Chace Newman House, 368 Oakhill Ave. (1908)
Chace Newman House, February 1992. Photo Credit: Kevin S. Forsyth.
A man of many talents, Professor Chace Newman taught drawing and design, and designed this house himself, his second in East Lansing (the first was on the Michigan Avenue side of the Delta). He taught Sunday School at Peoples Church and was one of East Lansing’s first Aldermen, as well as its first historian. He designed East Lansing’s first street numbering system in 1911 and revised it in 1920. For many years he even hand-lettered M.A.C. diplomas in Old English script.
Perhaps Newman’s greatest contribution to East Lansing history is a wonderfully detailed map of the young city made in 1913 and revised in 1915. The short alley behind the Newman home is labeled as “Tower Lane” on his map, and refers to the water tower that once stood at the top of the hill to serve the Oakwood subdivision.
Chace and Emma Young Newman’s daughter, Miss Ruth Newman, was still living in the house as late as 1982.[Towne Courier, 20 May 1982]
