Stone from Scratch: the Story of Recreating Hundreds of Cast Stone by Hand - One by One.

We recently toured Precast and Restoration Services, Inc. in Jacksonville, FL to see how the stone veneer of the church was made. A special thanks to James Malenfant for helping us get the exact match.

North Florida is not exactly known for natural rock quarries, and many have wondered where would we get the stone needed to encase the new mechanical room to match the existing limestone. Well, 103 years ago, a newspaper article memorialized the creative secret. Our predecessors made the bold decision to cover the entire church in a man-made composite material - not stone!

From the Florida Times Union article, we learn:

Colorization of a photo of the church under construction in 1923.

First building to be erected in Jacksonville with an exterior which is finished entirely in Arnold stone, the Holy Rosary Catholic church at Cottage avenue and Laura street in Springfield will be completed within another four weeks, if present expectations are realized, and dedicated with impressive ceremonies in November or early in December.

Not much has changed. Pallets of stones wait their turn to be added.

Arnold stone in a composition, manufactured by the Arnold Stone Tile and Brick Company of this city. It is cast in block form and before it has completely hardened is chipped off, resembling, when completed, the best grade of Bedford limestone. Arnold stone lessens the cost of construction by an appreciable amount.

Quite a number of buildings constructed in Jacksonville lately have been trimmed in Arnold stone, but the Holy Rosary Catholic church is the first to have both facade and trimming done in the Jacksonville product, the result being so close as duplicate of Bedford limestone that the Rev. Father D.A. Lyons. pastor of the church, has been approached by many who held the belief the more expensive product was utilized.

There are three main take-aways.

1. We are using a local product created by local talent.

2. The Arnold Stone saves money but gives the same sturdy appearance as limestone

3. The method of production hasn't changed in over a century, and the results prove it.

First, a special cement mixture is made with carefully selected sand and aggregate for an exact color match . Then it is poured into a cast and molded into different shapes and sizes.

After the block sets, they're removed from the mold, leveled by hand, inspected, and sorted. A lot of hand tooling goes into the making of cast stone.

Finally, the cement block is chiseled by hand, revealing the split face. Then carefully cataloged.

The stones are then shipped to the job site where they are inventoried, and finally placed one by one.

Two layers of blocks was placed as a foundation. These will be covered up by new dirt.

Three layers of large "Arnold Stone" are laid in a traditional brick pattern to form the church's water table. This continues the original design around the parameter of the church. The topmost layer is beveled, giving the appearance that these three rows are the thicker foundation of the church.

The rows above the water table are a random split-face pattern.

To marry the old and the new stone in a seamless manner, a few pieces were removed, and new stone was inserted into the existing pattern. The skill and care that went into this facade would make the laborers of 1924 proud. Few if any buildings in 2026 are using local material that lasts, with a tried and true process that solidifies Old Holy Rosary, now under the name Our Lady of Pompeii, as the jewel of Springfield.