“Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky.”
Kansas
If you were to ask most people from Wisconsin what’s from Kansas, they’d likely give you the following three answers: 1.) Jordy Nelson, 2.) Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and 3.) maybe Bob Dole.
With that in mind, people often ask me why Buechel Stone decided to start a location in Kansas. The answer is easy: it’s always been in the cards. The stone is unique from other stones in the United States, and it fits a need we had. Long before we acquired Pray Stone, Kansas was an area I felt was a solid location for growth.
Natural Stone with a Proven History of Durability
Stone use throughout Kansas’s history highlights its durability. Due to the lack of trees in Kansas, early stone was quarried and fabricated to create strong, durable fence posts giving the area the nickname “The Land of the Post Rock.”
When I visited Kansas, I couldn’t help but notice the impressive level of stone craftsmanship in early buildings and how well they’ve held up. That’s not the case for all stone used in masonry around the country.
Many buildings have had touch-up maintenance over the years, with new tuckpointing replacing the old lime mortar and giving the building a longer life. Some of the buildings were given a quick overgrout, while some have traditional struck joints, and even some with a beaded joint – a style common at the time that requires more skill to install.
A Highly Versatile Collection of Natural Limestone Materials
Limestone in Kansas has not had the notoriety of similar limestones quarried in Indiana but is useful in many of the same applications. The most popular stone historically from Kansas is Silverdale. This stone is quarried in block form and sawn into slabs (my next blog article will go through the quarrying and fabrication process of Kansas Limestone). While admiring the historic and architecturally impressive projects in Kansas’s small towns like Winfield and Ark City, you will see dimensional stone heavily used, along with the flexibility of the stone cut for arches, pillars, surrounds, and countless other details like the ornate capitals shown below.
This long history of stonework is just a small part of why Buechel Stone’s journey into Kansas came to fruition. In our quest to be a full-service stone supplier, having our own stone for cut stone projects was a must. Silverdale was one of the first stones we promoted for cut stone, so we were already familiar with the stone’s properties.
Not long before our purchase in Kansas, we also started promoting another limestone from the area called Aged Parchment. This stone is a little more unique, having color and texture movement, as well as hard and soft spots. It is a little more difficult to use in cut stone, but its unique look makes it worth it.
These are just two of our more popular stones from Kansas. We also have another cut stone option called White Marigold. This stone is similar to another popular stone in Kansas called Cottonwood but is slightly different in color. The stone is lighter than Silverdale, with some occasional streaks of yellow to gold.
Stay Tuned for Kansas Material Building Stone Veneer Updates Soon
Buechel Stone is launching several new veneers from Kansas in 2022. Some of these veneers are old staples for products from Kansas, while others are very unique to us. Be watching in February for more details on these new stone veneer products!
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Mike Buechel
Vice President
Buechel Stone Corp