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Reader question: I just drove on the new roundabout at Cook/Illinois/Mansfield-Lucas roads today! Do you know if the sandstone in the middle has special significance? Mansfield used to be known for pink sandstone.
MADISON TOWNSHIP — The large sandstone blocks used in the center of the new roundabout at the intersection of Cook Road/Illinois Avenue and Mansfield-Lucas are indeed a part of local history.
The county’s bridge history, that is.
Richland County Engineer Adam Gove said Friday there are 55 to 60 sandstone blocks inside the center of the roundabout that were repurposed during the last couple of years as old county bridges were replaced.
“As we took down old bridges, we specifically held onto sections of the abutments for use in the roundabout,” said Gove, who began planning for the roundabout in 2019.
He said the contract with Shelly and Sands of Mansfield included the fact the county would supply the blocks.
“We delivered them to the site and they put them in,” Gove said.
The roundabout, under construction since May 31, opened on Thursday.
Pink sandstone has been synonymous with Mansfield and Richland County dating back to the 19th century. In fact, it makes up a significant portion of the county’s bedrock.
According to a 2015 story published in Richland Source by historian Tim McKee, “The City of Mansfield, Ohio, sits on earth made of a pink sandstone considered so amazing in the 1880s that it was quarried and shipped all over the world. This is the story of the stone, the quarry and a world famous building created to be pink.”
A story found on RichlandCountyHistory.com on “The Seven Hills of Mansfield” references Quarry Hill, a sandstone quarry that delivered stone for “a considerable number of homes, foundations, businesses and public structures of the 19th century in Richland County (that) were built from this ancient sandstone mound carved by glaciers.”
“The quarry went by different names through the decades according to who owned it at the time, but its unique pink sandstone became known around the nation and identified with Mansfield,” according to the article, also written by McKee.
Quarry Hill today is is bisected by U.S. Route 30 so that its rich heart of pink sandstone is on display to anyone traversing the city’s eastern portal.
A considerable number of homes, foundations, businesses and public structures of the 19th century in Richland County were built from this ancient sandstone mound carved by glaciers.
Did former local builders rely on the famous sandstone as they constructed bridges and abutments? Of course, they did.
And that sandstone is still being used in local new construction, i.e. the new roundabout.
Was there a quarry northwest of Lucas? What road is it on?