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JIM: A year in the life of the Bank of Columbia - 1921 It was an interesting year, in some ways in the sense of the ancient Chinese curse, May you live in interesting times. It was a year of tribulations, conflagration, and problems which would have even lightly taxed the current Robert Flowers/Jay Cox team at today's Bank of Columbia. But it was time in which the Adair County News, the Just for a Smile News counterpart of 909 years ago, issued a call for a better fire department, finally getting the ears of the City board to respond at long last and show an interest in getting us an 'engine and apparatus.' It took a major disastrophy, the destruction by fire of the Bank of Columbia and two neighboring businesses houses to rouse the city fathers from sleep mode, but, for a time they were roused from their slumbers, and addressed real issues facing the city. It's all here in this Jim masterpiece, including numerous legendary Columbia names and historic businesses with names we must never forget. By JIM "May you live in interesting times." A year in the life: the Bank of Columbia, 1921 1921 was an interesting -- a very interesting -- year for the Bank of Columbia. It started off with a bang when four bumbling bandits attempted to break in just after midnight on Monday morning, January 10th. That didn't work out well at all for the would-be heisters -- they never got near the vault -- but come Wednesday, the News was quick to tell all within eyeshot that the bank had the "best and latest" safe, and that "Every thing was under a screw lock, and that the safe could not have been opened..."; and that "the Bank of Columbia is a strong institution and its business will not be retarded." The article went on to state that both Columbia banks carried insurance to cover "the full amount of such deposits and securities..." In late March came the announcement that renovation had started on the Bank building, then located on the corner of Burkesville Street and the Public Square, with all sorts of updates in the works. The entire interior was to be redone to make more room, with plans to add a balcony to the second floor for "business men and women who are in waiting." And too, "the old vault will be removed and a new one built, larger and perfectly secure." To ensure the vault and the rest of the bank truly were perfectly secure, plans called for a burglar alarm to be installed. The News cheerily, optimistically, prognosticated the work would be completed in about 20 days. By mid-April came this succinct report: Work at the Bank of Columbia is progressing nicely. The fire proof and burglar proof vault will likely be completed this week. As soon as the vault is completed, the other work will be pushed rapidly. In the meantime, the business of the bank goes right along. (It was about this same time that Mr. Jo S. Knifley, who had been assistant cashier for ten years or so, left the Bank of Columbia for another position, and was succeeded by Mr. Bert Epperson, late of the Buchanan Lyon Company.) In the forepart of May, a work slowdown occurred, occasioned by the delayed arrival of the new vault door and the failure of the cement of said vault to have yet sufficiently hardened. The News noted that "Every precaution is being taken to have the improvements exactly right," but two and half months dragged by, more than sufficient time for the cement to set enough to thwart the most hardened of criminals, before the door arrived in all its massive glory. Said the edition of July 26th, Hands were at work from early morning to late at nights, the first of last week, removing the old vault at the Bank of Columbia; making ready for the door for the new vault, which was to arrive Wednesday. It weighs, so we are told, 12,000 pounds. With the vault door came a small cadre of factory experts to place it, and the article concluded by noting the building was to be painted inside and out, and that the remodeling would soon be done. (The July 26th edition of the paper also reported that Mr. Rollin Cundiff, whose career at the Bank of Columbia had been interrupted by a call to the colors in September 1917, had returned to employment there as teller and bookkeeper.) No news about the remodeling appeared over the next two months, but it was almost completed by the middle of September. As a matter of fact, news of any kind from around the Square was pretty thin until the closing days of August, when two events (one of which was the trial of Raymond Driscoll, charged with the attempted burglary of the bank in January) rocked the town. The other event, a fire which broke out in "a poultry house back of Sam Lewis' place of business" on Friday, August 26th, predated the Driscoll trial by three or four days. The next edition of the News stated that heroic efforts by the fire brigade brought the flames under control after some forty minutes but had the blaze reached Mrs. Lillie Smith's place of business, "it is believed that all the buildings on the north side of the Square, including the Buchanan Lyon Co. and Finis Rosenbaum's residence, would have been consumed." Some of the other businesses & homes in danger were Goff Bros. Store, G.T. Rasner & Sons machine shop, J.B. Jones undertaker's shop, and Mr. W.R. Myer's residence. The September 6th paper carried two articles side by side, one concerning the outcome of the Driscoll trial, while the other was a hotly worded call for better fire protection in Columbia. News editor J.E. Murrell thundered, "It is evident to everybody in this town that Columbia is sadly in need of fire protection." He went on to say that a wheel-mounted chemical fire apparatus What a Chemical Fire Apparatus is/was revealed could be purchased "for a price that is in the reach of the town and should be purchased without delay," then noted that the proposition would be taken up within the next few days and ended with, "Let there be but one voice in Columbia: 'Buy a fire apparatus.' A company will be formed to manage and operate [the apparatus]...Let every body commence thinking and be ready to respond." This call for a much-increased level of fire protection for the citizens and businesses of Columbia met with resounding ennui. No additional information about the proposed company of firemen or the chemical apparatus appeared in the September 13th or 20th editions -- and the following week, a great conflagration visited the Square. In the early hours of Tuesday, September 27th, fire broke out in the back room of Nell & Cheatham's on the southwest side of the Square and by the time the last ember winked out hours later, three business houses lay in smouldering ruins -- the Bank of Columbia; the Tola Walker building next door to the bank, which housed Geo. H. Nell & Gordon Carlisle Cheatham's "Right Angle" store; and Hutchison & Patteson's building and stock of goods, located between the Walker building and the Paull Drug Co. business house and separated from the latter by a narrow vacant lot. (In the October 4th edition, the News wryly observed, "after the fire upon the Square, the [City] Board was stimulated and readily saw the necessity of purchasing an engine and apparatus.") By afternoon of the same day, Bank President W.W. Jones announced the bank had relocated to the Buchanan Lyon Company building and that it was open and ready for business. The News opined the destroyed bank building "was worth seven or eight thousand dollars" but insured for only four thousand dollars. The following week came the news that the bank's safety vault had been opened and that "all inside of the safe was as bright as a dollar," and that the only effect the fire had had on the vault was to blacken the outside of it. Concluded the article, "The safe had a severe trial, and there is no doubt but it is a protector from fire." In this issue of paper there also appeared a lengthy letter from the Bank of Columbia's directors in which plans for the near future were laid out: the bank would remain in its temporary quarters at the Buchanan Lyon location until such time as a temporary structure could be put up on the former site. It would then remain there (on the corner of Burkesville Street and the Square) "until the weather permits us, in next year, to rebuild." At that time, plans called for the Bank to again relocate to the Buchanan-Lyon quarters until the new bank building was completed. (The board members were President W.W. Jones , Vice President James Garnett, and directors John W. Flowers, Rollin Hurt, Fred Paull Hill, J.O. Russell, and W.S. Hindman. The James Garnett mentioned here was the son of Judge James Garnett. The other James Garnett -- almost invariably referred to as James R. or simply J.R -- was the law partner of W.W. Jones.) The Directors' letter ended with an expression of gratitude "to those who so unselfishly tried to save our [business] house and to the First National Bank for its courtesies to us." By the forepart of October, the temporary building was "going up rapidly," and the October 18th paper announced the structure had been completed the previous week and that the bank had removed back to its old familiar spot on the Square. Another article stated that if brick were available, the bank most likely would start construction on their permanent business house immediately. However, there wasn't a brick to be had in Columbia and it would soon be too cold to make them, and so it was the Bank peacefully finished a year which otherwise had been rather overwrought with "interesting times." (In late January, 1922, the directors purchased the Hutchison & Patteson lot and announced that would be the site of the new bank building rather than at the old location on the corner. By June came the report that the foundation was being "put down at a rapid gait." In late September, the stone for the front arrived, and the News commented that "Every thing indicates a very attractive building. It will certainly be a costly one." It was ready for occupancy in early 1923.) This story was posted on 2011-09-18 08:30:56
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Jim: History:
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