Indiana Limestone, also known as Bedford limestone, has been quarried since the early 1800s. The stone is a medium to dark gray in color and is composed of fossiliferous marine limestone. It is a very fine–grained stone, and when polished, it displays a wide range of colors from buff to black.
The Indiana Limestone belt extends from Owen County in the southwest corner of the state to Lawrence County in the southeast. The stone is found in a range of structures from the oldest exposed rocks in the state, the Devonian–age (419–359 million years ago) Bedford Shale and Chubb Group, to the youngest, the Mississippian–age (323–359 million years ago) St. Louis Limestone.
The stone is most commonly used in construction, and has been used in some of the most iconic buildings in the United States, including the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, and the National Cathedral.
