Newman's Department Store

400-402-406 South Summit Street

Albert A. Newman, an early settler of Arkansas City who played a key role in developing and building up the town, opened a small store in Ark City in 1870, the same year the town was settled.

The Newman’s Dry Goods Co. prospered for many years and moved to several different locations along Summit Street as it expanded along with Arkansas City.

It remained in business for more than 117 years, until it closed in 1988 as the oldest business in Kansas that had been owned continuously by the original family.

Construction of the Newman building began in 1916 and the new store opened in 1917.

It is a palatial, five-story building at the southeast corner of Summit Street and Adams Avenue, defined by its plentiful windows and geometric trim elements. The stucco-covered building occupies a space of 100 by 132 feet and is solidly built of reinforced concrete, with recessed windows that provide plenty of light. Entrances to the building are on Adams Avenue and Summit Street.

The Newman Dry Goods store remained in this commercial-style Art Deco building until it closed.

Three generations of the Newman family ran the store: A.A. Newman; A.A.’s sons, Earl G. Newman and Albert L. Newman; and Earl G. Newman, Jr.

In April 1989, less than a year after Newman’s closed, Dave and Jan Vanderbilt bought the store and renamed it Vanderbilt’s. It specialized in boots, work clothing and Western wear

This store was closed in 1995. After renovating the building about five years later, First Intermark Corporation first occupied the store in October 2000.

A grand opening was held in April 2001.

In its early years in the store, a large percentage of First Intermark’s direct mail business included following up on sales for motorcycle dealers.

In 1870, Newman’s started out in a one-room, 20- by 40-foot wood frame building at 205 S. Summit St. In 1875, it moved across the street into a building at 206 S. Summit  St., adding dry goods and groceries to its stock of men’s clothing, furnishings, boots, and shoes.

A year later, the business moved to the two-story Goff and Milton building at 116-118 S. Summit St.; that was the first company-owned building.

The business moved again in 1880 to Ark City’s first brick building, located at 126 S. Summit St. where RCB Bank now stands.

That brick building was occupied until 1884, when the business moved to the Commercial Block at 212-214-216 S. Summit St.

It occupied a main floor and basement there until 1895. Its next move was into the three-story Hill Block, a stone building at 302-306 S. Summit St., where Newman’s remained until it moved into its new five-story building at 400-406 S. Summit St.