Little House on the Prairie

In an earlier blog I wrote about our recent trip to Colorado to get things moving on a Coleman Four Wheel Drive truck book. Buck Kamphausen grew up in Littleton, Colo., where these trucks were made and has become a real Coleman enthusiast. In addition to the book concept, Buck is building a nice collection of actual trucks. So, he was interested when someone told him that there was a Coleman bus in a park in Lakewood, Colo.

We took a ride to what I believe was Belmar Park. Lakewood Heritage Center is located in Belmar Park. According to the World Wide Web, The Heritage Center showcases the history of Lakewood and the many changes, inventions and lifestyles of the 20th century. The museum has over 10 historic structures, 30,000 artifacts, a festival area and an outdoor amphitheater.

We walked all over the park we stopped at, but didn’t find a Coleman bus. There were several antique cars and old tractors and a number of very interesting buildings that had been moved there from other locations. Pictured here are a couple of them including Gil and Ethel Gomez’s barber shop and beauty salon (originally built as the Sno White Dry Cleaners building), an old sandwich shop and diner and an pre-fabricated steel Peerless gas station.

Naturally, Buck – who has a very strong interest in anything that’s historical – would like to know more about this park and whether there was (or is) a Coleman bus located there. According to truck historian Don Chew, Coleman made just a relative handful of buses in the 60 or so years it was in operation.