March 8, 1882: Krause & Boyle Quarry established in Fond du Lac

On this day in Duluth in 1882, Charles Adolph Krause and Martin Boyle founded a partnership to lease a brownstone quarry along Mission Creek in Fond du Lac. Krause had moved to the townsite as a child and stayed his entire life, even serving as the community’s postmaster in the 1870s. He learned the brownstone business quarrying along Fond du Lac’s Mission Creek, where Nehemiah Hulett had established the quarry back in 1872. Krause and Boyle leased that very same quarry together, but their relationship has been described by historians as “turbulent.” It seems Boyle was the turbulent one, and in 1883 he was accused by the local press of skipping town on his creditors—the headline in the Duluth Tribune read “Where is Martin Boyle?” The press also lauded the news that Krause would take over sole operation of the quarry, describing him as “a substantial and reliable man.” The Krause Quarry quickly gained a reputation for producing the area’s best stone, and the quarry operated steadily until the industry’s demise. While most of its was shipped for use outside the region, Krause Quarry stone was incorporated in Duluth’s first Board of Trade Building and Marinette Iron Works, both of which have been destroyed. Krause and his wife lived out their lives as celebrated citizens of Fond du Lac, where he died in 1937. Read more about Duluth’s brownstone industry here.

Workers pose at an unnamed quarry in Fond du Lac, ca. 1888. (Image: University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives and Special Collections)