Matthews Brothers Stone Company

The Matthews Brothers Stone Company was the offshoot of a stone company started by John Matthews in 1862. It cut stone throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and much of the early twentieth. The company was sold in the 1979 to Bybee stone Company.

It was opened on land just north of Ellettsville, and was strategically located nearby several transportation routes: Jack's Defeat Creek, Mount Tabor Road, and a railroad; and had a bed of fine limestone just below the surface.

The company was on the leading edge of technology for the day, being among the first to utilize steam power to cut stone, and purchasing the first channeling machine in Monroe County.

Matthews stone was utilized by many buildings of national importance, including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and the Scottish Rite cathedral in Indianapolis. The Indiana Memorial Union also incorporates the stone.

Many of the company's stone office buildings are still in use today.

(Ref: Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory, Monroe County Interim Report)