Taylor Lime Kiln #1
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This kiln was built in 1871 by Scottish immigrant Peter C. Taylor (b.1829). His patented kiln design permitted continuous firing, producing a superior lime that was used to make mortar for late 19th century Austin buildings and had a wide market elsewhere. Limestone from a nearby quarry, now known as Taylor Slough on Scenic Dr., was hauled along a wagon trail and then over a bridge to the top of the kiln. Operated by Taylor until the 1890s, the industrial complex based on this kiln and kiln No.2 (1 Mi, S) was a major factor in Austin's early economy. (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Scottish immigrant Peter C. Taylor built this kiln in 1871, using his own patented continuous-firing design to turn quarried limestone into high-grade lime. The mortar it produced bound together many of Austin's late-19th-century buildings and found buyers well beyond Texas. Fed by stone hauled from a nearby slough and worked until the 1890s, Taylor's two-kiln complex was a genuine engine of the growing city's economy.
Why it matters
It captures how immigrant ingenuity and local geology fueled the building boom of a young Western capital, one barrel of lime at a time.
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Related people
- · Peter C. Taylor
Themes & tags
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