The Yorkville Enquirer reported on July 20, 1871 – “Efforts are being made to organize a National Bank at Anderson with a capital stock of $60,000.” Later on Jan. 2, 1873 the Yorkville Enquirer reported – “A National Bank with a capital of $50,000. has been organized in Anderson. Joseph N. Brown is President and J.A. Brock is cashier.” On Jan. 30th the National Banks reported it opened Wednesday of last week.”
City Directories and History: 1909 – the BANK OF ANDERSON , B.F. Mauldin, Prest; J.A. Brock, VP; J.T. Holleman cashier; A.M. Sharpe, asst cashier; 201 (202) South Main, also; McFALL FRANK B. (Estelle), mngr McFall’s Pharmacy, r 8o4 Elizabeth and McFall’s Pharmacy @202 South Main Street,
Others: SHARPE ALBERT M. (Zula), asst cashier Bank of Anderson, r 403 West Whitner
This structure was constructed circa 1883 to house the Anderson National Bank, the first bank organized in Anderson (incorporated circa 1873). This two-story brick Italianate structure features a bracketed cornice and paired arched windows with hood moldings. Alterations have been made to both the windows and door on the first floor, and a large addition to the corner was built in the 1940s. (Source: Anderson Downtown Historic District nomination form.)
It was not until 1872 that a bank was organized in the town of Anderson. Called the Anderson National Bank, its president was Col. Joseph Newton Brown, its cashier was James Albert Brock, and its assistant cashier Frank B. Mauldin.
The bank conducted its business in one of the buildings on Brick Range, as the row of business houses on the west side of the Square were called. The first few stores in the new town of Anderson were on this west side and after they were destroyed in the big fire of 1845 and were rebuilt with red brick, the proud inhabitants began to call that little line of buildings “Brick Range.”
According to the Intelligencer of October 1896, the success of the Anderson National Bank was:
phenomenal. It was the first bank in the state to begin making loans direct to farmers, thereby putting this class largely on a cash basis, and which, to some extent at least, accounts for the exceptional prosperity of the country. When this bank was organized, banking was to our people a new and untried enterprise, and it was with great difficulty that the stock was raised; hence the number of stockholders was small. For this and other reasons it was deemed advisable in 1891 to reorganize, which resulted in the establishment of the “Bank of Anderson.” The officers were James Albert Brock, president; Benjamin Franklin Mauldin, cashier; J.W. Bruce, assistant cashier; Col. Brown, the former president, graciously giving way that the others might be advanced, but retaining his positions of the bank.
The sketch above shows the Bank of Anderson in 1908, the handsome building located on the corner of Main and Benson streets where Mr. Crayton’s store had been. Its officers were still the same with the exception of Mr. Bruce, who had died, and Albert McDavid Sharpe was then assistant cashier. The directors were J.H. Witherspoon, James E. Barton, F.G. Brown, Robert Emmett Ligon, James M. Sullivan, Sr., Dr. Robert George Witherspoon, Benjamin Franklin Mauldin, James Albert Brock. The bank had added a savings department and prided itself on being one of the strongest banks in the interior of the state.
Previous to the bank, the site was the home of two general stores. The first was owned by Christopher Orr, who built a hotel next door. The second owner of the building was Baylis Crayton who kept a wine cellar. During Anderson’s occupation after the Civil War (May 1-3, 1865), Crayton gave the Union soldiers the wine. Their drunkenness is the reason given for Anderson not being burned. (Source: Anderson County Sketches by the Anderson Tricentennial Commission, 1969)
South Side of the Square in Anderson
The first owners of lots in the village of Anderson were John Prince Benson, Mr. McGill, Mr. Lipscomb, Samuel Maverick, K. Prince, Elias Earle, S. McQueen, J. Gray, D. Sloan, Micajah Webb, William McGee, W.S. Acker, Andrew McFall, J. Gilmore, Daniel Brown, J. Brown, Matthew Gambrell, Robert Wilson, J.N. Whitner, Christopher Orr, Mr. Mattison, G.E.W. Foster, D.H. Cochran, J. Rosemond, J. Thompson, R.F. Black, L. Barr, N. McAlister, W. Michiel, B. Durham, L. Goode, B. Duncan, D. Norris, J. Haney, and J. Masters. They bought property in the first section, Matthew Gambrell selling for the state. The lots were laid off in half acres and the town planned in squares.
The south side of the public square was at first sparsely built up compared to the other sides. One of the first buildings was the “commodious hostelry” Mr. H. Rice built on the southwest corner of the square and Main Street later known as “The Benson House.” One the opposite side of Main Street in 1832 Christopher Orr built a hotel on a two acre lot adjoining the square and operated it in connection with a general merchandise store and the almost universal bar. This building, which was also his residence, was sold and moved about 1844 (still standing, it is known as the Butler House on Manning Street) and on the site but nearer the center of the south side, Mr. Orr built a new and, for the time, an elegant hotel. By 1876, this hotel had become old and worn. It was renovated, and in honor of the centennial year of the United States, was named ‘The Centennial House.”
The photo “East Benson Street (c. 1870)” shows the south side of the square in 1870 with a number of stores now occupying frontage on either side of the hotel. On the corner was Colonel Baylis F. Crayton‘s last and most pretentious mercantile establishment. He had almost lost everything he had in the great fire of 1845 but by the 1870’s he was not only one of the town’s oldest citizens but one of its most prosperous merchants. Mrs. Vandiver gave this description of his store:
The main floor of the store was approached by a short double flight of horse-shoe shaped stairs just within the street door, and it was there that Anderson women from before the war until about 1882 bought their finery.
By 1890 the appearance of this block had changed completely, it being then solidly lined with brick and stone buildings except for the vacant corner where the Bleckley Building stands. The row of buildings was centered and dominated by the domed Masonic Temple and Opera House. The 1890 census showed the town having a population of 3,340 but it was growing so rapidly than that by 1896 that number had almost doubled. (Source: Anderson County Sketches by the Anderson County Tricentennial Commission, 1969)
Additional Links
- Bank of Anderson Building Historical Marker
- National Register of Historic Places: Anderson Downtown Historic District
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