Granite, Virginia

Granite was an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was originally located along the Richmond and Danville Railroad five miles west of Manchester and about a mile south of the rapids of the James River along Powhite Creek.

According to documents on file at the Library of Virginia, in April 1872, notice was published in Petersburg that Mathew Hall had been appointed postmaster of a new U.S. Post Office at Granite.

Granite was named for the granite rock formations which underlie the rapids of the river at the geological fall line which begin downstream from the current Williams Island Dam. Mining this granite was the basis for quarries which were located on both sides of the river in the vicinity. Granite stone quarried nearby was used to construct the State, War and Navy building in Washington DC and to build the 3-foot granite walls of Richmond's Gothic City Hall at 10th and Capitol Streets which was completed in 1894. (It became known as "Old City Hall" when replaced in 1972 with a new structure). However, some quarrying operations had already been active in the area since the early 18th century.

Quarries and companies which operated near Granite were listed in Mineral Resources of Virginia by Thomas Leonard Watson, Ray Smith Bassler, Heinrich Ries, and Roy Jay, published in 1907 as:

At that time (1907), Granite Station was located on the Southern Railway (successor to the Richmond and Danville Railroad) and the McIntosh Quarry had a spur track. The McIntosh Quarry furnished the stone used in the approaches and steps in the renovation and expansion of the Virginia State Capitol which had recently been completed (1904–06).

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