WILLIAM PHILIP COAST

The name of Coast figures prominently in the business and social annals of Iowa's university city. Since the spring of 1854, the year of the arrival of Craft Coast and his family from Ohio, members of the family have been actively identified with the development of the city. Craft Coast and his wife, Nancy Regan, were residents of Youngstown, Ohio, where William Philip Coast was born May 5, 1841. The latter was therefore thirteen years of age when he came with his parents to Johnson county. The elder Coast, upon arrival at Iowa City, entered the real estate and brokerage business. He bought and sold land and loaned money. He took a great interest in the improvement of all conditions in Johnson county, and the effect of his vigorous personality and his timely activities is manifest to the present time. He was a man greatly beloved by a large circle of personal friends, who expressed their sorrow on the occasion of his death at Iowa City, in January, 1864. His wife survived him three years, dying in 1867.

Craft Coast and Nancy Regan were the parents of two other children besides William Philip, namely, Oscar Regan, and Mary Elizabeth, both born in Ohio, where their childhood days were spent. Both were educated at Iowa City. Oscar Regan Coast is an artist by profession, who spends his winters in the mountains of the west and his summers in the east. In spite of the fact that his time is chiefly occupied by travel, he calls Johnson county his home. The sister, Mary Elizabeth, became Mrs. Geo. Henry Yewell. Her death occurred in 1880. Her husband is also an artist, who spends his time in New York city and Europe.

William Philip Coast attended the public schools of Iowa City, and was one of the first students who entered the State University of Iowa. Later he attended college at Oberlin, Ohio. He began his business career at the age of twenty-one, and was engaged in different lines until the death of his father, when he took full charge of the estate. About 1890 he entered the clothing business, with which he has been actively identified until the present. The firm is now known and Coast & Sons.

Mr. Coast was married in October, 1864, to Miss Mary Ellen Bradshaw, who was born in Indiana in May, 1842, and came to Johnson county with her parents when three months old. She has resided here ever since. Her father, James P. Bradshaw, was a native of Kentucky, and her mother of Virginia. This excellent couple were among the earliest pioneers of Johnson county, Mr. Bradshaw being one of the first merchants of the county. At the time of his death, in 1851, he was postmaster of Iowa City. Both husband and wife were very prominent in the Methodist Episcopal church, and did all in their power to advance the interests and influence of the church in what was then a primitive community. One other daughter besides Mrs. Coast was born to them, Narcissa J., who married Carson L. Mozier, at one time a prominent dry goods merchant of Iowa City. Mr. Mozier died in June, 1908, and his wife one year later.

Two sons were born to William Philip Coast and Ellen Bradshaw, namely, Preston Craft, and William Oscar. The former was born April 11, 1870, and was married in 1894 to Miss Grace M. McGee, of Iowa City, Iowa. They have two children, Marjory E. and Alice Bradshaw. William Oscar Coast was born September 5, 1880, and was married to Miss Maude Cleveland Kingsbury October 24, 1904. They have one daughter, Louise Cleaveland, born April 13, 1910.

William Philip Coast and family are attendants and members of the First Presbyterian church. Practically all their lives have been lived in Johnson county, and the record of their activities is an open book, without blot or erasement. Lives like these are an honor to any community, and furnish conspicuous examples for emulation. It is a sufficient encomium for any couple to write of them: "Sixty years residents of Iowa City, and beloved by all who knew them." That is particularly true of William Philip and Mary Ellen Bradshaw Coast.

Source: "Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa, History" ³⁶⁸⁰