Venable Brothers

The Venable Brothers was a business venture formed by brothers William Hoyt Venable (1852–1905) and Samuel Hoyt Venable (1856–1939) in DeKalb County, Georgia.[1] The brothers owned rock quarries.[2] Sam Venable was involved in the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and in the creation of the Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain, Georgia.[2] He owned Stone Mountain, where a cross burning was held in 1915, and granted the Klan an easement to the mountain in 1923. The Venable brothers granted a 12-year lease to Stone Mountain for the carving of the Confederate memorial carving started by Gutzon Borglum.[1]

Samuel Hoyt Venable

The State of Georgia purchased the Stone Mountain property in 1958.[2]

Granite from Stone Mountain was used for the steps to the U.S. Capitol Building, U.S. Treasury vaults, and Panama Canal locks.[3]

History

The Venables bought Stone Mountain in 1887 for $48,000.[4] The brothers donated granite from Stone Mountain for a church on Peachtree and North Avenue in Atlanta.[5]

Sam Venable's home on the northeast corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Oakdale Road was bought in 1959 for $60,000 by St. John's Lutheran Church.[3]

References
  1. Carved in Stone: The History of Stone Mountain By David B. Freeman
  2. Historic Dekalb County: An Illustrated History By Vivian Price page 49-51
  3. Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History By Sharon Foster Jones
  4. Walking Atlanta By Sara Hines Martin
  5. Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1880s-1930s By Franklin M. Garrett
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