Remembering Jean Coleman

Newton recently lost one of its memorable residents.

Jean Coleman died on May 5 at 92 years old. He had lived in Newton since 1945.

With his keen memory and insight, he was one of the keepers of Newton’s historical heritage.

Our preservation commission, at its May meeting, paused a few minutes to remember Jean.

In previous years, he gave two interviews for our oral history projects and provided other information. He connected with some interesting aspects of Newton’s architectural history.

In 1940, he married Virginia Stauffer, daughter of M. R. Stauffer, local architect and one of Newton’s premier builders.

For 10 years, from 1945 to ‘55, he worked with Stauffer, his father-in-law, in the construction business.

In this way, he had a big hand in the building up of Newton.

When he began with Stauffer, he didn’t know much about building but he learned fast.

“By the time I finished working for Stauffer,” he said, “I could finish concrete. I could stay up all night with the other guys. I could dig footings for walls, forms, and just anything.”

Later, he was administrator of the Bethel Clinic for 25 years, and then he worked with various other local organizations.

Many remember Virginia and Jean Coleman for their church and music activities.

In our interviews, he discussed the building of the “Coleman House” in 1949. This in Newton’s Lustron (prefabricated, all-steel) house on Mead Street.

M. R. Stauffer was the local Lustron dealer, and Jean Coleman became the first, and only, owner of a Lustron House in Newton. He saved a nice set of photos of the building of the house.

Lustron was the most innovative housing project of the 20th century.

The Coleman House is a local architectural monument. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In our interviews, we also discussed another local monument built by Stauffer, the Santa Fe Depot of 1929 to ‘30.

This pre-dated Coleman’s work with Stauffer, so he could not give us any firsthand stories about the depot.

But he had something better — a set of the original blueprints of the depot (called the A. T. and S. F. Depot and Eating House).

The well-worn blueprints, 18 sheets, show all the details of the depot. The architect was E. H. Harrison. The depot is on the National Register.

These Santa Fe blueprints have gone through many hands since the time of Harrison and Stauffer.

Jean Coleman reported they came to him by a circuitous route. First, they belonged to Frank Little of the engineering department at the Santa Fe. When they were of no further use to him, he gave them to Walt Claassen, Newton banker, and Walt passed them on to Jean.

The Jean and Virginia Stauffer Coleman estate has donated the depot plans to the Harvey County Historical Museum, as well as the 1949 photos of the Coleman House.

Our conversations with Jean Coleman ranged over many topics. Thanks for the memories, Jean.

Keith Sprunger is a member of the Newton/North Newton Historic Preservation Commission.