History of Westchester County, New York — Passage 142 (part 3)
[J. Thomas Scharf (1886)] Grace Church on Broadway, the United States Sub-Treasury building in Wall Street, New York, for-merly the United States Custom-House, were also -built of Sing Sing marble. To these can be added I the city hall and the hall of records in the city of \ Albany, two very substantial and noble structures. Some of the finest residences of Sing Sing were also built of this material. The " Robinson Mansion," /the "Ward Mansion" (now the residence of Mrs. j Henry J. Baker), the " Smull Mansion " (the present, residence of Mr. Francis Larkin) and the residence of Mr. L. M. Cobb. The Mount Pleasant Academy and the First National Bank of Sing Sing are also built from the same material from these quarries. There are many beautiful walls, in front of private grounds, "stepping-bloeks," hitching-posts, etc., which adorn our village, all of this white marble. Nearly • all of these blocks have been quarried and hewn by I convict labor. The marble has also been put to two other import-ant uses. It has been extensively shipped as a flux for the reduction of iron-ore; and thousands of tons have been burned in kilns, on the prison grounds, in the manufacture of builders' lime, of which it is said to be an excellent article. Thus the quarries are seen to constitute an important industry at this State insti-tution. It was with a view of developing and utiliz-\ ing this marble that the State convicts were trans-I ferred to Sing Sing in the year 1825.