Mount Savage School is a K-8 grade school in Election District #13, Allegany County. Mount Savage and the other communities within the school district are unincorporated. They are dependent upon volunteer fire departments and county and state police protection. The area is essentially residential in character and the communities with their fluctuating but decreasing populations are made up of families in one-language homes, native whites of English, Welsh, German, Dutch, Irish, and Italian descent. There are few seemingly visible figures of power. Key persons in the churches, schools, civic, fraternal, professional, service, and social organizations have set the tone and climate for community organizations and activities.
Originally a mountain hamlet known successively as Luthworth, Arnold's Settlement, Savage Mount, and Jennings Post Office, Mt. Savage was transformed into a thriving community by 1840. The Mount Savage Iron Works was constructed by English investors in 1937; two blast furnaces were added in 1840. In 1844 the first iron rails manufactured in America were rolled in Mount Savage, for which the Iron Works was awarded a silver medal from the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia.
The first school in Mount Savage predated the iron rail by two years and was constructed along with 22 houses and a store by the Maryland and New York Iron and Coal Company. Iron production declined in the late nineteenth as did fire brick production. As the town lay outside the main coal producing region, coal never factored into the community's economy. Mount Savage prospered during the late 1800's largely due to the establishment of Cumberland and Pennsylvania Locomotive Works, which produced steam engines and RR cars. It was during this period that a young Franklin Roosevelt spent his summer vacations at the Warren Delano estate which was the home of Franklin's uncle in Mount Savage. A school has been maintained in the community since that time.
The community is extremely supportive. Parents and community members are involved in most aspects of the school. They are instrumental fundraisers and organizers. They assist in the following ways: Health screenings, and fluoride program; ticket takers; concessions stands; caring for the ball field, creating and making costumes and stage sets; chaperoning dances and field trips, running the After Prom; assisting teachers with bulletin board displays; and, most importantly, supporting the high academic and behavioral standards. The school is open to and used by the community for many different activities. For example: rooms are used for meetings and presentation; the cafeteria is used for dinners and dances; the gymnasium and ball field are used consistently throughout the year for various programs; the school library, computer labs and the distant learning lab are open to the community after school hours. It takes community to educate a child. By creating and implementing opportunities for community involvement, the learning environment becomes intergenerational, continuous, and stimulating for life-long learning.