Booth Brothers and Hurricane Isle Granite Company Records

The company was formed from a merger of two long-standing granite quarries at a time when the granite business was flourishing in the Penobscot Bay area of Maine. In 1870 General Davis Tillson had opened a quarry on Hurricane Island and established the Hurricane Island Granite Company. This led to the development of the island and a growth in population to meet the company's needs. The company cut and shipped granite for buildings in cities all over the country, including St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston and Washington.

Booth Brothers had been founded by John Booth in 1870. Born in Scotland in 1839, Booth had come to New York City in 1870 and with his older brother William, established the company. With quarries in Maine and Connecticut and offices in New York City, New London, Philadelphia, and Rockland, Maine, the company produced granite for building and paving.

In 1889, Hurricane Island Granite merged with Booth Brothers, bringing together quarries a Millstone Point, Connecticut; Tenants Harbor, Maine; Seal Harbor, Hurricane Island and two quarries on Vinalhaven. The new company, Booth Brothers and Hurricane Island Granite Company, had capital stock of $250,000. William Booth of New London was president and the company headquarters was in New York City, with the Maine office in Rockland.

The company did well for a number of years after the merger, receiving contracts to supply at least part of the granite for the Metropolitan Bank Building in New York, the New York Custom House, the terminal of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad in Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In 1910 the management of the quarry operations on Hurricane Island changed. The Hurricane Isle Quarries Company was organized and took over the properties, business and leases of Booth Brothers and Hurricane Island Granite Company. The president and directors of the company were all relatives of General Davis Tillson including his son-in-law, daughters and grandson. Shortly thereafter, changing architectural styles and the introduction of new building materials, especially concrete, plus the costs of cutting and shipping granite, led to the demise of the granite industry on Hurricane Island. By 1915 only two families were left on the island and by 1916 the island was deserted.