This cache is located on the property boundary of a public park named Basic Park. In the fall this park is home to the Luckey Fall Festival and in the summer it is home to many baseball games / tournaments. What many people do not know is that this location was previously a dolomitic limestone quarry and the historical significance of limestone to Luckey.
Luckey was located on its present site for a number of reasons. First was the limestone ridge and second the railroad. The limestone ridge not only lifted the town above the waters of the Black Swamp, but the ridge is also composed of the most famous dolomitic limestone region on the American Continent. There have been 6 different limestone quarries operating in Luckey at one time or another. At one time the quarries within 10 miles of Luckey produced all of our countries finishing lime.
Luckey Hydrating Lime Company began operations at the quarry that was at this specific location around 1884. Joseph Krotzer owned the quarry. The kiln for the quarry was located behind the home at 412 Krotzer Avenue. The quarry was sold in 1907 to the Ohio and Western Lime Company.
Like many of the quarries in town (including the one under the ball diamond), Krotzer’s quarry was filled with trash. For many years the quarries of Luckey and farming crops were the major components of the towns economic success.
Harold Wachter began filling in the quarry with trash and fill, giving us the beginnings of the baseball diamonds in Basic Park. Behind home plate, at the closest ball diamond, a memorial to Harold Wachter can be found.
Historical information was provided by The Luckey Area Historical Society