Venable Brothers
The Venable Brothers was a business venture formed by brothers William Hoyt Venable (1852–1905) and Samuel Hoyt Venable (1856–1939) in DeKalb County, Georgia.[1] The brothers owned rock quarries.[2] Sam Venable was involved in the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and in the creation of the Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain, Georgia.[2] He owned Stone Mountain, where a cross burning was held in 1915, and granted the Klan an easement to the mountain in 1923. The Venable brothers granted a 12-year lease to Stone Mountain for the carving of the Confederate memorial carving started by Gutzon Borglum.[1]
The State of Georgia purchased the Stone Mountain property in 1958.[2]
Granite from Stone Mountain was used for the steps to the U.S. Capitol Building, U.S. Treasury vaults, and Panama Canal locks.[3]
Stone Mountain itself, after several transfers of ownership, was quarried for its granite, which is now found also in the capitol building in Havana, among other places.[4]
History
[edit]The Venables bought Stone Mountain in 1887 for $48,000.[5] The brothers donated granite from Stone Mountain for a church on Peachtree and North Avenue in Atlanta.[6]
Sam Venable's home on the northeast corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Oakdale Road was bought in 1959 for $60,000 by St. John's Lutheran Church.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Carved in Stone: The History of Stone Mountain By David B. Freeman
- ^ a b c Historic Dekalb County: An Illustrated History By Vivian Price page 49-51
- ^ a b Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History By Sharon Foster Jones[permanent dead link]
- ^ Larner, Jesse (2002). Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation Books. p. 237. ISBN 9781560254638.
- ^ Walking Atlanta[permanent dead link] By Sara Hines Martin
- ^ Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1880s-1930s By Franklin M. Garrett