Farmer's and Merchant's Bank Building
A Downers Grove Historic Site
The Farmer's and Merchant's Bank Building was built in 1892 for the first bank in Downers Grove. The bank was organized on May 10, 1892. The officers of the bank included Charles Curtiss, President, W.A. Tope, M.D., Vice President, and W.H. Edwards, Cashier. The Directors were Jake Klein, Conrad Buschman, Charles Mochel, L.P. Narramore, Albert Smart and T.T. Thompson. The group of ladies who had formed the Ladies' Library Association in 1891 were delighted when the bank donated a room in the building for the first public library in Downers Grove. For a few years in the early 1890's the Post office was housed in an office at the east end of the Bank building with the entrance on Curtiss Street. In 1895 the building also housed the Reporter Columbian Magazine. William James Herring was the contractor for the Farmer's and Merchant's Bank Building as well as several other buildings on Main Street. Though considerably remodeled and without its tower this historic building still stands at the northeast corner of Main and Curtiss Streets.
Marker is at the intersection of Curtiss Street and Main Street, on the left when traveling east on Curtiss Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
