Hokie Stone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hokie Stone is a medley of different colored limestone, often including dolomite. Each block of Hokie Stone is some combination of gray, brown, black, pink, orange, and maroon. The limestone is mined from quarries in southwestern Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama.
The stone is used in most of the 100-plus buildings on the main campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. The stone takes its name from "Hokies," which is the official name for the university's sports teams. The university has operated a Hokie Stone quarry since the 1950s.
Every building surrounding the Drillfield uses Hokie Stone, including the iconic Burruss Hall. Notable buildings that are not sheathed in the stone include Whittemore, Derring, Wallace, Litton-Reeves, Squires, Hillcrest, the entire Upper Quad (old campus), and several others. Though these buildings have brick or modern exteriors, they often incorporate Hokie Stone somewhere on the building, usually near the foundation or as architectural accents. This inspired John Rocovich, Rector of the VPI&SU Board of Visitors, to make the use of Hokie Stone on all new buildings imperative. However, Hokie Stone is more expensive than many modern building materials. McComas Hall, completed in 1998, was scaled back in planning to 118,225 square feet (11,000 m²) to allow the entire building to be covered in Hokie Stone, rather than just the facade. The Virginia Tech memorial for the massacre used 32 different decorated hokie stones to symbolize the victims.
