Ashland Independent School District

In 1958, the Ashland Board of Education announced the 1895 building would be razed, the planned construction of a new elementary school in the same location, and “to continue to honor Dr. Crabbe’s achievements by keeping the name of the structure it will be replacing”.

At the age of nine he ran away from the foster home in Floyd County and worked the “push boats” on the Big Sandy River.

He was an accomplished banjo player and was a collector of river songs, which often referenced the Pike to Catlettsburg route.

Jean Bell Thomas, nicknamed the "Traipsin' Woman", served has Judge Hager's clerk.

She often traveled to courts in the mountains of eastern Kentucky by jolt-wagon and shared many of Judge Hager's collected river songs.

Prior to President Harding's August 1923 death, Judge Hager was being considered for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy.

Blazer came to Ashland in 1924 as general manager of the nearby Leach refinery, which had been purchased by Swiss Oil of Lexington, KY.

Blazer would become a senior advisor on petroleum matters in US Department of Interior from 1933 to 1957, a leader in the development of the modernization of the Ohio River transportation network, and a recognized statewide supporter of education.

In 1958, the Ashland Board of Education announced the naming of Paul G. Blazer High School.