Editing Proctor, Vermont (section)

==History==

[[Image:Loading Marble, Proctor, VT.jpg|thumb|left|Loading marble in 1908]]
In the early 19th century, small high-quality [[marble]] deposits were discovered in Rutland, and in the 1830s a large deposit of nearly solid marble of high quality was found in what is now [[West Rutland, Vermont|West Rutland]]. By the 1840s small firms had begun operations, but marble [[quarry|quarries]] only became profitable when the railroad came to Rutland in 1851. At the same time, the famous quarries of [[Carrara]] in [[Tuscany]], [[Italy]], became largely unworkable because of their extreme depth, and Rutland quickly became one of the leading producers of marble in the world.

This fueled enough growth and investment that in 1886 the marble companies saw to it that when the present [[Rutland (city), Vermont|Rutland City]] was incorporated as a village, most of the [[Rutland (town), Vermont|town]] was split off as West Rutland and Proctor, which between them contained the bulk of the marble quarries. Proctor was formed around the nucleus of the old Sutherland Falls from parts of Rutland and [[Pittsford, Vermont|Pittsford]]. Proctor was named for and almost completely owned by [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Redfield Proctor]]. The closing of the marble quarries in the town in the 1980s and 1990s cost the area many jobs, and Proctor has struggled much more than its neighbors. In 2004 the Proctor Marble Arch Bridge restoration project was the recipient of the Marble Institute Award of Merit for "commitment to preservation of the original stonework."<ref>[http://www.marble-institute.com/awards/pinnacle2004.cfm 2004 Marble Institute Award of Merit]</ref>