The story of the Frings Building, 400-402 Court St.

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

The historic structure at the southeast corner of Court and Fourth streets in Pekin’s old town – at 400-402 Court St. – is known as the Frings Building, a name that derives from Charles V. Frings (1906-1977), a notable businessman in Pekin’s old town during the 20th century. The Frings Building itself is much older than its namesake, however, having been erected in the mid-1880s.

The Frings Building storefront at 400-402 Court St. is shown in this Aug. 2022 Google Street View image. For about 35 years, the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce’s offices have been located at 402 Court St., formerly the location of the Princess confectionary.

The 1861 Root’s City Directory of Pekin shows that the brothers John Herget and George Herget then had their J. & G. Herget dry goods store at the southeast corner of Court and Fourth. Ten years later, though, the 1871 Sellers & Bates city directory shows that J. & G. Herget had moved catty-corner to the northwest corner of Court and Fourth. In its place, we find a boarding house and saloon called the Arbeiters Heimath (German for “Workers’ Home”), run by another pair of German immigrants named Louis Zuckweiler and Henry Hoerr (1845-1901).

At the center of this detail from an 1877 hand-drawn aerial map of Pekin is Henry Hoerr’s Arbeiters Heimath (Workers’ Home), a German immigrants’ boarding house at what was then numbered 502-504 Court St., today 400-402 Court. Also at 504 Court at this time was William Lauterbach’s. barbershop. The Arbeiters Heimath structure was replaced in 1885-1887 by the present structure, today known as the Frings Building.

Hoerr again appears a sole proprietor of the Arbeiters Heimath in the 1876 Pekin city directory, at which time the building was numbered 502-504 Court St. Also listed at 504 Court St. (today’s 402 Court) that year was the barbershop of William Lauterbach (1845-1926). The Arbeiters Heimath building can be seen on an 1877 aerial-view map of Pekin.

By the mid-1880s, however, that building was replaced by the current structure, as indicated by the 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin and the 1887 Pekin city directory. What is today known as the Frings Building was built during those years and was originally known as the Keller Building, after its first owner Mrs. Margaret Keller. The first occupants were the German-American National Bank at 400 Court St., which was founded 10 Aug. 1887, and the Albertsen & Koch furniture store at 402 Court St., which opened at that address just nine days earlier. (The 1876 city directory mentions Albertsen & Koch, but unhelpfully fails to provide the business’ address that year!)

The original facade of the German-American National Bank at the southeast corner of Court and Fourth streets, today 400 Court St. in the Frings Buildings. The bank opened its doors on 10 Aug. 1887.

The 1887-88 Bates City Directory of Pekin featured this full page advertisement for the newly opened German-American National Bank. Because a very large part of Pekin’s population (if not the majority) then spoke German as their mother tongue, the bank catered especially to German immigrants and their families — so the advertisement was run in both English and German.

An advertisement for the Albertsen & Koch furniture store from the 1887 Pekin city directory, noting that the business was then preparing to move to 504 Court St. (today known as 402 Court St.)

At the time of the May 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the building at the southeast corner of Fourth and Court streets that would house the German American National Bank and Albertsen & Koch Furniture was then under construction. The bank would open in 1887 in the western half of the new building and the furniture store in the eastern half.

Both the bank and the furniture store quickly became prominent landmarks of Pekin’s community life, with the German-American National Bank later becoming First National Bank and Trust Company of Pekin (and later AMCORE Bank). Albertsen & Koch, owned and operated by Albert H. Albertsen (1856-1928) and Henry Louis Koch (1845-1935), was for a time Pekin’s most successful furniture store. Albertsen & Koch continued to operate from the 402 Court St. storefront until about the turn of last century, last being listed at that address in the 1898 city directory. After that, the furniture store moved to 424-428 Court St. German-American National Bank remained at its original address until 1916, when it relocated to 418 Court St. – so the bank and the furniture store were next-door neighbors again.

An advertisement for Albertsen & Koch furniture store from the 1893 Pekin city directory.

The Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows the German American National Bank at 400 Court St., in the western half of the new building. In the eastern half of the building was the popular Albertsen & Koch Furniture Store. Both the bank and Albertsen’s later moved further up the 400 block of Court Street.

The German-American National Bank at 400 Court St. and the Albertsen & Koch furniture store at 402 Court St. are shown in this detail from the March 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin.

The detail from the Dec. 1903 Sanborn map of Pekin shows the location of the German-American National Bank at 400 Court St. and the Mandel & Bower variety store known as The Fair at 402 Court St.

The Dec. 1909 Sanborn map of Pekin was the last Sanborn map to show the German American National Bank at its old location of 400 Court St. The general store shown at 402 Court in this map was Max Bower’s “The Fair.”

In this 1912 view of Fourth Street looking south from Court Street, the German-American National Bank at 400 Court St. can be seen.

The German-American National Bank at 400 Court St. and Max Bower’s store “The Fair” at 402 Court St. are seen in this vintage 1912 photograph of the 400 block of Court St.

In the Oct. 1916 Sanborn map of Pekin, the German American National Bank is shown in its new building at 416-418 Court St. The bank had just moved there that year, leaving its old location vacant. Two years later, the bank dropped the “German” from its name due to hatred of Germans and Germany that had been stoked by World War I political propaganda. Max Bower’s “The Fair” was still at 402 Court St., though.

After the bank’s move, we next find in the 1922 city directory that Louis Wieburg’s auto accessories store had located at 400 Court St. Meanwhile, after the departure of Albersten & Koch for its new home further up the block, Louis Mandel and Max Bower opened a store they called “The Fair” at 402 Court St. Mandel & Bower’s The Fair first appears at that address in the 1904 Pekin city directory. By the 1909 directory, Bower was listed alone as The Fair’s proprietor. Max Bower’s store continues to appear up to the 1914 directory, but by the time of the 1922 Pekin city directory Bower’s The Fair had been succeeded at 402 Court St. by one of the best known downtown businesses of Pekin’s days of old: The Princess!

Storefront of the Princess confectionary at 402 Court St., which was a popular teen hang-out in Pekin’s days of old. This is now the location of the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce’s offices.

The final Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin in Sept. 1925 shows the American National Bank in its heyday. Its former location at 400 Court St. had become the home of Hackler Bros. drug store, while 402 Court St. was the home of the Princess confectionary.

A photograph of the Princess confectionary from the 1940s.

Another 1940s view of the Princess from the same parade.

The 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial volume, page 41-42, offers the following five-paragraph history of the Princess confectionary:

“A brief history of ‘The Princess’ – the student hang-out from 1919 to 1950, might best serve to recreate the spirit of the downtown section in which these early stores were located. The Princess was a candy kitchen at 402 Court Street founded and operated by the Beres brothers: Chris (1893-1950), Pete (1896-1968), and Harry (1898-1974) (known as ‘John’ to his student customers). They had migrated to Pekin from Kolinas, Greece.

“It used to be standing-room-only in the Princess on nights of high school football and basketball games. When the 18 booths and fountain area were filled, the door would be locked. Latecomers stood in line outside, entering only as others left. The old, three-digit phone number of the Princess (183) was the most-used in town as parents, awaiting overdue children, would call to summon them home.

“Holidays at the Princess were a Pekin tradition. At Christmas the specialty was candy canes and ribbons, while the Easter feature was chocolate eggs (including a massive 30-pounder). Local schools would bring classes down to observe the candy-making process. (Pete was the resident expert.)

“Other specialties popular with generations of Pekinites were the caramel apples and the ‘pop-eye’ ice cream cups. Pete brought the taffy apple recipe back from a trip to Washington, D.C. in 1920. The Princess introduced it to Pekin (perhaps to the state of Illinois), and it soon became as much of an autumn tradition as football. ‘Pop-eyes,’ introduced in the 1930s, were half-pint ice cream cups sold for 5 cents. They became so popular that the Princess entered into a million-cup contract with a national cup manufacturer.

“In 1927, the Princess added to its popularity by installing a juke box. But that symbol of progress came with an era of mass production and huge confection companies with signaled the end of the Princess and many of her counterparts. The old marble fountain and candy cases disappeared – taking with them another of the personal touches that helped fashion the character of the old home town.”

At the end of the 1940s, the Princess was acquired by Darrell D. McComas (1917-1963) and Jennie B. Glassford (1901-1966), who are listed as proprietors in the 1950 and 1952 city directories. By the time of the 1955 directory, though, the Princess had been acquired by Charles R. “Chuck” Zehren (1920-2009), who changed the store from a candy kitchen to a coffee shop restaurant. But with the close of the 1950s came the end of the Princess.

During the years of The Princess’ reign at 402 Court St., the storefront at 400 Court St. saw a brief succession of businesses. Wieburg’s auto accessories store didn’t last long there, because in the 1924 directory we find Hackler Bros. drug store there – the Hackler brothers being John Byron Hackler (1898-1991) and George Roscoe Hackler (1892-1956). Hackler Bros. operated from that corner until the mid-1930s, when the drug store moved directly across street to 401-403 Court St. (Another Hackler Bros. store was also briefly listed in the Farmers National Bank building at 335 Court St. in the 1930 directory.)

After Hackler Bros. moved, the 1937 Pekin city directory shows 400 Court St. to have been vacant. In the 1939 directory, we find Jacob P. Martin as proprietor of Yvette’s women’s wear, which did not last long. The 1943 directory again shows 400 Court St. as vacant.

Then in the 1946 city directory, we find Raulston Harvey “R. H.” More (1888-1948) as manager of the Firestone Store at 400 Court St. More had come from Pennsylvania to Pekin in 1945. After a brief stint at the Firestone Store, More decided to open a variety store at 400 Court St. that he named, quite simply, More’s Store. Following his death, his children R. H. More Jr. (1913-2000), known by his nickname “Bud,” and Ruth More, along with his widow Lillian, continued to operate More’s Store. About the mid-1950s they even briefly ran a southside branch at 900 Derby St. known as More’s South Side Store.

R. H. “Bud” More Jr. (1913-2000)

Bud More became one of the most prominent and influential pillars of Pekin’s community life, and served as head of the Pekin Chamber of Commerce for nine years. He continued to operate More’s Store until the end of the 1960s, when he retired and closed his shop to become publisher of the Pekin Daily Times. More held the post of Times publisher until his retirement in 1980. The R. H. More Community Room at the Miller Senior Center is named in his honor.

Back-tracking to the closing of the Princess, with the departure of the Princess we next find the Celestial Loan Co. at 402 Court St., operated by Steve P. Budisalich, president and manager, Charles V. “C. V.” Frings, vice-president, and Mrs. Marcella Ruth (Bishop) Aulinskis (1918-2008), secretary. By the mid-1960s the firm’s name was changed slightly to Celestial Credit Plan Inc. By the time of the 1974 city directory, we find that Helen M. Budisalich had replaced Aulinskis as secretary and vice-president.

An advertisement for Celestial Loan Co. from the 1961 Pekin city directory.

Charles V. Frings (1906-1977), from whom the Frings Building derives its name.

Celestial Credit Plan continued at that address until the mid-1980s, when it was succeeded there by Harry D. Willmert’s Personal Finance Co. Inc. – but by the 1988 city directory 402 Court St. was vacant, and remained so until 1990, when the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce moved into the former premises of the Princess – right next door to the storefront where one of the Chamber’s past leaders had had his store. The Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce’s offices are still located at 402 Court St. to this day.

After More’s Store closed at 400 Court St., that storefront remained vacant until the latter 1970s. In the 1977 city directory, we find Jerry Davis’ Comfort Corner, which was followed in 1978 by Pekin Lighting Inc., operated by Robert L. Westrope, president, Richard W. Baker, vice-president, and Faye E. Westrope, secretary. That business too did not last long, being succeeded by the time of the 1980 directory by Neu Optical Co., Frank G. Taylor, optometrist., which by 1988 had become Weisser Optical Co. (later Weisser American Vision Centers), Henry C. Paweski, optometrist. Weisser closed in the mid-1990s, and 400 Court St. remained vacant until the turn of the millennium.

In the 2000 and 2001 Pekin city directories, we find White Buffalo arts-and-crafts supplies at 400 Court  St. Then in the 2002 directory we find Joe Parkin’s White Buffalo jewelers alongside the B’Ribboned Etc. gift shop, which continued at 400 Court until 2006 when the city directory has no listing for 400 Court at all. From the 2011 to the 2019 directories, Alcohol & Drug Professionals was listed at 400 Court St., but that storefront has remained vacant since then, with the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce and the Frings Building LLC offices now the lone occupants of the historic and storied Frings Building.

This 2002 photograph from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website shows the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce at 402 Court and B’Ribboned Etc. at 400 Court.

This 2013 photograph from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website shows the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce at 402 Court and Alcohol & Drug Professionals at 400 Court.

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Witness to a century and a half of Pekin’s history: the Farmers National Bank building

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

As Pekin’s Bicentennial Year continues, this week we’ll take a look back over the history of a downtown landmark that has witnessed almost three-fourths of Pekin’s 200 years: the old Farmers National Bank building at 333 Court St., the northeast corner of Capitol and Court.

The Tazewell County Assessor’s website says the Farmers National Bank building was constructed in 1910, but that was only the date of a major remodeling project that revamped a structure that has existed at least since the 1870s if not earlier. The building, of course, is named for the former Farmers National Bank, one of Pekin’s major financial institutions that operated from 1875 to 1932.

The site on which the Farmers National Bank building now stands has a connection to Abraham Lincoln: in the 1850s a Pekin attorney and justice of the peace named James Harriott (who also served as Pekin’s third mayor in the early 1850s) had his home and law office in the building then located at the northeast corner of Court and Capitol streets. Harriott, who came to Pekin in 1849 from Jersey County, Illinois, was elected a judge of the 21st Judicial Circuit in 1857 and was reelected judge in 1861. As a Pekin attorney and Justice of the Peace, Harriott had dealings with Abraham Lincoln. For example, Harriott was Justice of the Peace in the 1853 case of People v. Thomas Delny, a child rape case that Lincoln successfully prosecuted as Tazewell County State’s Attorney pro tempore.

The 1861 Root’s City Directory of Pekin says Dr. Daniel A. Cheever, homoeopathic physician, then had his office and residence and office at the northeast corner of Court and Capitol, though it’s not clear if the building on that corner in 1861 is the same one in which Farmers National Bank opened 14 years later.

Curiously, the 1871 Sellers & Bates City Directory of Pekin does not mention any business at that location in its business directory, but Farmers National Bank makes its debut in Pekin city directories in the 1876 Bates City Directory, published one year after the bank opened. The 1876 directory lists the bank’s officers as Jonathan Merriam (1834-1919), president, Samuel H. Jones (1823-1907) of Springfield, Ill., vice president, and Alvin B. Hoblit (1844-1920), cashier.

The Farmers National Bank building wears its original facade in this photograph from the 1870s, probably taken on the day of the bank’s opening in 1875 or perhaps a few years later.

Farmers National Bank of Pekin made its debut in Pekin city directories in 1876, a year after the bank opened for business at the northeast corner of Court and Capitol.

Jonathan Merriam (1834-1919), founding president of Farmers National Bank and later of the Illinois National Bank, served as a Lieut. Colonel in the 117th Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

Alvin Bailey Hoblit (1844-1920) was Farmers National Bank’s first cashier, and later went on to found the State Bank of Bloomington, serving as the bank’s president.

The 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial, pages 34-35, devotes just two paragraphs to Farmers National Bank. Here is the first paragraph:

“In 1875 the Farmers National Bank was incorporated under the National Banking Law with $50,000 capital. The bank opened with Jonathan Merriam as president, S. H. Jones as vice-president, and A. B. Hoblit as cashier. Other familiar names associated with this enterprise in later years were those of C. R. Cummings, vice-president around 1869 (!), and James M. James, agent of the immense Cummings Estate, president after the turn of the century.”

C. R. Cummings was elected Pekin mayor but left before the end of his term, moving to Chicago where he became a railroad tycoon. Contrary to the Sesquicentennial, Cummings was never a Farmers National Bank officer, but instead was a stockholder and served for a while on the board of directors. His agent, James M. James, was for many years vice president of Farmers National Bank and became bank president in 1911. Upon James’ death on 5 May 1918, the entire city shut down for his funeral, and James Field is named in his memory.

At the center of this detail from an 1877 aerial view map of Pekin, which looks to the south, is a sketch of the Farmers National Bank building at the northeast corner Capitol and Court streets. This view shows the rear (north) side of the Farmers National Bank building.

In this detail from the May 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the Farmers National Bank building is shown to be numbered as 401, 401 1/2 and 403 Court Street, with the bank at 401 and Charles M. Stickley’s harnessmaking business at 403. Stickley also ran a livery stable at 103 Court St. No. 4.

The 1887 Pekin City Directory included this advertisement for C. M. Stickley’s livery and saddlery. His saddlery and harnessmaking business was at 403 Court St., which today is number 335 Court, in the old Farmers National Bank building.

A year after Farmers National Bank appeared in the 1876 city directory, we have a simple sketch of the building in an 1877 aerial view map of Pekin. Then eight years after that, the first Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin is dated May 1885 and shows Farmers National Bank at “401” and “401 1/2” Court St., because the addresses were numbered differently in those days. Sharing the same building, at “403” Court St. (renumbered “335” Court by 1892) was the harnessmaking business of Charles M. Stickley (1851-1935). Stickley also ran a livery stable at 103 Court St.

Returning to the city directory record, we find that Farmers National Bank took out a full page advertisement in the 1887 Pekin city directory, which lists the bank’s officers then as Frank E. Rupert (1840-1911), president, Flavel Shurtleff (1842-1920), vice president, and Charles H. Turner (1859-1945), assistant cashier. The 1887 directory ad’s list of names is almost a “Who’s Who” of Pekin’s prominent men at the time.

Farmers National Bank took out a full page advertisement in the 1887 Pekin City Directory. The ad’s list of officers, directors, and principal officers is almost a Who’s Who of Pekin’s prominent men at the time.

Detail from the Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin showing the Farmers National Bank building at 333 Court St., which the bank shared with Charles L. Brereton, merchant tailor, and the Kuecks Bros. saddlery harnessmaking business of Charles and William Kuecks.

This vintage photograph from the 1890s shows the Farmers National Bank Building and other downtown buildings on the northside of the Upper 300 block of Court Street.

The Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map and an 1890s photograph show that Charles L. Brereton (1860-1947), merchant tailor, had moved into 333 1/2 Court St. in the Farmers National Bank building, while Stickley’s harnessmaking shop was now being operated by the brothers Charles and William Kuecks (a family better remembered as undertakers and funeral home owners).

In the 1893 Pekin city directory, the bank purchased a front cover advertisement. From then on, Farmers National Bank had a front cover city directory ad almost every year, up to and including the 1930 Polk City Directory of Pekin. The city directories from 1893 to 1904 continue to show the bank at 333 Court, Brereton’s tailoring at 333 1/2 Court, and Kuecks Bros. saddlery and harness at 335 Court.

Farmers National Bank placed its 1893 directory advertisement on the front cover. Shown is a detail from the front cover of William Henry Bates’ personal “correction copy” of the 1893 city directory.

In this detail from the March 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, Farmers National Bank is shown in the west half of the building, with Charles L. Brereton’s tailoring business occupying the east half, and the Kuecks Bros. saddlery and harnessmaking business at 335 Court.

This detail of the Nov. 1903 Sanborn Map of Pekin shows little change at the Farmers National Bank building.

Although this detail from the Dec. 1909 Sanborn Map shows a “carpets” store at 333 1/2 Court St., the 1909 Pekin city directory says that space was occupied by a Five-and-Dime store operated by F. M. Conrad and E. R. Boxberger. The drug store shown here at 335 Court was owned and operated by Carl E. Kraeger, druggist and pharmacists, who first appears at that location in the 1908 city directory, replacing the old Kuecks Bros. saddlery.

In the 1908 directory, however, we find Brereton’s tailoring shop replaced by F. M. Conrad’s and E. R. Boxberger’s Five-and-Dime store. The Conrad & Boxberger Five-and-Dime appears at that location only in the 1908 directory, and the Dec. 1909 Sanborn Map shows a carpet store at 333 1/2 Court instead. The 1908 directory also shows that the building space formerly occupied by the Kuecks Bros. saddlery at 335 Court was now the home of a drug store operated by Carl E. Kraeger (1882-1965), who in 1920 was one of the five co-founders of Pekin’s Rotary Club. City directories continue to list Kraeger’s drug store at 335 Court until the 1926 directory, but in the 1928 we see that Kraeger’s has become the Hackler Bros. drug store.

Carl E. Kraeger (1882-1965)

The most important event in this building’s history was the extensive remodeling and refurbishing project of 1910-11, which replaced the buildings Victorian Era façade with the brown brick façade it has borne ever since. The remodeling eliminated the bank’s old corner entrance. This project is commemorated in the stone inscription on the front of the building that gives the dates of Farmers National Bank as 1875 to 1911.

A colored photograph of Farmers National Bank from about the 1910s, donated to the library’s Local History Collection by the late Fred Soady.

A sample Farmers National Bank of Pekin $5 bank note, issued 19 July 1915, from a currency auction website. This bank note was signed by the bank’s officers T. W. Mott and A. A. Sipfle, and bear’s the bank’s national charter number, 2287.

This detail from the Oct. 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows the effects of the 1911 remodel of the Farmers National Bank building that expanded the bank’s space into 333 1/2 Court St. Apart from upstairs offices, the rest of the building, at 335 Court St., was the home of Carl E. Kraeger’s drug store.

The Farmers National Bank building and other downtown buildings are decorated for Christmas in this vintage photograph from the early 1920s.

An interior view of Farmers National Bank and the bank staff in 1925. The 1926 Pekin City Directory says the bank’s officers then were Arthur A. Sipfle, president, Vincent P. Turner, vice president, Frank F. Riese, vice president, T. W. Mott, cashier, and Nicholas J. Friedrich, assistant cashier.

The Sept. 1925 Sanborn Map again shows Farmers National Bank at 333 Court St. and Carl E. Kraeger’s drug store at 335 Court St.

The interior of Farmers National Bank as it appeared in October of 1927.

The Farmers National Bank vault from an October 1927 Peoria Transcript clipping.

The 1930 Pekin city directory listed the bank’s officers as Arthur A. Sipfle (1874-1952), president (whose wife Mary Caroline was a sister of Carl E. Kraeger), Vincent P. Turner (1853-1933), vice president, Frank F. Riese (1862-1931), vice president, Thaddeus W. Mott (1889-1968), cashier, and Nicholas J. Friedrich (1891-1974), assistant cashier.

Farmers National Bank’s last Pekin City Directory advertisement appeared in the 1930 directory, when the bank officers were Arthur A. Sipfle, president, Vincent P. Turner and Frank F. Riese, vice presidents, T. W. Mott, cashier, and T. J. Friedrich, assistant cashier. In the 1932 directory, the bank is listed only in the Street and Avenue Guide, but has no listing in the main part of the directory, and the bank, which failed in 1932, did not buy its usual front cover and inside pages directory advertisements that year.

The next city directory, which was published in 1932, had no Farmers National Bank ad on its cover, nor was there even an entry for the bank in the main part of the directory – only a short listing in the Streets and Avenues Directory section of the book. The reason for that is mentioned in the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial’s second paragraph about this bank, on page 35:

“Farmer’s National was a financial bulwark for Pekin until 1932, when it closed its doors, supposedly not because of any depression-related crisis or shortage, but simply because it ‘was not making any money’ – we’ll let readers interpret that for themselves. Most depositors eventually got back almost the full amount of their money, but at the time, the closure (sic) smashed public morale, tied up much-needed moneys, and took cash out of circulation for years.”

That summary account of the bank’s closing and the effect it had on Pekin is essentially correct, but contemporary newspaper accounts show that the Sesquicentennial’s comment “supposedly not because of any depression-related crisis or shortage” is not quite correct. The officers and directors made clear on the day that they announced the bank’s closing that the factors leading them to decide to close the bank were all Depression-related. The bank didn’t run out of money, nor was there a run on the bank, but it is undeniably due to the Great Depression that Farmers National Bank failed.

The stock market had crashed less than two and half years before, commencing that period of severe financial woes known as the Great Depression. This period proved exceptionally difficult for Farmers National Bank. The bank’s troubles began with the collapse of farm prices, which put a great strain upon John Fitzgerald (1857-1930) one of the bank’s directors who was engaged locally in the farm loan business. Fitzgerald’s solution was to resort to improper financial dealings that amounted to embezzlement from the bank, for which he ended up serving time in prison.

If Farmers National Bank’s troubles had ended there, it would not have had to close. But the shadow cast by Fitzgerald’s fall, at a time when the national and local economy were depressed, resulted in less business available for the bank: fewer customers, fewer loans, fewer investors, few savings accounts. By the end of 1931, the bank’s officers and directors saw the handwriting on the wall and, ominously, did not send their year-end Bank Statement to the Pekin Daily Times for publication. The bank closed its doors at the end of business, Thursday, 7 Jan. 1932, and later that night, around midnight, the officers and directors agreed the bank would not open for business the next morning.

That afternoon, the Pekin Daily Times ran the banner headline: “FARMERS BANK DECIDES TO LIQUIDATE,” with the subheadline, “’Believe No Depositor Will Lose A Single Center,’ Says Official Statement.” To try to assuage the fears of depositors, the newspaper published “What The Bank Statement Dec. 31 Would Have Been,” along with a statement from Herget National Bank and American National Bank saying that those banks “have reason to believe that all depositors will be paid in full.” F. F. McNaughton, the Daily Times’ publisher, also wrote an editorial that tried to assure everyone that everyone who had money in the bank would get their money. Their assurances proved correct, though in the short term the bank’s failure caused great trouble for many, and for a while the City of Pekin’s government was unable to access about $1 million of city funds that had been deposited at Farmers.

As announced by a blazing Pekin Daily Times front page headline on Friday, 8 Jan. 1932, the Great Depression claimed another victim on 7 Jan. 1932, when the directors and officers of Farmers National Bank closed their doors and decided not to reopen the next day. (Note: the money referred to in the “Beat Moeckel With Gun Trying to Get Him To Tell Where Money Was Hidden” story on the right had not been deposited in Farmers National Bank.)

After the closing of Farmers National Bank, the building continued to house not only the Hackler Bros. drug store at 335 Court St., but also provided office space to local attorneys, real estate agents, doctors, dentists, and others in the main office building.

Then in early 1948 came this building’s second major event since the opening of the bank in 1875. On the night of 2 Feb. 1948, a fire of undetermined origin tore through the Farmers National Bank building, completely destroying the Hackler Bros. drug store and the second floor offices in the rest of the building, causing about $150,000 in damage, but the fire spare the main floor offices. Newspaper reports say the blaze was reported at 10:45 p.m. and Pekin firemen, assisted by the Peoria Fire Department, fought the blaze for about seven hours. The hands on the bank’s familiar old clock were frozen to 11:08 p.m., when the fire department cut power to the building.

The front page of the Tuesday, 3 Feb. 1948 Pekin Daily Times trumpeted the news that the top floors of the old Farmers National Bank/Hackler building had been destroyed the night before by a fire of undetermined cause. The fire displaced several attorneys, dentists, insurance agents, and other businesses that had operated from the former bank building.

The fire not only destroyed Hackler Bros., which reopened at 401 Court St., but also displaced attorneys Al Black and Dale Sutton, Elliff and Elliff, and J. M. Powers, dentist Dr. Alan E. Stewart, Dr. Robert Dunlevy, M.D., insurance agent James Cedarquist, Justice of the Peace August Lauterbach, the Pekin Finance Co., JoAnn’s Beauty Shoppe, and the offices of the Cummings Estate occupied by I. E. Wilson.

The building’s owner, Eugene F. Lohnes (1892-1951), who is best remembered as the proprietor of Central Book & Toy at 345 Court St., seems to have passed away before he could have the building’s repairs completed — but repaired it was all the same. By the time of the 1950 Pekin city directory, we only find a listing for Marvin Hecht’s Bonny Shop, a women’s clothing store, at 335 Court St. – Hackler’s was already up and running at 401 Court St. by then. The directory does not show anything else in the Farmers National Bank building that year, but in the 1952 directory we find 333 Court St. reoccupied with several offices.

In 1965, the Farmers National Bank building once again became the home of a local bank. On 8 May 1965, the community-owned Pekin National Bank opened in this building, with Milo A. Miller as president and Gerald E. Conaghan as managing officer and cashier. Pekin National Bank continued to lease the old Farmers National Bank building until 1972, when it moved to a new building of its own at 329 Court.

Pekin National Bank, in the old Farmers National Bank, is shown in this Ralph Goodwin photograph from Nov. 1966.

This Pekin Daily Times photograph by Dan Hostetler accompanied an announcement that the building had been selected the 1985 Thomas Marigold Award winner.

Later this building was acquired by Robert Metzler, and housed the U.S. Army Recruiting Office on its main floor (even today, green Army decals are still visible in one or two windows), with other office spaces on the second and third floors. Over the past two or three decades, the former Farmers National Bank building has had a series of owners, with the current owner listed at the County Assessor’s website being Luis A. Preciado. After everything, the familiar 113-year old brick façade still looks as it did when it was installed in 1911.

This photograph of the Farmers National Bank building from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website was taken 7 Feb. 2002.

This Tazewell County Assessor’s website photograph of the Farmers National Bank building was taken in the summer of 2013.

Basic plan of the Farmers National Bank building from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website.

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From ‘German-American’ to AMCORE: 105 years of Pekin banking (1887-1992)

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

The 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial volume devotes four paragraphs to the story of what was then known as the First National Bank and Trust Company of Pekin, which by 1974 had been operating for 87 years, having been founded in 1887 as the German-American National Bank.

The Sesquicentennial account of the bank’s history can be greatly augmented with records and resources in the Pekin Public Library’s Local History collection, but we’ll begin with the Sesquicentennial’s first paragraph:

“The oldest of Pekin’s present banks opened its doors on Wednesday, August 10, 1887 with $100,000 in capital, doing business from one room of a building owned by a Mrs. Margaret Keller on the corner of Court and Fourth Streets. The first officers of the then-German American National Bank were E. W. Wilson, a former Pekin mayor and one of the controlling powers in the American Distillery, president; Henry Feltman, a lumber dealer, vice-president; and A. H. Purdie, cashier. Deposits at the end of the first day of business amounted to $7,273.07.”

The original facade of the German-American National Bank at the southeast corner of Court and Fourth streets. The bank opened its doors in the Keller building on 10 Aug. 1887. Note the bank’s name in the window is shown in English on the left and German on the right.

The German-American National Bank opened its doors on 10 Aug. 1887, and was duly listed in the 1887-88 Bates City Directory of Pekin on page 30. The bank was located at the corner of Court and Fourth, which then had the street address of 502 Court St.

The 1887-88 Bates City Directory of Pekin featured this full page advertisement for the newly opened German-American National Bank. Because a very large part of Pekin’s population (if not the majority) then spoke German as their mother tongue, the bank catered especially to German immigrants and their families — so the advertisement was run in both English and German.

The 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows that the Keller building was under construction that year. In addition to the new bank in the western half of the building, the Albertsen & Koch Furniture Store was the first occupant of the eastern half. Both the bank and Albertsen’s would later move further east in the 400 block of Court Street.

At the time of the May 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin, the building at the southeast corner of Fourth and Court streets that would house the German American National Bank was then under construction. The bank would open in 1887 in the western half of the new building.

While the Sesquicentennial’s story of the bank’s founding is quite informative, it does have one thing wrong: Feltman, not Wilson, was the bank’s first president, and Wilson was the first vice-president. Wilson did become the bank’s president later, though. Also, while Wilson was indeed a “former” Pekin mayor from the vantage point of 1974, at the time of the bank’s founding it would be another six years before Wilson would become Pekin mayor.

The 1887 Bates City Directory of Pekin featured a full-page advertisement for the newly opened German-American National Bank. Because a very large part of Pekin’s population (if not the majority) then spoke German as their mother tongue, the bank catered especially to German immigrants and their families – so the advertisement was run in both English and German. The ad lists the bank’s officers as Henry Feltman, president, E. W. Wilson, vice-president, Alexander H. Purdie, cashier, and Henry F. Smith, teller. Besides Feltman, Wilson, and Purdie, the board of directors then included George Lucas, Arend Behrens, Jonathan Merriam, and Joseph P. Ropp.

The photograph taken about 1893 shows the interior of the old German-American National Bank at the corner of Fourth and Court streets. The teller in the photo is almost certainly Henry F. Smith, the bank’s first teller.

The founding president, Henry Feltman (1828-1906), was an immigrant from Westphalia in the Kingdom of Prussia. Sadly, he ended his days at George Zeller’s Illinois Asylum for the Incurably Insane in Bartonville, where he died of arteriosclerosis and an infected right arm. (Note: In those days, not all asylum residents were insane — this and similar hospitals also could function as a kind of nursing home before proper nursing homes were established.) He is buried in Springdale Cemetery in Peoria.

The Sesquicentennial account continues with three sentences that cover nearly seven decades of the bank’s history:

“With new growth each day, the small quarters at Fourth and Court soon became inadequate, and so in 1916, the bank moved into its present location in the middle of the 400 block of Court Street. Additions to the west were made in 1951 and to the east in 1960. The name was changed to the American National Bank of Pekin in 1918 and to the present title of The First National Bank and Trust Company of Pekin in 1956.”

The Jan. 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows the German American National Bank at 400 Court St., in the western half of the new building. In the eastern half of the building was the popular Albertsen & Koch Furniture Store. Both the bank and Albertsen’s later moved further up the 400 block of Court Street.

This advertisement for the German American National Bank appeared in the 1893 Pekin city directory.

The Dec. 1909 Sanborn map of Pekin was the last Sanborn map to show the German American National Bank at its old location of 400 Court St.

This early 20th century Blenkiron photograph shows the south side of the 400 block of Court St. The arrow indicates what seems to be the previous building at the future site of the German-American National Bank building, which thus would still be in the building seen further down the block at the corner of Fourth and Court. The bank moved to 418 Court St. in 1916.

In the Oct. 1916 Sanborn map of Pekin, the German American National Bank is shown in its new building at 416-418 Court St. The bank had just moved there that year, leaving its old location vacant. Two years later, the bank dropped the “German” from its name due to hatred of Germans and Germany that had been stoked by World War I political propaganda.

The final Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin in Sept. 1925 shows the American National Bank in its heyday. Its former location at 400 Court St. had become the home of Hackler Bros. drug store.

The facade of American National Bank is shown in this photograph from the 23 Oct. 1927 issue of the Peoria Transcript. This was the same year that American National Bank became a trust company.

The interior of American National Bank is shown in this photograph that appeared in the 23 Oct. 1927 issue of the Peoria Transcript. The bank’s main room was decorated and finished with polished Tavernelle Fleur Marble bronze and black walnut. A cut-out photo of the bank’s president, H. M. Ehrlicher, is at the bottom right.

The American National Bank vaults, as shown in a photograph that was published in the 23 Oct. 1927 Peoria Transcript. The bank’s vaults were state-of-the-art, being made of concrete heavily reinforced and lined with drill-proof steel.

A view of American National Bank’s vaults and safety-deposit boxes, from a photograph that ran in the 23 Oct. 1927 edition of the Peoria Transcript.

The American National Bank building is seen in this 1949 Pekin Centenary photograph showing a 1940s parade down Court Street. The eastern part of the storefront that first housed the bank can be seen on the right edge of the photo.

The decision in 1918 to drop “German” from the bank’s name was due to the widespread hatred of Germans and Germany that had been stoked during World War I. That was the period when Pekin’s businesses took down their “German spoken here” signs.

Despite the 1956 renaming, this bank was in fact not the “first” First National Bank of Pekin. Before the German-American National Bank was ever founded, Pekin already had a “First National Bank.” That earlier firm, unrelated to the later bank, operated in Pekin from 1866 to 1875 under the presidency of Pekin mayor Isaac E. Leonard.

As for the 1960 addition on the east of the bank building, it was about that time that the bank’s impressive Neo-Classical exterior was covered over by the blue and white steel casing that remains on the building to the present day.

In this photograph of First National Bank and Trust Company which appeared in the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial volume, the bank is shown with its eye-catching blue and white steel casing that had been added to the 1885-86 building about the mid-20th century. At the time of this photograph, the bank was preparing to move to a new location between Ann Eliza and Margaret streets.

The Sesquicentennial account next tells of three notable developments at the bank:

“In 1927 trust powers were conferred upon the bank, and, at about the same time, safety deposit boxes were added to the institution’s services. First National opened Pekin’s first separate auto-banking facility in early 1959.”

It was from 1927 onward, then, that the bank was able to add “and Trust Company” to their name. A Peoria Transcript report in October that year says the bank then had resources valued at more than $2.6 million. The bank’s president at the time was Henry M. Ehrlicher (1860-1940).

Regarding the auto-banking facility, Pekin’s first automobile drive-up teller in Pekin, the 1st Auto Bank, opened on Monday, 16 Feb. 1959 – the dawn of the era of drive-up banking in Pekin. The facility was in a lot adjacent to First National Bank. With teller windows on each side, the drive-up facility could accommodate four cars at a time, and also had a sidewalk teller window at the front.

This photograph from the 15 Feb. 1959 Bloomington Pantagraph announced the dawn of the era of drive-up banking in Pekin. The First National Bank of Pekin opened what it called the 1st Auto Bank on Monday, 16 Feb. 1959, in a lot adjacent to First National Bank. With teller windows on each side, the drive-up facility could accommodate four cars at a time, and also had a sidewalk teller window at the front.

A photograph of First National Bank’s “1st Auto Bank” drive-up teller facility, taken in 1966 by Ralph Goodwin.

The architect’s rendering shows the original grandiose concept for the new First National Bank building. While the final concept of the structure — today known as the Süd Building — is less grand and imposing, the basic plan was retained of a castle-like structure with four corner turrets covered with dark reflecting glass.

In this photograph that ran in the 2 Feb. 1977 Bloomington Pantagraph, branch officer manager Bob Lutz — later Tazewell County Recorder of Deeds — stands next to a replica of the Liberty Bell that adorned the new Vogel’s Market Square branch facility of First National Bank of Pekin that opened 31 Jan. 1977. For several years the Liberty Bell was a prominent logo element for First National Bank.

The Sesquicentennial account concludes:

“Today, the bank is still growing. The most significant expansion in recent years will be the construction of a new, multi-story bank building located on Ann Eliza and North Sixth Streets. President William E. Troutman announced the plans in 1973, and construction is presently underway.”

It was on Wednesday, 18 April 1973, that the bank’s shareholders approved the borrowing of $1 million in subordinated capital debentures and authorized the directors to relocate the main banking house to the block bordered by Margaret, Fifth, Ann Eliza, and Sixth streets and to proceed with a new building at that location.

The president’s report from that meeting said the bank then had $31,592,387 in assets, with liabilities consisting of $12.7 million of demand deposits and $15.5 million of time deposits.

The 1975 Pekin city directory is the last directory that shows First National Bank and Trust Company at 418 Court St. That year, the bank moved to its new building, which the 1976 directory lists with an address at 500 Ann Eliza St. The 1977 directory and all subsequent directories give the address as 111 N. Sixth St. Not long after, First National Bank opened a branch at Vogel’s Market Square.

This advertisement for First National Bank and Trust Company of Pekin appeared in the 1986 Polk City Directory of Pekin. That was the last year the bank operated under that name. On 8 Aug. 1986, First National Bank changed its name to AMCORE Bank National Association of Pekin.

Meanwhile, in August of 1977 the bank’s old 1916 structure was bought for $425,000 by the Tazewell County board, which renamed it The Tazewell Building. The county remodeled the interior and until recently used the building for county offices. As it has begun to show signs of age, the county has moved all staff from the structure but still stores some county records there.

First National Bank and Trust Company last appears in Pekin directories in 1986, because the bank changed its name to AMCORE Bank National Association on 8 Aug 1986. The last time AMCORE Bank in downtown Pekin appears in Pekin city directories is in 1992, when the bank’s 105-year history drew to its close. AMCORE was merged into Commerce Bank of Peoria on 1 Dec. 1992, after which banking operations under the original 1887 charter ceased. (Interestingly, the 1993 directory still mentions AMCORE’s branch and the trust company, but AMCORE’s main building at 111 N. Sixth St. does not appear.)

The final city directory advertisement for AMCORE Bank of Pekin (formerly First National Bank, formerly American National Bank, originally German-American National Bank) appeared in the 1992 Polk City Directory of Pekin. On 1 Dec. 1992, AMCORE Bank was merged into Commerce Bank. Banking operations under the 1887 charter then ceased, though Commerce Bank continued to operate from the AMCORE Bank building in Pekin for a few more years.

After the 1992 merger, Commerce Bank continued to operate from the former AMCORE/First National Bank building at 111 N. Sixth St. for several more years. In 2006, Commerce sold the building for $1.4 million to the Süd Family Limited Partnership, the commercial real estate venture of the Bloomington-Normal based Süd automobile dealership company. Since then, the former bank has borne the name “The Süd Building.”

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