Tehachapi News

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A vibrant and eye-catching mural celebrating the 100th anniversary of the cement plant at Monolith has recently been completed in downtown Tehachapi, causing motorists on F Street to slow down and admire it as they drive by.

Painted by well-known muralist Art Mortimer with the assistance of several local artists, the large installation covers most of the south wall of the St. Vincent de Paul building on the corner of F and Green Streets.

The mural features a dozen different images from Monolith’s past, from its earliest days in 1908 manufacturing cement for use in the Los Angeles Aqueduct to the plant modernization project in 1990. The resulting collage spreads across the building like a tastefully done page from a giant scrapbook.

Newer residents may regard the plant as a distant curiosity, its towering infrastructure illuminated at night like a strange amusement park. But for longtime residents, Monolith looms large in our consciousness. The plant was the major employer here for about 75 years and thousands of families over the decades depended on Monolith paychecks.

There was once a thriving townsite across the road from the plant (it is depicted on the mural) and some older residents living in Tehachapi today attended school at Monolith Elementary before going to high school in town.

Also included on the mural is an image of the Monolith Store, which was a popular stopping place for gas and groceries and was the only business east of town between here and Mojave. It was owned and operated for many years by the colorful Ed Tompkins, who was basically the Mayor of Monolith. The store persisted until 1971 and its closing rang the final knell for the now-vanished community of Monolith.
The company itself has undergone a few name changes, from Monolith Portland Cement Company in 1921 to Calaveras Cement Co. in 1989 to the present Lehigh Southwest Cement Company beginning in 1995. Lehigh donated $10,000 towards the cost of the mural.

“We were glad that we could contribute,” said Lehigh accounting manager Duana Frerichs Pera, a Tehachapi girl whose grandfather helped build the silos at Monolith in the 1930s. “It’s not about the company, it was done to honor the workers,” she emphasized, “Main Street has done a fantastic job and everyone here at Lehigh is excited.”

Monolith is known for the dedication and hard work of its employees — many don’t retire until they have labored over 40 years in the east end of our valley, making cement used in concrete projects large and small, from the Los Angeles Coliseum to Tehachapi sidewalks, from bridges and roads to the foundations of tens of thousands of homes.

With a plant that operates to some extent around the clock, every day of the year and has always paid good wages, Monolith has historically offered stable employment and a better life for those without much education and even to those with limited English skills.

Many neatly-kept older homes in Tehachapi belong to working class people of Hispanic descent whose families were supported by a wage earner at Monolith. To honor that heritage, an image on the mural depicts members of the Ursua family at one of the Safety Picnics the company once provided for workers and their families. A number of Tehachapi Indian men have also been on the payroll at Monolith over the years.

It is not a job without risk: over the years men have died in quarry accidents and electrocutions and truck crashes and been killed or maimed in machinery. Even with the plant automation in 1990 that reduced the workforce from 450 employees down to 125, working at Monolith (the site continues to be known as Monolith, even though the parent company name changes) can still be a demanding job that is not for the weak or idle.

A large celebration is being planned to dedicate this new mural, which is the eighth in a series of historical murals in downtown Tehachapi presented by the Tehachapi Historical Murals Committee and Main Street Tehachapi. A portion of F Street will be closed for the dedication which will be held on Saturday, September 13 and will feature guest speakers, music from the Tehachapi Pops Orchestra and refreshments and food. All interested people are encouraged to attend, with a special invitation extended to past and present Monolith, Calaveras and Lehigh employees.

Muralist Art Mortimer was assisted by additional artists Terry Asher, Lyn Bennett, Allyson Gray, Caitlin Johnson and Alicia Shabra. Dylan Welch and other scouts from Troop 136 performed the prep work to get the building ready for the mural project, using sandblasting equipment generously loaned by Sunbelt Rentals of Palmdale.

Have a good week.