G.L. King

Worshipful Master

1896 & 1897

St.Petersburg Lodge 139 F.&A.M.

W.W. Coleman

Worshipful Coleman was a Hydraulic Engineer by trade and was actually responsible for installing St.Petersburgs first water system that supplied fresh water to this pioneer town on the edge of Tampa Bay. Worshipful Coleman and his Wife Mary Ellen also built, owned, and ran the Paxton House Hotel which at the time was one of the largest hotels in the area boasting 32 rooms for guests and stayed open year round. The Paxton House Hotel was a block away from the Detroit Hotel on Central Ave and 1st Street. The location is now an empty lot as seen in the pictures attached. Through Worshipful Coleman’s guidance Lodge 139 was able to forge through the early years and last the test of time. Worshipful Coleman passed to the Celestial Lodge Above in 1909 and is interred at the historic greenwood cemetery which is located on 9th street and 11th ave s. like most of the other early pioneers of St.Petersburg.