The Lyons Band poses at the head of the 1901 Fourth of July parade, Lyons, Colorado. L. H. Dieterick plays the bass drum and Grubbs is on the snare drum. Other musicians play trombones, altos, tenors and cornets. More marching units and floats show in background with spectators along side of street.
A grocery store, in Lyons,
Colorado, about
Lyons, Colorado, today is still known for its tight, red rock.
According to Colorado Encyclopedia: "Named for the Boulder County town whose historic quarries made it famous, the Lyons Sandstone formation is a Permian age rock layer in the foothills of the Front Range from the Wyoming border to south of Colorado Springs. Among its primary formations, is the scenic red rock outcrops at Garden of the Gods Park near Colorado Springs, and similar features at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, and Perry Park Country Club."
Lyons, the town, which was established 1882, incorporated 1891, and according to Works Progress Administration's Writers Project research in the 1930s, it was named named for Carrie Lyons, Pioneer editor of the Lyons News. The weekly newspaper existed only in 1890-91. However, Lyons Historical Society suggests Edward S. Lyon, who lived in Town from 1880 to 1895, was the father of Lyons and was platted by the Lyons Town Site & Quarry Co. Edward S. Lyon was an early postmaster. Quarrying Superior sandstone was an early industry.
"Lyon himself was not able to be a big success because he wasn't influential enough to bring a train into town. Soon after he sold his partnership share, he left for California. The Brodie/Murphy quarry brought in the train and production boomed. It is believed that their quarry was the largest in the west. A small ancillary town called Noland formed, with boarding houses, a general store and a small school, just a few miles outside of Lyons. The handful of large quarries were owned by various individuals over the years, and most are still in the same families. sandstone church.
With the introduction of cement, the sandstone industry almost died out around 1912, according to Lyons historical information. The town of Noland became a ghost town. Only a few Front Range churches and the University in Colorado-Boulder used the sandstone on their buildings. But through the ingenuity of a couple of men, a razzmatazz sales man, and the inventor of the sandstone cutting machine, the industry boomed again a few decades later. Today the stone yards have so many orders that many of them already have enough business to last them ten years into the future."
"When Edward S. Lyon gave up his hope for gold, he settled in the rich farm area in 1880, but his eyes were more focused on the easy-accessed outcroppings of red sandstone in the rugged mountains. Knowing a bit about quarrying from his home state out East, he decided to introduce quarrying to this area. He plotted out the town and built a schoolhouse to bring families to Lyons and the quarries. After a slow, but productive start, the industry eventually boomed, with as many as 1,000 men working in the quarries."
"Lyon himself was not able to be a big success because he wasn't influential enough to bring a train into town. Soon after he sold his partnership share, he left for California. The Brodie/Murphy quarry brought in the train and production boomed. It is believed that their quarry was the largest in the west. A small ancillary town called Noland formed, with boarding houses, a general store and a small school, just a few miles outside of Lyons. The handful of large quarries were owned by various individuals over the years, and most are still in the same families.
"The ranch-style houses and suburban culture that developed in California and other areas after World War II gave consumers a taste for patios and other decorative landscape features. Quarries in Arizona made profits from the new demand for stone. Not until 1946, however, did Colorado quarries become aware of the opportunity. That year a Californian named Dewey Summers came to Boulder County with his wife, May Vickery, to restore his health. May’s brothers lived in nearby Jamestown and were working as quarrymen. When Summers saw the quality of the sandstone that her brothers were quarrying, he went into business."
Soon the local industry could not keep up with the demand. Other entrepreneurs such as Les Stennette and Irving Jacobson started quarrying to meet their own construction needs. The major bottleneck in production involved cutting the sandstone pieces to customers’ specifications. Although several stonecutting prototypes existed, Summers chose one invented by Chris Jenkins of Kansas City, Missouri, and enticed Jenkins to move his enterprise to Colorado, where his machine transformed the industry.
The use of Lyons sandstone has spread across the country from California to New York, and into Canada. In 1950 Chris Jenkins recognized Lyons sandstone in a New York City sidewalk. Buildings at the University of Texas at San Antonio; the US Geological Survey’s research center in Reno, Nevada; and the Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are among the many other places that feature this rock.
"The ranch-style houses and suburban culture that developed in California and other areas after World War II gave consumers a taste for patios and other decorative landscape features. Quarries in Arizona made profits from the new demand for stone. Not until 1946, however, did Colorado quarries become aware of the opportunity. That year a Californian named Dewey Summers came to Boulder County with his wife, May Vickery, to restore his health. May’s brothers lived in nearby Jamestown and were working as quarrymen. When Summers saw the quality of the sandstone that her brothers were quarrying, he went into business."
"Soon the local industry could not keep up with the demand. Other entrepreneurs such as Les Stennette and Irving Jacobson started quarrying to meet their own construction needs. The major bottleneck in production involved cutting the sandstone pieces to customers’ specifications. Although several stonecutting prototypes existed, Summers chose one invented by Chris Jenkins of Kansas City, Missouri, and enticed Jenkins to move his enterprise to Colorado, where his machine transformed the industry."
"The use of Lyons sandstone has spread across the country from California to New York, and into Canada. In 1950 Chris Jenkins recognized Lyons sandstone in a New York City sidewalk. Buildings at the University of Texas at San Antonio; the US Geological Survey’s research center in Reno, Nevada; and the Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are among the many other places that feature this rock."
Today, several companies continue the tradition of Lyons sandstone quarrying along the Front Range. The material’s uses have spread beyond wall construction and pavers to such products as signage, outdoor furniture, landscaping accents, and artwork. The quality and beauty of this material have proven its appeal to Coloradans for thousands of years.
People have made use of the well-cemented sandstones of the Lyons formation for thousands of years, beginning at least 6,500 years ago in the Archaic period. Because the sandstone usually occurs in flat layers of varying thickness, such as flagstone, it was a popular raw material among American Indians for seed-milling slabs called metates and the handheld counterparts called manos. These artifacts have been found throughout the Front Range region from the open plains to near the Continental Divide, many miles from the outcrops where the material was gathered. Although the milling of wild plant seeds into flour was the primary function of these tools, corn grinding was added in the Formative period after 200 CE. In addition, small pieces of sandstone were used as a kind of natural sandpaper for abrading and smoothing work. The sandstone was quarried from many locations between Manitou Springs and Fort Collins, Colorado.
An article in the Rocky Mountain News of September 23, 1885, reads almost like a positive prospectus for the future of the town of Lyons, as it relates to a new railroad venture.
"The Denver, Utah and Pacific railroad was projected to tap the coal fields ling north of the state capital: rich and extensive bodies of granite, sandstone, and limerock, with extensive tracts of timber land, with a core or more sawmills and furnishing millions of feet of lumber, and also a rich agricultural and fruit-growing section in the same section. The results of the undertaking have demonstrated the foresight and sagacity of the projectors, and today, for its length and cost, there is no more valuable feeder to the business of Denver. it has a brilliant prospective future, and under the present conservative, prudent management, it is rapidly building up and and stimulating various industrial enterprises along its route, of which this article will treat," said the Rocky Mountain News story, and goes on and on.
"The water is as pure as nature makes it, fuel bay be had for the cutting and hauling. The scenery comprises mountain and plain and is of the most exquisit character. Trout fishing is good in the St. Vrain, Thompson, and their branches and the numerous lakes in the valley are within a few miles. A cold white sulphur spring flowing about 10 inches of medium medicinal strength is withing two and half miles of town on the line of the road. Taken all together the town has very superior advantages."
The News article noted that there is more than two thousand acres of land overlaying these quarries, and thousands of rail car loads can be taken out.
"It lies in layers from two inches in thickness to four feet thick, and is suitable foe all purposes for which a stone can be used. The lime ledges are very accessible, and the manufactured article meets with great favor wherever it has been used. A large number of kilns are now in operation."
It also notes the abundance of lumber.
"There are nine sawmills tributary to Lyons station which have capacity, when run on full time, of nearly 50,000 feet per day. Besides the sawed timber there are vast quantities of fence posts, fire wood, mine timbers, and telegraph poles which will see and outlet in this direction."
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