The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1940-12-05
Parents Striking
For New School
Continued from Page Onel

Continued from Page Onel
road put in a switch to his property
and the community which grew
around it was known as Hutton's
Switch. AS it became larger the town
shortened its name to Hutton's and
finally to Hutton.
Leading Timber Center
But the largest mill was located at
Crellin, which was on branch line
of the B. & O., and it came to be the
principal timber center hereabouts.
Hutton put its stake in a tannery
Bark from the oak and hemlock was
shipped by flat car from Crellin's
mills to Hutton's tannery and once
there were as many as 1875 persons
tanning South American hides for
shipment to Boston for shoe manu-
| facturerS.
Crellin's mills handled 5000 feet
a day. and often two ricks of 100000
cords of bark stood in the yards
around Hutton's tannery.
Turned to Mining
Most of the heavy timber had been
cut by 1915, and Crellin underwent a
change of industrial support Lumber
men became miners and the noun
tains which were stripped of their big
timber now were opened up for their
soft coal with the same company in
control.
Hutton looked around for other
sources of bark for it's tannery and
found it had to import extract from
South America. Such processing was
too costly and without its local supply
of bark, the tannery lost it's profitable
margin.
A fire, sweeping through the plant
! about fifteen years ago, marked the
doom of the town. The tannery never
was rebuilt and it's workers were
without means of livelihood.
Joined NeighbOrs
Some Of the men went down the
road to Crellin to join neighbors who
had preceded them to the mines. I'm
like most mines in this region, the
one at Crellin didn't close during the
depression years, but at best there
were not jobs for all.
And so far as Hutton was con-
cerned, nearly all heads of families
had to leave their homes for work
elsewhere. That's the way it is here
today. Most of the money comes from
the Crellin mines.
1t was early on February morn
ing this year that another fire visited
Hutton and marked in lesser way
another disaster for the town. There
were about three dozen children who
used the school. Once two teachers
had been needed to teach the classes.
But by last year, one was enough.
Moved to Crellin
After viewing the ashes, Miss Vir-
ginia Paulie, the teacher who lived
back in the county, moved to the
Crellin school and took her brood with
her.
Parents were concerned about the
building. They somehow got the i'm
preston that it would be rebuilt and
that the bus which came each morn
ing to take their children to Crellin
would not be necessary at the opening
of the new school year.
All of them finished out the 1939-4O
term, but when the parents saw sum-
mer slipping away with no school
being rebuilt, they began their fight
which is still in progress.
Problem Simple One
From the viewpoint of the county
board of education, the problem was
more or less a simple one. Funds to
run their school system come from
both the county and the State, but the
division is seven State dollars for
every three county dollars.
1t long has been the practice in the
State school system to eliminate, as
far as practical, the smaller schools
and consolidate them with larger ones
at centrally located communities.
When the county board asked the
State board if the latter would recon-.
mend the rebuilding of the one.
teacher Hutton school, the parent or
ganization said not.
Since the school at Hutton has beer
eliminated in the natural course" of
events, there was no reason why
money should be spent to rebuild it
Rather, it was more in keeping with
the Statewide policy to transport the
| children from Hutton 70 Tho laroo,,