CELEBRATING A LEGACY | Hutton Monuments
By MICHAEL MCGRAW | Photo by JOHN BURNS
Topeka’s rich legacy of craftsmanship has its origins in the pioneer era. For some businesses like Hutton Monuments, this heritage is a source of pride.
“Our family came here to farm 80 acres and build a life, because that was what you did when you weren’t the eldest son and you couldn’t inherit the family business back in England,” said Chris Hutton, owner of Hutton Monuments.
Chris explained that his grandfather worked with the Schroeder family in the 1890s. Mr. Schroeder was a stone cutter and operated a monument business with a shop along the Kansas River.
That location was nearly wiped out in the great Topeka flood of 1903. A photograph portraying the damage to their building hangs in Chris’ office, alongside numerous other moments from the business and family history. One cannot miss the legacy that Chris and his son, Tyler Hutton, are upholding when you walk into their current facility at 201 SW Topeka Blvd, now safely up on the hill high above the Kansas River.
Tyler works on carving and preparing stones, using bunkers — heavy wood carriages that allow them to shift the large stones around the shop.
“My great grandfather built those two carriages,” Tyler noted as he shifted a stone. He pointed out the deep grooves where the soft wood had long since been worn away from the sandblasting they use to etch the stones. Tyler can easily navigate the large stones as he operates a crane hoist that runs the length of the shop.
“Those rails and the carriage wheels that hold the crane bridge are original and go back to our days of being so closely tied to the railroads,” said Chris. “Now we have an electric hoist, but it used to be pulleys and ropes.”
“There is a lot that has changed,” said Chris. “We used to use cartage companies with their draft horses and that was the only way to move these stones. We had to be close to the railroad to be able to get the materials. We would do funerals and set stones at Half Day Cemetery. It was called that because it took a half day to get there from Topeka. It is really something when you think of how those men were moving stones and doing this work with hand tools and wagons.”
Since the Hutton family took complete ownership in 1935, the business has remained a family enterprise. Arthur Hutton passed the business to his sons, William and Clinton, who then passed it on to Chris. He is deeply grateful that Tyler has decided to join him and carry on the work.
“It isn’t easy to keep something like this going,” said Chris. “My father and uncle were in World War II. They saw things people just shouldn’t see and they traveled the world. They came back to Kansas and to this business after all that and they continued to serve this community.”
With any business that has been around for more than 100 years, community is at the center of what they do. But for monuments and cemeteries, that legacy can mean everything.
Having his son Tyler with him throughout this journey gives Chris hope that they will be able to carry on this legacy for another 100 years.
