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Community Corner

Home Holds History Despite Changes

Changes to the exterior of the Hutchens home exclude it from the National Register.

The old Hutchens home on Main Street in Dallas next to the First Baptist Church may be a historic home, but you won’t find it on the National Register of Historic Places.

Officials with the Paulding County Genealogy Society said that’s because the home’s current owner has made changes to the exterior of the home, such as adding porches to the sides, and tearing down the original porch in the back and building a new one. No home can be put on the National Register if the exterior has been changed, said Dale Loudermilk with the PCGS.

“Even adding aluminum siding changes it,” Loudermilk said.

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But Hallie Lester—the granddaughter of Judge A.L. Bartlett who built the house—said she loves the changes that James Kelly has made.

“He did a wonderful job,” Lester said.

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The brick home that Bartlett built in 1904 had three stories and 16 rooms. There was room at the top of the home to add a fourth floor, Lester said, but that never happened. When Kelly bought the house, he also added two bedrooms.

“As far as the original structure of the house, it’s exactly how it was,” said Lester, who now lives next door to her childhood home in a brick house that she made sure matched the bricks of her family home.

When Bartlett died in 1926, Lester’s parents moved to the home to live with her grandmother until her death. The home remained in the Hutchens family until Lester’s mother died in 1988. Lester and her sisters then sold the home to the Paulding County Chamber of Commerce.

“Everyone said, ‘Why did you sell it?’” Lester said. “Well, I just didn’t want to live alone in that big house. I have three sisters, and none of us wanted to live in it.”

The Chamber owned the home for several years, using it as a venue for weddings and other events. The organization then auctioned off the home, and it was purchased by the then-Chamber president, Ruben Jones. Jones later sold the home to its current owner.

According to a book at the PCGS, Lester’s father, Hal C. Hutchens, was a lawyer and began practicing with his father, Col. G.R. Hutchens, in 1913. In 1917, when the United States declared war on Germany, Hutchens entered Officer Training School and was commissioned an officer in the 82nd Division. He served in many battles and received a commendation in 1918 for commanding his platoon in action in the St. Mihiel Offensive.

After leaving the service, Hutchens was elected as State Senator for the 38th district for two years and then served as a state fire inspector from 1924-1935. In 1923, Hutchens married Barlett’s daughter, Ruth Bartlett. From 1935 until his death in 1954, he served as Solicitor General for the Tallapoosa district. Both are buried in the Dallas City Cemetery, as is their son, who was laid to rest in the mausoleum. Loudermilk said the Hutchens’ son died in the winter soon after he was married and, as the ground was frozen, a grave couldn’t be dug, so the mausoleum was built on the cemetery hill.

“(Hutchens) said no more of his family members were going to go through that,” Loudermilk said.

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