GREENFIELD — For local history buffs, hitting the library is great. But if you really want a history lesson on Hancock County, you should drop by Greenfield Granite Co. Inc. for a visit, its owners say.
The family-owned business celebrates its 120th birthday this month, making it the oldest surviving business in the county, said Amie Strohl, who owns the business with her husband, James. What’s more, the business has stayed in the same family for the entire duration; from its founding by J.H. Brooks, the monument-crafting business now lies in the hands of his great-great-great niece.
Amie Strohl officially took over the business about 25 years ago, but she’s been around for as long as she can remember, she said. Walking inside the doors of their humble shop, one can look up to see a worn and rusty welcome sign hung on the wall — it’s been there since the 1930s, James Strohl said. The wall is further adorned with numerous black and white photographs of the previous shop owners and family members.
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The rest of the office contains dozens of pieces of art, each with hundreds of stories to tell, Amie Strohl said. There’s a shelf decorated with some of the Strohl’s favorite granite artwork, and on the wall hangs a framed newspaper article recording the original dedication of the courthouse’s James Whitcomb Riley statue — perhaps one of Greenfield Granite’s most historically significant building projects.
“I love the legacy,” Amie Strohl said. “People like it when they come in here, knowing it’s been family-run for that long. Living in a small-town community, people love family-owned businesses.”
In the attic rests a rustic old trunk filled to the brim with history, James Strohl said. Receipts, letters, and sepia-toned photographs dating all the way back to 1898, when the business was called J.H. Monuments, named after Amie Strohl’s great-great-great uncle.
The original building was located where Griggsby’s Station is today, James Strohl said. Since then, the building location changed twice before they settled at 952 W. Main St. in the 1930s, where they still are today.
Living their purpose
The Strohl family is deeply involved in every level of the crafting process, said Allison Smith, Greenfield Granite’s office assistant. Before she began working for the Strohls, she had no idea about the amount of work in the memorial-making process.
“Most people don’t realize just how much work it takes to create a monument,” Smith said.
A customer will personally meet with Amie Strohl, after which she will use illustration software to design the headstone they wanted. She then cuts the granite in their shop, shaping it to perfection.
Much of their equipment has showed remarkable endurance as well, James Strohl said. In fact, for the fine-tuning process, Greenfield Granite utilizes the same sandblaster today that they used in 1949.
After Amie has finalized the monuments — they prefer to avoid calling them tombstones — James will go and set them in the cemetery. On occasion, they also handle specialty memorials such as cremations, they said.
Being in a sensitive line of work, they shape the experience as an opportunity to celebrate the life of a lost loved one, Amie Strohl said.
“We try to make sure it’s as painless as possible while they’re here,” Amie Strohl said.
Amie Strohl said in offering such a unique line of service, it isn’t uncommon for them to find repeat customers coming through their doors. Unfortunately, cutting grave markers is a need that most everyone will have use for at some point in their lives, but the family has come to view their work as an act of service for their neighbors.
Amie Strohl said it’s a rich feeling to get an appreciative hug or smile from a customer after creating a piece of art to rest at their loved one’s burial site. They get to play a part in their final memory.
“That’s very rewarding,” she said. “Because you’re serving the community while memorializing another person’s life.”
Serving their home
Greenfield Granite Co Inc. is sure to invest additional time in its community outside of business hours, James Strohl said. The Strohls are often called to help cemeteries in Hancock County and beyond to refurbish and clean up cemeteries that have been vandalized.
In a few restoration jobs they volunteered to help with, they’ve encountered headstones much older than even their business. Two years ago, they received a call from a family living in a rural part of the county, which had found several white markers dotting the landscape in their backyard.
When the Strohls went to investigate, they ended up uncovering an entire pioneer graveyard, with some headstones dating back to the late 18th century, James Strohl said.
“It’s a very interesting business,” he said. “When you go out to older cemeteries, you never know what you’re going to see. I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff out there.”
“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s rewarding,” he added. “You learn to enjoy it.”
Despite the grim nature of the job, it isn’t uncommon for them to find moments of intrigue and even levity in their line of work, Amie Strohl said. Many of their customers are pre-need — elderly citizens who live in nursing home or who are terminally ill. They often want to write their own epitaphs.
And some of those customers have an unusual sense of humor, she said.
Right now she’s finishing carving into a recent customer’s grave: “I told you I was sick.”
When you’ve been in the business as long as Amie Strohl has, you learn to appreciate little moments like that, she said with a little laugh, shaking her head as she went back to work.
