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SELİN ÖZ
First Marble Factory
The first modern marble factory was built in 1912, on the Island of Marmara. It was built by the
British and Belgian engineers. This factory worked by steam power and It functioned untill 1974.
Marmara Island has 2 thousand 700 years of marble processing history. In the past they were very
rich in marble but it was very difficult for them to send the marble to many far places. Until the
begging of the 20th century there weren’t any factorieson the island. It was very big need for the
Islanders. Then the Ottoman Mehmet Efendi found a solution and he cooperated with Paşabahçeli
Hakkı Bey . Together, they opened the first marble factory on the village of Saraylar on Marmara
Island. Saraylar is the only place where marble is found on the whole island. The factory worked from
1912 to 1930. But in 1930 it was sold to Salih Sabri Karagözoğlu because of the disagreemet
between partners. After the handover the factory worked with full capasity. With the support of
Atatürk the government stopped importing marble from Italy and the whole need of the country
met by that factory. In those days cars were very rare and and lorries were rarer but there were 8
lorries belonging to that factory. Alongside the factory there was a small warf with a small railway
sistem to upload the processes marble blocks.
This factory functioned until nineteen-seventies.
Reference: www.marbleport.com