With a history dating back to the 1800s, the Ozark Southern Stone quarry in Beaver, AR, has produced limestone for classic structures in the area and continues to supply current projects across the U.S.
Established in 1883 as Eureka Stone Co., the Ozark Southern Stone quarry in Beaver, AR, is rich in history. The site, which was first owned and operated by Benjamin J. Rosewater, a Eureka postmaster, has been a source of building stone for architecture in the nearby area for more than a century. Rosewater kept the quarry running until the Great Depression. Ownership then changed hands several times through the years, and it was most recently bought by Lowell and Debra Johnson in 2007, who still own it today.
“Ozark Southern Stone began as a landscaping company in 1984,” explained Lowell Johnson. “We started out using a lot of native stone and limestone for projects. We started purchasing limestone from the quarry in the early 1990s to do projects around Eureka Springs. We were so intrigued by the quality of the stone and what it had done for Eureka Springs for more than 100 years, and we told the owner that if he ever wanted to sell the quarry we would be interested. In 2007, he came to us and was ready to sell, so Ozark Southern Stone purchased the quarry and has been quarrying stone, doing projects and shipping it nationwide ever since.”