ShawneeDispatch.com

1908. This was the year that Henry Ford first produced his Model T, the year George Howard Taft was elected president and the year that Shawnee opened a bank. Just as today, in 1908, Shawnee was growing. Citizens needed services that simply were not available in town. Aware of this need, an enterprising group of Shawnee businessmen joined together to create the Shawnee State Savings Bank.

Bank officers, including R.O. Larsen, L.L. McShane, C.M. Watson, E.S. McAnany, E.P. Chase and Emily L. Loomis, received the bank charter in the fall of 1908. They immediately began to look for a space to house the bank and settled on a two-story frame building on Main Street. The directors rented this space for $10 per month and opened with capital stock in the amount of $10,000.

On Nov. 2, 1908, they accepted their first deposits. They also incurred a few expenses during that first month of operation. Bank officers paid 25¢ for a broom and $5.70 for wallpaper and paint. They also paid the cashier a salary of $50 for the month of November.

Immediately after opening their doors, the bank officers began looking for a permanent home for the Shawnee State Bank. By October 1909 they had chosen to purchase the land at the corner of 5th and Main, present day Nieman and Johnson Drive. By November 1909, they had chosen an architectural plan and proceeded with building construction. They paid $850 for the land and $1,850 to build the bank's new stone home. The building's entrance was right on the corner and it has become one of Shawnee's most recognized historic images.

Many things have changed since the Shawnee State Savings Bank opened. The oft-depicted corner entrance was changed years ago in an effort to expand the space inside the bank. The original stone wall exists inside the building today. In 1997 the Shawnee State Bank became part of the Commerce Bank family and still operates a branch on the corner of Johnson Drive and Nieman. As Shawnee continues to grow, the bank on the corner continues to serve the needs that those first enterprising Shawnee businessmen predicted.

Do you have information, photos or stories about the Shawnee State Savings Bank in the late 1920's and early 1930's? If you do, we would like to visit with you. Shawnee Town is embarking on a new plan for the future in which the museum is focusing all improvements, programming and services on Shawnee's history. The museum will focus on documenting the lives of Shawnee residents, their livelihoods, social life, and community. We are interested in hearing from people who would like to share their memories of the late 1920s. We also are looking for any objects, photographs, diaries, books or anything relating to the late 1920s. If you have any information that will help us with our search please call Shannon Hsu at 913-248-2360.