Hokie Stone
Hokie Stone is a grey dolomite—limestone rock found near Blacksburg, in western Virginia. It gets its name from the common nickname attributed to students and alumni of Virginia Tech.
Hokie Stone is exclusively quarried for use by Virginia Tech projects. The stone is the primary finishing and façade material on many Virginia Tech campus buildings.
Hokie Stone is limestone infused with magnesium and calcium under intense pressure and temperature. Formation of the stone began 450 million years ago when the area that is now the Southwestern part of Virginia was covered by a shallow sea. Hokie Stone with impurities such as siltstone and sandstone is multi-colored and found on some newer Blacksburg campus structures.
Eighty percent of the stone is quarried from a 40-acre (160,000 m2) Virginia Tech-owned quarry a few miles from campus near the Highland Park subdivision of Blacksburg, Virginia. Twenty-five to thirty Virginia Tech employees use black powder each day to dislodge the stone, cut it into block sizes required by campus construction projects and then finish the blocks by hand using hammers and chisels. In 2010 Virginia Tech upgraded the quarry equipment to reduce costs, including the purchase of a computer-driven saw. Hokie Stone from this quarry can only be sold to Virginia Tech.
The remaining 20% of stone, which is black, is mined once per year from an additional quarry located on a local farm near Lusters Gate. About 50 tons can be quarried each week. This university-owned quarry has been in operation since the 1950s.
The native woodland Indians are believed to have made tools from Hokie Stone.
When the university was founded in 1872, buildings were brick structures, reflecting the architecture of Blacksburg at that time. The first Hokie Stone was cut in 1899 for the YMCA Building (present day Performing Arts Building), the first to be constructed of it. In 1914, the first McBryde Hall introduced the Hokie Stone-clad Gothic Revival style, similar to great European universities, which became the official architectural style of the campus. The first stone dormitory, Main Campbell Hall, originally known as barracks No. 8 was built in 1930.
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