The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1938-08-04
INVENTORY OF GARRETT
COUNTY'S RECORDS MADE
Archives OF Youngest County In
Maryland Examined By Histor-
zeal Records Commission
is NOW IN BOOK FORM

lished by the Historical Records Sur
yey, through the division of women's
and professional projects of the Works
Progress Commission.
The project was organized in 1885
to compile inventories of historical
materials, particularly the unpub-
lished government documents and rec
ords which are basic in administration
of local government. Field work was
begun in this county June IS, 1886.
A first list was completed March 10,
1887, by Miss Elizabeth J. West, Miss
Carrie Dewitt, Abel Dewitt, Roland
Durben and Francis Turner. These
records were afterwards checked and
edited A limited number of these
books have been obtained by the
County Commissioners.
Garrett county, alone of the twenty
three into which the State is divided,
provided the survey with a unique
political entity for study. Youngest of
them all, it is the only one to be
formed under the requirements of the
1867 Constitution, which provided that
any future subdivision of the State
must have an area of at least 400
square miles eleven of the counties
have less than that area) and popu
lation Of at least 10000 persons.
Laurel Proposed
Most Marylanders familiar with
their own lore are aware that the
county was named in honor of the
late John w. Garrett, president of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at the
time it was formed in 1872, but fewer
know that the original name proposed
for it was Laurel. The plan to stamp
upon the new community the name OF
its characteristic flora was less popu-
lar however, than the desire to men,
Orialize the name of the man who di
rected the affairs of it's most signifi-
cant enterprise.
In the selection of it's county town,
however, public opinion was more
sharply divided. After contest which
developed into an acrimonious scrim-
mage, dividing the population into
northern and southern camps, Oakland
was selected by a narrow margin OF
votes. A writ of mandamus had to be
obtained, however, before the County
Commissioners could be induced to
erect a court house and so ratify the
result of the election.
Prosperous Decades
Tied up with the railroad and the
mining of coal, Garrett forged pros
perously ahead during the first two
decades of its independent existence
Deer Park became fashionable sum-
mer resort and the future looked
starry. Late in the nineties tourists
and summer boarders began to seek
other Elysiums. Coal mining declined,
and today agriculture is virtually the
sole support of the population.
By the time Garrett county was
formed county government in Mary
land after undergoing drastic modlfl"
cations in other communities had con-
gealed virtually into its present form
It's first officials performed practically
the same duties allotted to the incum-
bents and such changes as have been
made in administration have been IN
line with the growing concentration OF
power in state and national govern
ments. 1t has few obsolete local laws
Because of its youth and the recognl-
ton of the Importance of preserving
public documents, its records are W.
tually complete and intact. Few have
been lost and none destroyed by fire or
food.
Unique Community
Unique in itself, Garrett county also
contains in Mountain Lake Park
unique community whose rise and tall
reflects the change in ideologies dur
ing the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. In the blueprint
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