Want to take a trip into a quarry? New dates are open

These fill up fast and likely will again – but your chance is here to take a trip into the Concrete Materials quarry.

The company hosts the free tours in partnership with the Old Courthouse Museum to give the community a look at what happens 240 feet below street level.

“They continue to be very popular with folks who are very interested in what goes on in the bottom of the hole they can see from the interstate or at times they’ve flown over,” said Kevin Ganz, the museum’s curator of education.

Registration for the next set of hourlong tours starts July 1. Tours will run at 9:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout July and August. Tours are limited to four spots on the bus, and they’re geared toward third graders and older.

Ganz gives some basic history of the quarry industry in the city and a bit of the history behind the quarry efforts at the Concrete Materials site.

“We pick up our tour guide at the quarry, who then leads us around their facility and explains the process from the point at which the rock is taken from the ground until the finished products roll out in a truck,” he said. “People seem to be incredibly impressed with how the process takes place and the machinery that is used.”

They also leave understanding the benefits of having the rock deposit in town, he said.

“On the return trip, I try to explain how quarry operations took place 130 years ago and the labor that went into shaping building blocks and paving stones, which were one of the main items produced,” Ganz said. “I always like to ask people whether they would like to quarry now or in 1890.”

To sign up for the tour, call 367-4210 starting July 1.