Cold Spring Granite Co. dates back to 1886, when Scottish stoneworker Henry Alexander formed a partnership with several other stonemen from his native homeland. Through the years, the company continually expanded. In 1958, Cold Spring Granite purchased the Melrose Granite Co. of St. Cloud, MN. The property where the company sat included a large fabricating plant and several older quarries, including the Carnelian quarry just east of Milbank. Today, this site operates as “Carnelian No. 1 Quarry.”
Additionally, the purchase of the Melrose Granite Co. included a parcel of land where the “Carnelian No. 2 Quarry” was started by Cold Spring Granite in 1965, and still remains in operation today. This site was opened so that the company could guarantee to produce 350,000 square feet of Carnelian granite for the Bank of America’s 52-story world headquarters building, which was completed in 1972. The granite was used to build a 4-inch-thick wall that was 200 feet wide and more than a half-mile long.