Fred Matthews

Fred Matthews (b. March 25, 1859, d. March 3rd, 1932) was one of the founders of the Matthews Brothers Stone Company.

Born in Stinesville, Matthews was the son of John H. Matthews, who opened one of the first quarries in Monroe County. John Matthews died in 1883, and his sons changed the firm name to Matthews Brothers.

In 1879 Matthews married the former Nettie, or Nellie Moore, and they had three children: Bertha, Edith, and Jeannette. Bertha Matthews married W. Edward Showers, the son of William Showers in 1902.

Showing a knack for the stone business, Fred Matthews guided the firm from simply quarrying stone to dressing it, and his firm provided stone for many important national buildings. He was one of the men who started the highly profitable Perry-Matthews-Buskirk quarry at Bedford. For the final three decades of his life, Matthews was president of the Matthews Bros. Stone Company and also the Empire Stone Company. He served as a director of the First National Bank, and was instrumental in the Griffy Lake dam project.

In addition, he served two terms as auditor of Monroe County.

He was a 2004 inductee into the Monroe County Hall of Fame on which his plaque reads "He was one of the founders of Matthews Brothers Stone Co., served on the school board, the hospital board and as county auditor."

In 1929, Fred Matthews was badly injured when he rolled his car on Hindostan hill, north of Bloomington on the Dixie Highway. He never regained full health, and died three years later.