Monument maker oldest going concern
Uniontown’s oldest continuous business sells a product that people don’t want to shop for. Marshall Monuments at 50 E. Fayette St., offers a variety of grave marking services, ranging from traditional headstones to more elaborate ones with special pictorial engraving.
The present owners are Frank Mulich and his son, Frank Jr.
“Dad’s worked here since 1950. In 1965, he became a partner in the business and in 1974 took over as sole owner. I took over in 1993,’ Frank Jr. said.
Joseph H. Marshall founded the business in 1865.
The son of a English immigrants who came from Yorkshire in the 1830s, he passed the stonecutting trade onto his son, who worked in that trade as a journeyman until 1888 when he established himself as a dealer in stone and a contractor for stone work.
He helped build the First Presbyterian Church, the News Standard building, Blackstone buildings and the county home.
One of the more prominent jobs Marshall Monuments had was making the monolithic monument to Gen. Edward Braddock, which sits along Route 40 east near Chalk Hill.
“That was about the turn of the century,’ Frank Sr. said.
According to Nelson’s Autobiographical Dictionary, Marshall, who was also a cousin of Gen. George C. Marshall, another Uniontown native, was born near Brownsville.
“Searight Marshall (the third generation of owners) sold the business to Joseph Burwell. Mickey Miller (of Wallace Miller Jewelers) and I went in as partners and bought it from him,’ Frank Sr. said.
The history of the business has been filled with other changes.
Among other things, the enterprise has moved a number of times, from 30 N. Arch St., to East Main Street to its present site in a renovated and expanded service station on East Fayette Street.
The way things are done has also changed dramatically.
“Years ago, everything was done by hand. You cut the stone by hand. You would cut out a stencil with a knife and then carve in the words or symbols. Today, it’s all done with a computer and the letters and other items are sandblasted into the stone,’ Frank Jr. said.
The majority of their product once came from Vermont. Today it comes from all over the world.
“We get stone from Sweden, China, India and Africa, from the western United States and South America. Years ago, 95 percent of all the stone came out of Vermont.’
Principal stone used is granite that comes in a variety of natural colors including gray, black, green and red. Each of those base colors can have “seven or eight variations,’ Frank Jr. added.
Granite today is the favored material for markers.
“You will see old stones in cemeteries that have been worn down by wind and rain. You may no longer be able to read the carving on them. Those are white marble. That’s a thing of the past. It was easier to work with but it only lasts for about 50 years. Granite lasts forever.’
And while gray is still the most popular color purchased, black is running a close second, Mulich said.
One of the more popular additions to the stones today are etchings of people’s faces, scenes or other images.
“We have an artist who comes in to do those,’ while he can handle the lettering.
Marshall handles all weights of stones, with the average at about 1,500 to 1,600 pounds, as well as installing the concrete footer. A four-foot-high stone can weigh well over a ton. “We also set mausoleums,’ Mulich said.
But where once stones were moved via strong men, horse drawn wagons and rollers, heavy-duty trucks are employed with powerful cranes or lifts.
It also takes a special person to be involved in a business that is so closely related to human grief.
“This has been a good business to be in. I have met a lot of nice people over the years at a tough time in their lives. I always tried to make it a little easier for them,’ the senior Mulich said.