History of the Joseph Coduri Granite Company
Joseph Coduri arrived in America in March of 1889 from the small town of Colico in the Lake Como region of Italy at the age of six. His father John was a farmer who eventually settled in Waterford, Connecticut along with wife Barbara and sons Charles, Albino, Louis and Joseph.
From around 1897 until 1906 Joseph lived in Barre, Vermont working in the granite quarries and learning the stonecutting trade. In 1907, after his marriage to Antoinette Marzoli, he (age 25) and his new brother-in-law, Joseph Marzoli (age 20) formed the Coduri & Marzoli Granite Company.
Sometime around 1916 Joseph Marzoli developed a form of tuberculosis/silicosis and he moved to California. Later that year Joseph Coduri purchased the Joseph Newall granite sheds on Oak Street in Westerly for $15,000 (@$300,000 today) and established the Joseph Coduri Granite Company.
Coduri shed. The picture was taken from Oak Street. The sign on the roof (reversed in the picture) faces the railroad so that it serves as an advertisement to passing railroad passengers.
Craneway of the Joseph Coduri Granite Company, circa 1924.
Although the demand for elaborate monuments and expensive family mausoleums faded during the depression and World War II, the company produced notable public monuments. In 1940, Joseph Coduri died of silicosis and passed ownership of the company to his son Richard.
The demand for large monuments had subsided by the 1950’s and readily available local granite was lost with the closing of both the Smith and Sullivan Quarries. The Coduri sheds ceased operations in September of 1958 and orders were then handled by the Bonner Monument Company until the Coduri Granite Company was officially dissolved in the early 1960’s.
Westerly Granite Monuments by Joseph Coduri Granite Company
Please use the “Search the Collections Database” link on the navigation bar to find images and descriptions associated with these monuments.
Agoglia Mausoleum – Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York
Andrus Mausoleum – Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York
Berwind Monument –Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA
Brusa Monument – St. Sebastian Cemetery
Cataldo Mausoleum – St. Sebastian Cemetery
Chapin “Temple of Love” – Springfield Cemetery, Springfield MA
Coduri Mausoleum – River Bend Cemetery
Coduri Monument – River Bend Cemetery
Columbus Statue – Wilcox Park
Corby Mausoleum – Rock Creek Cemetery – Washington, DC
De St. AUBIN Monument – Providence, Rhode Island
Dooley Monument – Mt. St. Benedict’s Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut
Dumbra Mausoleum – Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York
Father Duffy Memorial – Times Square, New York City
Fox Mausoleum – Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York
Granite Eagle, Federal Reserve Building – Buffalo, NY
Hayes Cross, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey
Joy Monument – River Bend Cemetery
Lee Jackson Memorial – Baltimore, MD
Lytle Monument–Spring Grove Cemetery– Cincinnati, OH
Marzoli Monument – River Bend Cemetery
Maynard Monument – Old Forest Hills Cemetery, Utica, New York
McCormick Monument – Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts
McGuill Monument – St. Michael’s Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts
Metcalf Monument – Orange, New Jersey
Moore Mausoleum – St. Sebastian Cemetery
Pierson Monument – Rosedale Cemetery, Montclair, NJ
Priore Monument – St. Sebastian Cemetery
Herbert W. Rice Mausoleum – Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI
Roger Williams Memorial Statue, Prospect Hill – Providence, RI
Second Division Memorial – White House Ellipse South, Washington, D.C.
Siegman Mausoleum – Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx New York
Uppercu Monument – Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York
Ward Monument – River Bend Cemetery
Wilcox Memorial Fountain Bowl – Wilcox Park
World War Memorial – Granite Street & Grove Avenue Intersection
The Joseph Coduri Granite Company’s Shed
The Joseph Coduri Granite Company stone cutting shed circa 1930
Joseph Coduri Granite Company–A Twentieth Century Company
Recorded Sunday, February 9, 2014, 2 pm