Farmers and Drovers Bank History

History of Farmers and Drovers Bank

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• Farmers and Drovers Bank, one of the oldest banks in Kansas, began serving Council Grove in the spring of 1882. The bank's name describes its first customers -- the farmers and drovers, or those who drove their cattle herds to market.


• On January 26th of that year, W.H. White with Lewis Mead, Jacob Barth, Henry Gildemeister, J.W. Dumm, J.M. Henson and Adam Moser Jr. began the organization of the bank in Council Grove's Masonic Hall. W.H. White was chosen as the Bank's first president. Two months later, on March 22nd, the bank opened its doors to the community.


• The bank continues to provide full service banking to its customers in Council Grove and the Flint Hills.

Main Bank Construction

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• Enjoying a prospering economy in 1887, the bank's board of directors began to discuss plans for a new bank building and they purchased the lot at 201 W Main Street. Economic conditions declined in the following years and the Directors did not further the discussion of a new building until March 8th, 1892.


• At the annual meeting that year, the directors voted to erect a suitable building on the east 25ft of the lot purchased in 1887. On May 10th, the board adopted plans and specifications submitted by Emporia architect C.W. Squires. Local building contractor F. Roussellet constructed the building for a contract cost of $10,130. Actual costs nearly doubled the estimate and the final construction totaled approximately $20,000.


• The new building was painstakingly designed to be an impressive structure and to give preference to local contractors. Several local craftsmen provided their expertise to the construction. Lewis Peterson laid the brick, Jack Jones completed the stonework, and F. Roussellet and his son Joseph crafted the oak woodwork. The furniture for the building was made in Garnett, KS.

• The two story eclectic style building features limestone trim with romanesque arches over half round stained glass windows on the first floor. The second floor boasts a combination of arched half round and square stained glass windows. Marble engaged columns, limestone arches with keystones and limestone steps accent the building's raised floor level corner entrance. The decorative metal cornice with raised name and date, a byzantine dome and alternating minarets and spaces complete the exterior decoration of the building.


• The original teller windows were decorative wood cabinetry with raised panels and marble counters. Modernizations in the early 1900s brought a decorative metal ceiling and the 1940s saw an addition of marble panels on the lower walls and around the teller areas.


• The Council Grove Guard newspaper reported on February 17th, 1893 that every room in the new bank building was rented even though construction had yet to be completed. The bank and its tenants first occupied the building on March 3rd, 1893, including two dentists (H.W. Goodrel and S.E. Northington) and the law firm of Bertram and Nicholson. The Guard newspaper occupied part of the basement, sharing its space with Hadley's Summit Cafe.

The Indicator Building

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• In 1901, the Board sold the 213 West Main Street building to D.A. Gregory. In January of the following year it was resolved that $10,000 would be used to erect an addition to the new building and for the purchase of the adjacent lot. The addition was designed to compliment the existing structure using red brick and limestone courses with arches to repeat the main building's design.


• Construction of the new building was considered to be a "fine addition to our business blocks and a credit to our community", according to local newspaper articles in 1902. A contractor on the original building, bricklayer Lewis Peterson, also completed work for the addition. The new building housed a storeroom on the ground floor and was initially occupied by a general store called the Indicator, owned by Lloyd and Hubbard.


• The Board decided in 1903 to "fit up" the addition's second story as a lodge room with a stairway built in the back of the bank room. The room was rented in 1904 to the Knights and Ladies of Security, a fraternal beneficiary society, which later became Security Benefit Life Insurance Company (now located in Topeka, Kansas). Most likely a result of its first occupants, the room became locally known as Security Hall.


• The large hall was available for civic gatherings, and was a popular meeting place until the early 1940s as recounted in newspaper articles and remembered by local residents. Many church services and dinners, special meetings and dinners of clubs and organizations, community and high school dances and social parties were held at the hall.