[kcantor]

for those that are true trivia buffs, tyndall stone doesn't come from tyndall.

tyndall stone comes from a quarry operated by gillis quarries in garson, manitoba - which is about 35 km outside winnipeg - and which was first opened in the late 1800's. at the time, there was no railroad station in garson, the closest one being in tyndall. when shipped, all of the stone was identified as coming from tyndall as it was the shipping point, not the originating point, of the stone. the name has since been trademarked by gillis and the stone is as beautiful as always, rich in well preserved fossils and varying through different shades of brown/beige to different shades of greys depending on what part of the quarry and how deep in the quarry the stone is cut from. the company is still a family owned and operated business. we have used tyndall stone inside and out on many of our projects and it has a high profile and tradition locally including the stone at city hall and at the old museum. the supplier may consider the end material in the new museum an upgrade but that would be an opinion i don't share as it doesn't offer the warmth or texture either visually or tactilely (if that's a word) of tyndall stone. how a museum of natural history can be considered upgraded by moving from a material rich in fossils to a material devoid of them escapes me.