The lime industry was one of Thomaston’s first industries, the first quarry being opened on a former prison site in 1734. Warren Ackerman began work on May 3, 1927, on 23 mostly swampy acres. Fourteen distinct buildings, including the main office, were erected in 21 days. Two kilns with two 225 foot stacks were built. These were used by local fishermen at sea as navigational aids.

Some 2,500 railroad cars brought materials to the site. Carlton Bridge between Bath and Woolwich opened in 1927, which was a considerable help. Remarkably, the plant opened officially in May, 1928, with an elaborate celebration in which the six New England governors were invited. Within a year, the first train load of cement departed for Maine destinations. A lime plant built and used by the New England Lime & Cement Company was retained for production of lime products until 1949.

Watson E. Lawrence, a colonel and lawyer, started the first Portland cement company in 1886 in Northampton, Pennsylvania, which later became Lawrence Portland Cement Company.

The company’s name was changed from Lawrence Portland Cement to Dragon Cement Company in 1951, since it was felt that the former had outlived its usefulness and Dragon (the trademark) was recognized more easily in the trade. In the late 1880s, Mr. Ernest Ackerman and his wife attended a performance of Wagner’s opera “Siegfried” in which a dragon plays an important part. Since Dragon Cement had a plant at Siegfried, Pennsylvania, he decided the dragon would be the correct trademark, and so it has been since 1889 until the present except for a brief time in the 1970s.

After the 1960s, a number of women were employed, one of which could reline a kiln with heavy bricks as well or better than some men. Total plant employment was approximately 110. A great plant modernization took place in 1971. Company owner trucks began operating permanently in 1981. All operations stopped in March, 1983, as the then owner, Martin Marietta, decided to leave the cement business. The plant was sold that spring to the Cianbro Corporation for a reported $8 million dollars. They sold it in 1983 for a reported $2,560 to the Passamaquoddies. They later sold it to a Spanish company in October 1988 for $8,300.

The Dragon Cement Company continues to blast in local quarries on Route 1, east of Thomaston Village, and is the only cement producing company in New England.

Some facts about cement

The Romans burned a stone and made a type of cement about 2,500 years ago, some of which can be seen today. Limestone, from which much of cement is made, was laid down in marine layers 400 million years ago. Not all limestone is good for making cement; it must have the proper chemical qualities of which only three areas in Maine provided — Thomaston being the best.

Originally, cement was shipped in wooden barrels each with 376 pounds of cement. Later, cloth bags made in Lewiston and paper replaced the barrels for ease of handling and economy. At one time, a rebate would be made for the cloth bags if they were returned in good condition.

Portland Cement is not named for Portland Maine, nor Portland Oregon, but for the limestone on the Isle of Portland, off the south coast of England.

Portland Cement was developed and patented by Joseph Aspidin in 1824, an English stonemason, who recognized the similarity of the color of his cement with the color of the limestone of the Isle of Portland.

In making Portland Cement, rock is blasted from a quarry, some up to piano size, and reduced to small particles in rolling grinding mills. This material is mixed with water to form a slurry which is pumped into the higher end of a revolving kiln, a long, horizontal tube, heated to a semi-liquid at 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. At the lower end of the kiln, this hot mass exists as clinker. This is ground in revolving balls milled to such fineness that 90 percent of it will pass through a sieve. The cement is now ready to be pumped into silos where it will await packaging in paper bags or loading in bulk into rail cars and trucks.

Cement making is not a willy-nilly operation — materials are checked frequently (up to 48 tests) 24/7 to meet rigid standards. Scales used for testing are so exact that they can weigh a speck of dust on the wing of a butterfly.