The list includes the Old Capital (1842), the foundations for Old Brick Church (1856) and the present Iowa State Capitol (1886) in Des Moines.

From 1874 to 1911 Samuel Calvin, professor of natural history at the State University of Iowa, used the quarry for both research and instruction in geology and paleontology.

The limestone here is made up largely of cemented fragments of brachiopods that lived in a shallow tropical sea that covered this area during the Devonian period.

The preserve is the type locality for “State Quarry Limestone,” determined by Calvin, and only found in Johnson County, Iowa.

This article about a property in Johnson County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.