Brown Mansion
 2019 South Walnut
Coffeyville, Kansas  67337
(800) 688-2042

March - November
Tuesday thru Saturday:
Tours on the hour at 1PM & 3 PM
Call to make sure no special event is scheduled
Adult: $10     Senior: $9     7-17:  $6

Combination with Dalton Defenders Museum: 
Adults: $15     Senior: $14     7-17:  $8

Brown Mansion Map

Brown Mansion - Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville Brown Mansion grounds
Brown Mansion - Coffeyville, Kansas

The Brown Mansion in Coffeyville, Kansas makes quite an impression. Completed in 1904, the three story 16 room Mansion was built at a cost of $125,000.  It was far ahead of its time and had features like an alarm system, elevator, and a walk-in ice box.

The home was built by W.P. Brown, a businessman who moved to Coffeyville from Ohio in 1890. He first started a lumber company, but discovered one of the largest natural gas wells in the country. He then founded the Coffeyville Mining and Gas Company and owned several other businesses including a 40 acre amusement park and a Natatoirum (spa).

The mansion was designed by Edward Wilder and Thomas Wight, who studied with Stanford White, and the house shares features with several of the famous homes that White designed. Some features of the home (such as the height of the steps) were designed to accommodate Brown's petite wife, Nancy, who was only 4'11".

The Browns had three children who survived birth - William, who lived to age 4; Donald who died at age 11 on November 11, 1911 (11/11/11); and Violet.

Violet Elizabeth Brown married at age 19, but divorced shortly after their only child died. She married a second time and divorced, went to college and became a librarian. In the 1930s, she moved back to Coffeyville to take care of her parents, and the mansion was left to Violet when they died. In 1970, Violet sold the mansion to the Coffeyville Historical Society to use as a museum. She took only what she needed and moved into a Nursing Home where she lived the rest of her life. The rest of the buildings furnishings were left for the museum

The mansion has a living room, parlor, music room, library, conservatory, dining room, billiard room, kitchen, maid's quarters, five bedrooms and three full baths. The basement includes butler's quarters, additional bath, laundry, wine cellar (William Brown grew grapes and made wine), single bowling alley, and other storage rooms. The entire third floor is a ballroom. The wood in the home was hand selected by Mr. Brown, and no knots can be found in the wood. The first floor is pine; the second floor is pecan, and the third floor is maple.

Although the museum director has seen no evidence that the Brown Mansion is haunted, others have reported experiences with a ghost in the old home. Coffeyville residents also report that during the years that the building was vacant and the power was off, they would occasionally see green glowing lights on the Mansion grounds.

The Mansion can also be rented for special events such as weddings.


The Music Room contains an 1881 square Chickering piano (shown) and a 1943 Steinway baby grand.
 The hand painted canvas walls were created by an Italian artist. The room at the right is the parlor
with all of the furniture custom made for Mrs. Brown's size.

Brown Mansion library
All the books in the library today belonged to the Browns. Some date from the 1800s.

Dining Room in Brown Mansion
Dining Room with signed Tiffany hammered brass gasolier. The area at the rear right is part of the solarium.

Brown Mansion kitchen
In 1953 Violet took the doors off the upper kitchen cabinets leaving the contents open to view.


This room was designed as a two room nursery, but was later converted into a Seamstress's room. 

Brown Mansion Taff bedroom
The Taft Room is where William Howard Taft, the twenty seventh President of the United States, rested when visited
Coffeyville during his 1912 campaign for the second term of his presidency. He did not stay overnight.

the Brown Mansion ballroom has been reported as haunted
Third floor ballroom which doubled as a gymnasium for Donald and William Brown. Their gym equipment
would hang from hooks in the ceiling. There is a recess for a band, as well as two fainting rooms and
two smoking rooms.

Brown Mansion Map - Coffeyville, Kansas
Brown Mansion Map

W.P. Brown grave   Brown Mansion web site
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copyright 2006-2023 by Keith Stokes