ABSTRACT
When investigating finely crafted concrete, one might ask tradesmen about finishing techniques, vibration, water ratios, reinforcement placement, or formwork design. But aggregate? Most mix design assumes river sand for fines and prevalent limestone for aggregate.
Two family businesses, Winter Brothers Materials, and Simpson Materials historically have supplied the St. Louis area with Meramec river gravel through extraction from pit quarries and dredging operations. The city’s curbs, sidewalks, bridge abutments, foundations, and viaducts dating back to Works Progress Administration utilize this gravel as aggregate in concrete. In the 1970s, brutalist buildings used the gravel for exposed aggregate, and most concrete architecture uses Meramec river rock as part of mix design. Recent employment includes two contemporary projects: as aggregate in the Pulitzer Arts Foundation by Tadao Ando (2001), and as exposed aggregate in precast panels for David Chipperfield's St. Louis Art Museum addition (2013). Aside from two publications (one in 1918, another in 1969) no scholarly research has discussed the importance of this material to the built environment of this Midwestern region.
