Monday, July 21, 2014

Bills' Banks, Part Six

This post will be the last in the series about the banks of William Waters.  All but one of the buildings in this post have been covered in other entries.  The First National Bank of Marshfield was mentioned in the 2/21/14 post "Marshfield Rebuilt".  The bank was adjacent to the Tremont Hotel and was stylistically similar,
featuring Queen Anne details.  The structure was of cream colored brick, two stories high.  Like many of architect Waters' banks it had a chamfered corner capped by a stylish pediment.  There were along the top of the walls recessed panel, about a foot square, the same as those seen on the Old National Bank of Waupaca. Eventually the building was annex by the hotel and a third story was added but the pediment remained.  
The subject of the post "Buildings of the North, Part One" were the banks at Phillips and Merrill, with photographic records of only of the building at Merrill.  Built in 1881 for Ross, McCord and Company the edifice had space for a bank, three stores and second floor offices.  It's typical of many of Mr. Waters' commercial structures of the time, with a chamfered corner and small triplet windows just below a date inscribed pediment.  
Only the Shawano County bank was neglected.  The bank was  organized in 1886, with C. M. Upham as president.  The Oshkosh Weekly Northwestern of February 3, 1887, under the heading "Short Notes" cites architect Waters as having drawn plans for a $6,000 structure in Shawano, the newspaper has no more specific information than that.  A notice in December of 1887 speaks of the plans the architect had drawn for a new school house, from which I concluded the $6,000 in the earlier article to be the Shawano County Bank.    
The bank was two stories high, built of cream colored brick and Queen Anne Style. There were shops in the basement, offices on the first and second floors with the bank occupying most of the first floor.  Entry to the bank was gained through double door set in a chamfered corner above which was a set of double windows with an art glass transom.  A brick work cornice run along the building top and the corner was an elegant pediment.  It was unclear as to the precise location of the building, only to say it stood on a corner.  At some time the building was enlarged with a sympathetic addition which may or may not have been the work of Mr. Waters.  It was perhaps about 1910 when the bank became known as the First National Bank of Shawano with W. C. Zachow as president.

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