In 1825, after an exhaustive search throughout New England, Solomon Willard selected the Quincy site as the source of stone for the proposed Bunker Hill Monument.

Businessman and state legislator Thomas Handasyd Perkins organized the financing of the new Granite Railway Company, owning a majority of its shares, and he was designated its president.

Notable visitors such as statesman Daniel Webster and English actress Fanny Kemble were early witnesses to the new railway.

The accident occurred while the wagon, empty of stone but now carrying the four passengers, was ascending the Incline on its return trip and a cable broke.

[9] A centennial historic plaque from 1926, an original switch frog, a piece of train track, and a section of superstructure from the Granite Railway are in the gardens on top of the Southeast Expressway (Interstate 93) as it passes under East Milton Square.

These trails connect to the quarries, most of which are now filled for safety purposes with dirt from the massive Big Dig highway project in Boston.

[10][11] The Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains the Quincy Quarries Reservation, which has facilities for rock climbing, and trails connecting the remains of the Granite Railway.