Milford pink granite

Milford pink granite, also known as Milford granite or Milford pink is a granite deposit located in and around the town of Milford, Massachusetts. Covering an area of approximately 39 square miles (100 km²) according to the USGS, the Proterozoic igneous rock is also sometimes referred to as Braggville granite for several quarries in the neighboring village of Braggville.^[2]

Milford pink granite

Igneous rock
Composition
Silicon dioxide, Aluminium oxide, Iron(III) oxide, Manganese(II) oxide, Calcium oxide, Magnesium oxide, Potassium oxide, Sodium oxide, Biotite[1]

From 1870 to 1940, the town of Milford became famous for the "pink" variety of this stone, prized as a building material. According to local legend, the granite was "discovered" in the early 1870s by two brothers, James and William Sherman at Rocky Woods in Milford.^[3] At its peak, over 1,000 men labored in dozens of quarries in Milford and nearby Hopkinton. A sample of Milford Pink is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.^[4]

Milford pink granite was quarried by the Fletcher Granite Company, at their Lumber Street quarry in Hopkinton,^[5] which also owned a granite quarry in Milford, New Hampshire, 50 miles to the north.

Description

A block of granite from the Fletcher Granite Company photographed in 2017

The granite is described as a light gray or light pinkish-gray to a medium, slightly pinkish or pinkish and greenish-gray biotite granite with spots from 0.2 to 0.5 inches (5.1 to 12.7 mm) across and in some cases tapering out to 1 inch (25 mm) in length.^[1] The biotite is typically in clots or short streaks. It is commonly locally gneissic.^[6] The color of the stone is governed mainly by its feldspars, pink from the potash and green from the soda lime feldspar.^[1]

Examples of use

Milford pink granite was used for the Zero Milestone in Washington, D.C.

(1923)

Massachusetts

• Bancroft Memorial Library, Hopedale (1898)
• Boston Public Library, McKim Building, Boston (1895)
• Flour and Grain Exchange Building, Boston (1892)
• Memorial Hall, Milford (1884)
• Town Hall, Hopedale (1886)^[7]
• Worcester City Hall, Worcester (1898)^[8]

New York City

• American Museum of Natural History (1869)^[9]
• Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn (1895)^[9]
• General Post Office Building (1912)
• Pennsylvania Station (1910)^[10]
• University Club of New York (1899)^[9]

Washington, D.C.

• Eccles Federal Reserve Building (1937)^[11]
• First Division Monument (1924)^[11]
• Zero Milestone (1923)^[12]

Other

• Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1888)^[13]
• Cullum Hall of The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York (1898)
• John J. Glessner House, Chicago, Illinois (1887)
• Pennsylvania Station, Baltimore, Maryland (1911)
• Singapore Changi Airport, Changi, Singapore (2002)

Gallery

• 
  American Museum of Natural History, New York City (1869)
• 
  Flour and Grain Exchange Building, Boston (1892)
• 
  Boston Public Library (1889)
• 
  General Post Office, New York City (1914)
• 
  Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1888)
• 
  Brooklyn Museum (1895)
• 
  Federal Reserve Board Building, Washington, D.C. (1937)
• 
  Worcester City Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts (1898)
• 
  Memorial Hall, Milford, Massachusetts (1884)
• 
  John J. Glessner House, Chicago, Illinois (1887)
• 
  Boston Public Library under construction, 1889

See also

• Fall River granite
• Norcross Brothers