White Bronze Monuments

White Bronze Monuments. . , This marker is made of "white bronze." They were all produced within a forty year time span, ca. 1873 to ca. 1913 but are not found universally since many cemeteries banned their use. The Monumental Bronze Company, a foundry in Bridgeport, Connecticut, began experimenting with metals looking for a way to create metal markers which would not allow lichen and mosses to grow on them nor erode as often happens to marble. By the end of the decade, the company had refined a formula for making memorials from zinc. In order to give the monument the texture of granite, it was sandblasted. It was then brushed with a chemical which immediately produced the distinctive blue-gray color of the metal. Salesmen showed customers the variety of monuments which were available. These models varied greatly in size, style and decorations. Panels were available to buyers. These panels could be decorated with a wide variety of designs including various flowers, anchors, crosses, etc. they also held the information concerning the person commemorated. The cost of the marker was usually less than one made of stone and prices varied from $2.00 to $5,000. White bronze memorials reached their popularity peak from 1880-1890. The popularity was short-lived. By the turn of the century only the original foundry still made the monuments. In 1939 the company was liquidated.