Your generous efforts make a difference in preserving this designated Virginia Landmark, and enrolled site on the US National Register of Historic Places. Support Harrisonburg’s non-profit community organization, NENA, in purchasing this historic building for the official opening of the DallardNewman House Museum serving the local community, the greater Shenandoah Valley, and the state of Virginia. To Support Donations can be made online: http://www.tcfhr.org/donate-to-tcf/ https://www.gofundme.com/preserving-the-dallardnewman-house or by check made out to NENA, and mailed to:
A Remarkable History of Survival African American ownership of this land beginning in 1875—as compared to only fifteen years earlier, when persons of color were owned by white landowners—combined with rising economic power in the hands of African Americans, and the entrepreneurial spirit of freed slave, Ambrose Dallard, built this enduring home and the thriving Newtown community around it. Marriage to the next generation of Dallard women—Lucy and Mary, two of the daughters of Ambrose and his wife, Harriet Graves Dallard —joined other successful African American families, the Cochrans and Newmans, to the property: Lucy Dallard and her husband, Charles Cochran, were the home’s first owners, followed by Mary Dallard and her husband George A. Newman, Sr., its second owners. The prominence of this network of family members, their accomplished educations, professional and economic successes, and positions of leadership, ensured the building’s survival for generations. The importance of the Dallard-Newman House was further enriched by the construction of a historic African American church next door to the home: the Kelley Street United Brethern in Christ Church (active 1887-1919). Ambrose’s son-in-law, George A. Newman, Sr., established the local congregation and constructed its revival style building on land donated by Ambrose Dallard. Through the tireless efforts of the Northeast Neighborhood Association, and especially its Founder and current President, Karen Thomas, this church building, the DallardNewman House, and the nearby Newtown Cemetery, have been recognized as Virginia Landmarks, and are now enrolled on the US National Register of Historic Places.
The bond between the home and the adjacent church likely contributed to the survival of the two structures during Harrisonburg’s Urban Renewal Projects of the 1950’s and 1960’s, up until today. During this period, properties in targeted districts such as Newtown were razed for local economic redevelopment. Like renewal programs were carried out in cities across Virginia, as well as in other parts of the United States, marking this as a widespread practice. Remarkably, the African American owned properties—the historic Dallard-Newman House and its pendant building, the church—survived Harrisonburg’s “Urban Renewal” efforts, while over a hundred prized buildings in Newtown and surrounding areas were destroyed. Original Property Owner and the Home’s Builder: Ambrose Dallard (born c. 1833, the Yancey family’s Riverbank Plantation; died January 4, 1915, 243 Kelley Street, Newtown [Harrisonburg, VA], buried in Newtown Cemetery) Carpenter, Freed Slave, Husband of Harriet Graves Dallard (born 1841; died June 16, 1916), Major Landowner, a Founder of Newtown, Second Lieutenant in the city’s Colored Military, Purveyor of Vegetable Plants (especially Celery), and Congregation Member and later Preacher at the John Wesley Methodist Church on Liberty Street. In 1875, Ambrose Dallard, with his twin brother, Reuben (died March 23, 1903), and other family members, built the house, at the center of the African American settlement of Newtown. Forming the nucleus of this new African American town were freedmen and women, including
NENA/Northeast Neighborhood Association “Preserving the Dallard-Newman House” P.O. Box 1026 Harrisonburg, VA 22803 Email: hburgnena@gmail.com Phone: 540-421-5153 Website: http://www.nenava.org
Constructed in 1875 at 192 Kelley Street, the historic Dallard-Newman House is one of the city’s oldest and most enduring monuments to African American culture and heritage. The building, constructed by freed slaves, is a fascinating record of urban life in this community. Its history begins with efforts at economic recovery in the post-Civil War era (1865-1877), the founding of the first educational institutions for persons of color, the development of the thriving community of Newtown around the house, and the near hundred and fifty years that followed, up until today.
these Dallard family members, formerly of the Riverbank Plantation on the Shenandoah River. Freed persons from the Valley’s other plantations and homes were also drawn to the new community, including Lucy Simms (born 1855; died July 10, 1934,) formerly a slave on the Gray’s Hilltop Plantation, Newtown’s neighbor, several blocks to the east. Lucy Simms would become, by the time of her death in 1934, a famed and beloved educator in whose memory the community’s early 20th century school was dedicated. Simms is one of ten African American Virginians who will be featured in the future Virginia Emancipation Proclamation and Freedom Monument on Brown’s Island in Richmond.
Kelley Street. Their daughter, Lucy Dallard, with her husband Charles Cochran, were the first residents of Dallard-Neman House at 192 Kelley Street, following their marriage c. 1875. The Cochrans were prominent members of the community, and by 1885, Charles’ relative, W.M. Cochran, would serve in the Colored Militia as First Lieutenant, alongside Second Lieutenant, Ambrose Dallard.
By 1880, the freedman Ambrose Dallard owned a considerable amount of land. In this year he added 23 acres outside the city limits to the many Newtown lots, several of them along Kelley Street (outlined in blue on the map), that he had purchased by at least 1875. The Newtown community was roughly bounded on the west by North Main Street, and to the east by the Hilltop Plantation, its former lands including today’s the Lucy F. Simms [School] Continuing Education Center and the Ralph Sampson Park. Defining Newtown institutions were its African American cemetery, including slave burials dating back to at least 1838, on land formerly owned by the Hilltop Plantation; its four original churches—the First Baptist Church, the John Wesley Methodist Church, the Church of the Kelley Street United Brethern in Christ (in 1919 to become the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,) and its Mennonite Church; its all-grade colored school—first a small building located on Rock Street; in 1882 replaced by the larger Effinger Street School; and finally in 1939 succeeded by the Lucy F. Simms School on Simms Street; a business district including Wolfe and Main Streets; and a careful grid network of streets that seamlessly continued the street layout of the existing city plan. These new streets were lined with well-kept homes of Newtown’s thriving families, including the Dallard-Newman House. The Home’s First Owners: A Wedding Gift to Lucy Dallard, Daughter of Ambrose and Harriet Ambrose with his wife, Harriet Graves Dallard, also a former slave on the Riverbank Plantation, transferred portions of the family land on Kelley Street to their daughters upon their marriages. The couple also built homes for each daughter on these properties, close by to their own residence at 243
Brothers Ambrose and Reuben Dallard born slaves on the Yancey plantation, Riverbank.
Oldest documented slave burial in the Newtown Cemetery.
Harriet Graves, future wife of Ambrose Dallard, born into slavery at Riverbank.
US Civil War
While Mary Dallard (1869-1968) was a longtime native of Newtown, her husband George came to the city from Warren County, VA, in 1875, to serve as principal of Newtown’s colored school—first located in a small building on Rock Street, and in 1882 relocated to a two-story, brick building on Effinger Street; the latter was destroyed in the city’s “Urban Renewal” project of 1965. Both school locations were a short walk from George and Mary’s first, and then second, residences on Kelley Street. By the time of George’s retirement from the Effinger Street School, he had spent twenty-eight years in total in the public education system serving the African American community. Six of Mary and George’s fourteen children went on to become educators in Virginia, including their son, George A. Newman, Jr., who would serve as Assistant Principal of School #3 in nearby Staunton, VA. In 1887, just west of the DallardNewman House, George founded the Kelley Street United Brethern in Christ Church (active 18871919). For the new church, his father-in-law, Ambrose Dallard, donated the lot at 184 Kelley Street, again distributing his
When Lucy and Charles departed Newtown, Ambrose and Harriet’s daughter, Mary Dallard with her husband, George A. Newman, Sr., moved into the home at 192 Kelley Street, where they raised fourteen children. Mary and George left behind their first house on the south side of Kelley Street. Regrettably, the Dallard home on the south side of Kelley Street was among the Newtown buildings that did not survive Harrisonburg’s “Urban Renewal” campaigns. The Legacy of Mary Dallard’s Husband, George A. Newman, Sr. (b. 1855 a freedman; died 1944, Newtown [Harrisonburg, VA], buried in Newtown Cemetery) Educator in the Warren County Schools, VA; Principal of the Newtown Colored School: first located in a one-room building on Rock Street, and then in a two-story, multiroom brick building on Effinger Street; Poet; Founder, Choir Director, and Minister of the Church of the United Brethern in Christ, 184 Kelley Street; later Choir Director, Trustee, and Lay Speaker at the John Wesley Methodist Church of Liberty
Thirteenth Amendment frees slaves nationwide.
Early Reconstruction era; Freedmen’s Bureau works to transition former slaves to a freelabor society.
The Historic Dallard-Newman House is built by former slaves, Ambrose and Reuben Dallard.
purchased land to family members and community organizations. George served as the church’s founder, its first choirmaster, and then minister from 19001909. The church was a vibrant religious institution in the Newtown community for over twenty years, and its successor, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, continues this legacy until today.
Street; Federal Employee in the IRS and US Marshall’s Service; and Local Business Owner in Insurance.
Ambrose Dallard purchases 23 acres near the B&O Railroad.
Effinger Street School replaces original Rock Street colored school; George A. Newman, Sr. is its first principal.
George A. Newman, Sr., founds the Kelley Street United Brethern in Christ Church on land donated by his father-in-law, Ambrose Dallard.
Lucy F. Simms School established on former Hilltop plantation land; replaces Effinger School.
Upon the deaths of her parents, George A. Newman, Sr., and Mary Dallard Newman, ownership of the Dallard-Newman House passed to the youngest of the couple’s fourteen children, Mary Carlotta Newman (born September 9, 1911, Newtown; died August 26, 2015, Newtown, buried in Newtown Cemetery.) Named for her mother, Mary Carlotta Newman graduated from Newtown’s Effinger Street School, and trained in education at the historically black Virginia State Normal College (now Virginia State University) near Petersburg, VA, majoring in Music. After graduation, Mary Carlotta Newman served her community as a local educator and on Feb. 14, 1941, she married fellow Effinger Street classmate, Austin St. Claire “Dick” Harris, son of the Principal of the Simms School (born March 24, 1911, Lexington, VA; died March 30, 1992). The couple’s professional careers and continued ownership of this historic home saw the building safely through Harrisonburg’s “Urban Renewal” projects, where many other Dallard homes on Kelley Street were destroyed. On August 26, 2015, Mary Carlotta Newman Harris passed away in her family home, the Dallard-Newman House at 192 Kelley Street, reaching the age of 103. She was the last DallardNewman descendant to occupy the home, first built in 1875 by her grandparents, freed slaves Ambrose and Harriet, for their daughters, and their daughter’s daughter.
Mary Carlotta Newman, final owner of the home, marries Effinger classmate, Austin St. Claire “Dick” Harris.
Harrisonburg’s “Urban Renewal” project destroys major parts of Newtown.
Last graduates of the Simms School; Harrisonburg integrates student populations.
Mary Carlotta Newman Harris dies. She is the final family member to reside in the Historic Dallard-Newman House.