Candoro and Vestal

After visiting the Candoro Marble Works property, it was interesting to see the marble showroom and the adjacent marble cutting facilities. The company was started in 1914 as a subsidiary company to the John J. Craig company to convert the raw materials into finished products. Candoro Marble Works created several works for important clients across the nation like the Smithsonian Museuem of History, the US Capitol Building, pieces at the Pennsylvania State Captitol, and several other monuments and buildings. Albert Milani was the chief carver where for over 40 years he supervised the production of the finished marble products and created several scluptures and ornaments from marble. After World War II, buildings and other monuments were made from other material besides marble and the marble boom soon became a bust. In 1982 Candoro shut down its operations and was soon preserved by the South Knox Arts and Heritage Center and in 2014 the property was acquired by the Aslan Foundation to enhance and preserve the natural beauty and assets of Knoxville.

While visiting the Candoro Arts and Heritage Center, it wasn't hard to notice that the surrounding area was not very affluent to afford the marble pieces that were produced at Candoro. After some researching, I discovered the neighborhood in which Candoro is located, is called Vestal, named after two brothers who owned a hardwood lumber company that was also located in the area (they never lived in what we now call the Vestal community, however). The area became a neighborhood because the workers of the company built their houses around the factory. Its important to note that Vestal is in south Knoxville across the river, which did not have poor bridge access and led to uneven development in the city. So after looking at the surrounding area of Candoro, it would seem likely that the houses adjacent to the facility were homes of workers of either Candoro Marble or Vestal Lumber.