A small town with a rich limestone history. Take a scenic drive to see carved eagle heads, a larger-than-life comic strip boxer, and the home of limestone used to erect the Empire State Building.
Driving south of Bloomington on Indiana 37 takes one directly in front of Indiana Limestone’s Empire Quarry. The driveway cannot be missed as two colossal carved limestone eagle heads stand at the front entrance. On any drive along this route, you will undoubtedly see flatbed trucks loaded with huge slabs of limestone heading to the quarry to be carved into finished products.
Just past that driveway is the road to Oolitic, a small town located on top of the highest quality limestone in the United States and just a stone’s throw away from the Empire Quarry. The stone from this quarry was used to build the Empire State building and many of the world’s largest monuments, buildings, and bridges. Indiana Oolitic limestone quarries are the largest in the world and have been in continuous operation since the 1850s.
Oolitic is named for Oolites, a sedimentary rock made from compressed ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. Ooids were formed in the ancient seas that one time covered Indiana and that was responsible for compressing and cementing these ooid grains into limestone.
I made the turn into Oolitic following a sign for the Salt Creek Brewery. I thought I might visit this new brewery and was surprised by a limestone statue of comic-strip boxer Joe Palooka located on the Town’s Main Street. I learned from later research that this statue of the very popular Ham Fisher character was originally installed in Bedford in 1948 in front of 4,500 people, including the creator. Clad in boxer trunks and gym shoes, he looks ready to step into the ring. However, one look at his zombie eyes indicates he might have taken one too many punches on his square jaw! The 20,000-pound statue was vandalized frequently and was moved to a local park, then to a limestone mill, and finally to Oolitic in 1984, ironically the same year the comic was canceled. Look closely for the tiny plaque at the bottom, which calls Joe the “cornerstone of freedom” due to his frequent boxing matches with Nazis in the Sunday funnies during World War II.
This was an interesting and quick stop with a cold local brew just five more minutes down the road. For those that love craft beer, you’ll want to stop at Sale Creek Brewery, located in a restored service garage. What once was the alignment/oil change pit is now home to the brew vessels, the old paint room now houses the keg coolers, and the rest of the rooms still have the original walls from the 1940’s.