quarries of West Rutland and Danby. Thorton described it as a "typical ethnic story of labor in America," of skilled laborers and quarry workers.
"You can see that reflected in the ethnicity of Rutland County to this day," Thornton said.
In the 1930s, the company showroom became the Vermont Marble Museum, a free tourist attraction during the Great Depression. One of the most memorable features was the Hall of Presidents, marble commemorations of every president from George Washington to George H.W. Bush. It featured showroom displays of a big 1970s Jacuzzi, mid-century fireplaces and what Thornton called "yesterday's bathroom of tomorrow."
As Ben Doyle, president of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, said, "It's probably the quirkiest museum this side of the Museum of Everyday Life up in Glover."
But times have changed, and the quarries in Rutland County have closed. The museum in Proctor that honors marble's contributions to our region has shut down. The future of this unique 鈥� and very heavy 鈥� collection is unknown.
In 2012, the final owners were going to sell off parts of the museum to private collectors, and the Preservation Trust got involved to keep the collection together.
"We've stewarded these collections well, and now we're going to be very intentional about thinking, 'How do we use these pieces of stone, these exhibits, to really tell the story of the people who worked here?'" Doyle said.
While the future of the museum and its space is uncertain, it's also a place of vast possibility. As Doyle said, "It's on a 27-acre site and 400,000 square feet of industrial space, so there's plenty of opportunity to come up with creative things to do."
Broadcast live on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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