History UnderfootAtlanta
  • Railroad
  • Early
  • quarrying 1845-50; depot 1857
  • DeKalb County

Stone Mountain depot and early granite trade (1845-1857)

Granite was first quarried at Stone Mountain between 1845 and 1850, after the Georgia Railroad arrived. The boxy southern end of the granite depot on Main Street was built in 1857 as a Georgia Railroad warehouse.

See it on the map All Early records

The record

The Stone Mountain Historical Society says the first quarrying worked partly weathered ledges between 1845 and 1850; the Lithonia Historic District nomination also says quarrying on the mountain began as early as 1845 and that Stone Mountain was Georgia's main granite quarry by the 1890s. The City of Stone Mountain's walking tour dates the depot's southern end to 1857. Its two-foot-thick granite walls survived the Civil War, though the roof burned (Wikipedia). Lithonia's first quarry did not open until 1879.

Today: The depot at 922 Main St.