West Side Bank
2200 West Franklin Street.
Historic Buildings of Evansville, Indiana

Founded in late 1902 to serve the financial needs of the residents and businesses west of Pigeon Creek, the West Side Bank opened its doors for business just after the new year in leased quarters on West Franklin Street. The bank was successful from the start, and a couple of years later, its directors - men such as furniture manufacturer Benjamin Bosse (Mayor of Evansville, 1914-1922), Dr. Thomas Macer, H. Frederick Riechmann, and businessmen August Rosenberger and Leon Currey - began planning for a more prestigious banking facility. In 1906, plans were implemented and a new building was erected on the corner of West Franklin and Eleventh Avenue on the former site of the Peter Hess homestead (1857), store and sausage factory. The architects were the firm of (William J.) Harris & (Clifford) Shopbell, and the design they developed was a limestone-clad, Neo-Classical structure that projected the image of tradition and soundness for the young bank. To augment the income of the banking operation, a two-story duplex was constructed at the south end of the building for rental purposes. The West Side Bank continued to thrive through the teens and 1920s. In 1932, it became a casualty of the Depression and was forced to close its doors. Since 1935 the building has been occupied by the First Federal Savings and Loans Association, later to be rechartered and renamed First Federal Savings Bank.

Back to The Boneyard