He was the son of George Morrison Coates and Anna Troth. He married Anna Morris Lloyd on September 30, 1869 and had children Esther, Samuel, Benjamin, John, and Helen.
William grew up in Easttown Township. He graduated from Haverford College in 1863, one year after his older brother did. He took a position as a bookkeeper to gain practical experience in business. He also enlisted in the "Grey Reserves" due to the Civil War. At the end of the war he joined his father and uncle in the wool business at Coates Brothers, and in 1867 became a member of the firm with which he was to remain actively engaged until his retirement in 1927.
He moved to Nineteenth Street just above Market with his wife when they married in 1869, not far from his parents. He later constructed a summer home out of an old farm house at First and Waterloo Avenues in Berwyn which he named "Sproxton", after the English town in Leicestershire where the family had its roots.
During his business career, William Coates was also a trustee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, a director of the Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, and a director of the American Security Trust Company in Washington, D. C. After his death his wife moved to Sproxton full-time until her death in 1952. Her death freed up much of Berwyn to development which helped reinvigorate the area, which was losing ground to Paoli in terms of growth. The Sproxton property became the Berwyn Downs housing development.
William grew up in Easttown Township. He graduated from Haverford College in 1863, one year after his older brother did. He took a position as a bookkeeper to gain practical experience in business. He also enlisted in the "Grey Reserves" due to the Civil War. At the end of the war he joined his father and uncle in the wool business at Coates Brothers, and in 1867 became a member of the firm with which he was to remain actively engaged until his retirement in 1927.
He moved to Nineteenth Street just above Market with his wife when they married in 1869, not far from his parents. He later constructed a summer home out of an old farm house at First and Waterloo Avenues in Berwyn which he named "Sproxton", after the English town in Leicestershire where the family had its roots.
During his business career, William Coates was also a trustee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, a director of the Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, and a director of the American Security Trust Company in Washington, D. C. After his death his wife moved to Sproxton full-time until her death in 1952. Her death freed up much of Berwyn to development which helped reinvigorate the area, which was losing ground to Paoli in terms of growth. The Sproxton property became the Berwyn Downs housing development.
He was the son of George Morrison Coates and Anna Troth. He married Anna Morris Lloyd on September 30, 1869 and had children Esther, Samuel, Benjamin, John, and Helen.
William grew up in Easttown Township. He graduated from Haverford College in 1863, one year after his older brother did. He took a position as a bookkeeper to gain practical experience in business. He also enlisted in the "Grey Reserves" due to the Civil War. At the end of the war he joined his father and uncle in the wool business at Coates Brothers, and in 1867 became a member of the firm with which he was to remain actively engaged until his retirement in 1927.
He moved to Nineteenth Street just above Market with his wife when they married in 1869, not far from his parents. He later constructed a summer home out of an old farm house at First and Waterloo Avenues in Berwyn which he named "Sproxton", after the English town in Leicestershire where the family had its roots.
During his business career, William Coates was also a trustee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, a director of the Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, and a director of the American Security Trust Company in Washington, D. C. After his death his wife moved to Sproxton full-time until her death in 1952. Her death freed up much of Berwyn to development which helped reinvigorate the area, which was losing ground to Paoli in terms of growth. The Sproxton property became the Berwyn Downs housing development.
William grew up in Easttown Township. He graduated from Haverford College in 1863, one year after his older brother did. He took a position as a bookkeeper to gain practical experience in business. He also enlisted in the "Grey Reserves" due to the Civil War. At the end of the war he joined his father and uncle in the wool business at Coates Brothers, and in 1867 became a member of the firm with which he was to remain actively engaged until his retirement in 1927.
He moved to Nineteenth Street just above Market with his wife when they married in 1869, not far from his parents. He later constructed a summer home out of an old farm house at First and Waterloo Avenues in Berwyn which he named "Sproxton", after the English town in Leicestershire where the family had its roots.
During his business career, William Coates was also a trustee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, a director of the Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, and a director of the American Security Trust Company in Washington, D. C. After his death his wife moved to Sproxton full-time until her death in 1952. Her death freed up much of Berwyn to development which helped reinvigorate the area, which was losing ground to Paoli in terms of growth. The Sproxton property became the Berwyn Downs housing development.
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