Coates House Site
Dublin Core
Title
Coates House Site
Date
1935-1995
Description
Coates House Site. The Dutch Colonial Revival home was constructed circa 1935 for Lutie Lewis and Leslie Coates. The Coates family was prominent as farmers and landowners in the Black community and in the Chantilly Baptist Church since the 1870s. The house was demolished in the 1990s.
Leslie R Coates attended Dunbar High School in Washington DC (there was no high school for African Americans in Fairfax County until the 1950s) and Howard College. He was a dairy farmer, school bus driver, and machinist who served as a Captain in World War II. In 1959, Mr. Coates was called for jury duty. When he purchased lunch in the courthouse cafeteria, he was told it was for Whites only and directed to a separate room for Blacks. Mr. Coates refused to go there and was informed that state law required separate dining facilities.
Lutie Lewis Coates was an educator who served as a teacher or school principal for Fairfax County Schools from 1935 to 1963. She taught in the “colored schools” in the Chantilly area such as the two- room Squirrel Hill school, and later, as principal of Luther Jackson High School. Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School is named in her honor.
Leslie R Coates attended Dunbar High School in Washington DC (there was no high school for African Americans in Fairfax County until the 1950s) and Howard College. He was a dairy farmer, school bus driver, and machinist who served as a Captain in World War II. In 1959, Mr. Coates was called for jury duty. When he purchased lunch in the courthouse cafeteria, he was told it was for Whites only and directed to a separate room for Blacks. Mr. Coates refused to go there and was informed that state law required separate dining facilities.
Lutie Lewis Coates was an educator who served as a teacher or school principal for Fairfax County Schools from 1935 to 1963. She taught in the “colored schools” in the Chantilly area such as the two- room Squirrel Hill school, and later, as principal of Luther Jackson High School. Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School is named in her honor.
Source
Leslie and Lutie L. Coates House at 3621 Centreville Road in Chantilly. History Matters, 2006. Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library
“Virginia Grand Juror Quits When Denied Seat In Courthouse Café,” Atlanta Daily World, September 22, 1959, p. 3. Accessed via GenealogyBank website
Voices of Chantilly. Birch et al, 1998. Privately printed. Fairfax County Public Library
What’s In a Name? Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School. Fairfax County Public Schools Yesteryear and Today YouTube Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz_NkMceA5Q
“Looking Back at Black Life,” Jean Seaberry, Washington Post, February 13, 1992. Accessed via Washington Post Online Archives
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1992/02/13/looking-back-at-Black-life/b0455f80-fd3e-42d4-85e2-ae432338db30/
Site Location Item Type Metadata
Location
3621 Centreville Road, Chantilly VA 20151
District
Sully
Collection
Citation
“Coates House Site,” Fairfax County African American History Inventory, accessed September 8, 2024, https://fairfaxaahi.centerformasonslegacies.com/items/show/187.