Jean Jacques Louis Wuichet

In the mid to late 1800's, Jean Jacques Louis Wuichet, often referred to as James L. Wuichet, wielded mallets and chisels to create the stone used in beautiful buildings all over the world. Wuichet was born in Switzerland and there learned the trade of stone dressing. How he came to make Dayton, Ohio his home was related in a newspaper article written by Howard Burba. The article titled, When "Dayton Marble" Brought in Millions, appeared in the February 7, 1937 issue of the Dayton Daily News. According to Burba, Wuichet traveled through Germany, Turkey, and Russia practicing his trade. He remained in Russia the longest and dressed stone "for some of the finest buildings in the Russian capital". In 1833 Wuichet immigrated to New York City. About 1835 he relocated to the Cincinnati area and worked on stone for the canal locks. He found the stone to be similar to what he had worked with in Switzerland and asked about the origin of the limestone. This led to his introduction to Mr. Gilmore of Dayton. Gilmore hired Wuichet, in 1836, to work at his Gilmore & Scott quarry near Beavertown. The superior work produced by Wuichet attracted attention and he was encouraged to start his own business. After Wuichet started his business, he hired other stone cutters trained in the old world. Burba writes, "His 'yard' was opened in a little oaken forest east of the canal and his first 'chiseling' was done under a big tree in the center of Green St. near the corner of Jefferson, then a rather wild looking place ... So well pleased was Mr. Wuichet with the location that he built himself a large and comfortable house on the scene of his first stone-cutting exploits in Dayton. .." In a death notice in the Dayton Daily Journal the Wuichet residence is described as "at the corner of Green and Logan Streets opposite Jefferson street bridge". Literature from Woodland Cemetery in Dayton says that Wuichet did all the stone cutting on the St. Peter In Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati built in 1848 and the old Dayton Courthouse built in 1850. It states he also cut the stone for the Waldo street entrance way to the cemetery and their receiving vault. The receiving vault was built to store bodies until graves were prepared. It was mostly used during the winter when frozen ground made digging difficult. "The vault was designed, "In the Theme of Thebes and Karnak" and is an exact replica of the Tomb of Karnak. It is one of the few examples of period Egyptian Revival architecture in Ohio". Wuichet married Sabina Dutoit, the daughter of Eugene Dutoit. They had seven sons and two daughters. Their sons became involved in various Dayton businesses: lumber, fertilizer, and asphalt and roofing. Wuichet died on September 13, 1872 at age 70 and was buried at Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.

stone

Dayton Stone Stone quarries were the leading industry in Montgomery County Ohio in the mid to late 1800's. Soon after Dayton was settled, it was obvious there was a great deal of limestone in the area. Farmers were not happy about this fact but later it was determined this stone was valuable. In 1914 state geologist J. A. Bownocker published a book titled Building Stones of Ohio. He quoted Dr. Orton, who did a Geological Survey of Ohio in 1869, as having written "In Montgomery, Miami and Greene counties the shale contains, in places a very valuable building stone which is widely known as the Dayton stone." He also wrote it was "in every way adapted to the highest architectural uses." Dayton stone or Dayton Marble as it is sometimes called, is light gray, very compact and strong. It does contain some small iron pyrite crystals which can leave dark spots which look like rusty nail heads, after weathering. When "Dayton Marble" Brought in Millions was an article in the February 7, 1937 issue of the Dayton Daily News written by Howard Burba. In the article Burba states that in 1827 a Mr. Gallaher advertised he was hiring "able-bodied men to work in the quarries southeast of Dayton". This was the earliest reference Burba found to local quarries. The Bownocker book says the largest quarry in the Dayton area was in Beavertown, around the present day Dorothy Lane and Wilmington Pike intersection. Burba lists many quarry owners. Among them he mentions John and Allen Fauver who ran the Wade quarries. He says they began to cut the stone. In earlier times Burba explains fire was built under the rock and thus cracked with the heat. Stone from the local quarries was used to build many local buildings: several church buildings, the old Library Building in Cooper Park, the old Court House built in 1850 and the newer one erected in 1884. The stone was also sold to far away markets. Canal building increased the demand for stone since it was needed for the building of the locks. New quarries were then opened in Belmont near Wayne Avenue and Watervliet. Only one road led to the quarries and transportation was a problem. To solve this dilemma a type of "railroad" was built from the quarries to the new canal. The rails of this railroad were made of tough hickory and the flat-bed cars that ran on it had grooved wheels to fit the rails. Gravity pulled the cars down the slopes and teams of horses were used to tow them across the flat areas. A stone yard was created between Patterson Boulevard and Wayne Avenue to receive the transported stone. According to Burba, in order to give a smooth or polished surface to the rough stone, stone cutting and dressing was introduced in 1836 by James L. Wuichet from Switzerland.