Redgranite, WI

Redgranite grew out of a granite quarry on land once known as Sand Prairie. In 1889, quarrymen from Berlin found a hard mahogany-red stone under the farms around Theodore Chipman's trading post, and a village formed at the edge of the excavation. The railroad arrived through Bannerman Junction in 1901, Redgranite incorporated in 1904, and the village boomed between 1905 and 1918 as paving cutters and quarrymen came from across the country and Europe. Concrete and asphalt later replaced granite block paving, but the quarry did not disappear; it became a water-filled pit behind the post office and a familiar local landmark. Redgranite's name, streets, and old quarry all point back to the stone that changed a farm settlement into a village.