John Nolen, son of John Christopher and Mathilda (Thomas) Nolen, was born June 14, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was killed shortly after John's birth and when John was nine, his mother remarried. At that point, John was accepted at Girard College, a boys' school for orphans. Following his graduation in 1884, John worked at the Girard Estate for six years, earning money to attend the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (Ph.B., 1893). During the summers from 1892 to 1894, he was superintendent of Onteora Park, a resort in the Catskill Mountains for people interested in drama, art, and music. From 1893 to 1903, he was secretary of the American Society for the Extension of University Teaching. In 1903, he enrolled in the School of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University (A.M., 1905). Over the next 30 years, he and his associates handled over 400 public planning projects and works of landscape architecture. Included in these projects was the planning and development of 50 cities, including Kingsport, Tennessee, and Mariemont, Ohio. He served as president of the American City Planning Institute, the National Conference on City Planning, and the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning, and was an honorary member of the Town Planning Institute of England. He died of cancer on February 18, 1937.
Mary Ann Barbara (Schatte) Nolen, daughter of Gustav Emil and Louisa (Conrad) Schatte, was born February 13, 1872, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Called Barbara, she was the youngest of four children, and she maintained close relationships with her siblings, Conrad Schatte (January 15, 1864-November 30, 1915), Marie Humphrey (December 1, 1864-July 2, 1924), and Emma Zesinger (March 28, 1868-December 24, 1922). Gustav Emil died of typhoid and pneumonia May 2, 1872. Five years later, Louisa fell ill with tuberculosis and died January 20, 1879, after several months at the Episcopal Hospital. On November 15, 1877, Conrad was sent to live with an aunt, and Marie, Emma, and Barbara were admitted to the Episcopal Church Home for Children. Family friends, Effingham and Mary Elena (Burroughs) Perot, took in the three girls, who called them "stern guardian" and "Bonnie." Barbara graduated from the Girls' Normal School in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania in June 1891. She taught at the James Forten Public School, a primary school in Philadelphia designed to serve a slum neighborhood, from 1891 to 1894. She died December 10, 1954.
John Nolen and Barbara Schatte met in 1889 at a meeting of a Sunday reading group hosted by Mrs. Perot. They were engaged in October 1894 and were married April 22, 1896. They had four children, John "Jack" Nolen, Jr., Barbara Nolen Strong, Edward "Ted" Schatte Nolen, and Humphrey Nolen. Jack, born February 28, 1898, graduated from MIT with a degree in civil engineering in 1920 and pursued a 40-year career in urban planning, spent mainly as Director of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, D.C. Barbara, born December 19, 1902, graduated from Smith College in 1924 and pursued a career in children's book publishing. Ted, born February 11, 1905, was a construction engineer with the National Broadcasting Corporation. Humphrey, born September 2, 1911, was employed by Draper and Company, a woolen business.
From the guide to the Papers of the Nolen-Schatte family, 1886-1990 (inclusive), 1886-1954 (bulk), (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)
