Henderson history: A hot fire greeted opening of bank that is now event venue
The Henderson National Bank, which dated to 1866, opened its new building at 208 N. Main St. in 1923 – and two weeks later a fire threatened to burn all its money.
I was pleased to see Steve Jenkins recently convert the building into an event venue for weddings and the like; my thinking had been that it would prove prohibitive to renovate to another use because the building was constructed so solidly.
Not many businesses can use a huge vault, but Jenkins turned lemons into lemonade. The vault not only has been retained, but it also lends the business its new name: The Vault.
The building can accommodate 100 to 150 people. I appreciate seeing historic buildings restored and repurposed, so I wish the owners the best.
The open house for the bank’s new offices was Nov. 29, 1923, and there was plenty of coverage of the event in the days leading up to it. The Gleaner carried a full-page advertisement the Sunday before, which noted the bank had total assets of $2.11 million.
A photo of the vault carried a caption that touted its security and the reasonable prices of its lock boxes. “You know just where that important paper is when you have need for it.”
There’s more, the ad promised. “There is a ladies’ rest room in the bank building. The ladies of the county, and their friends, are cordially invited to make use of this room.
In the same Nov. 25 issue Spalding Trafton wrote a history of Henderson’s first bank, which stood at Second and Main streets, the location Field & Main Bank currently occupies. It was one of multiple banks that began doing business at that time because the General Assemble had loosened restrictions.
“In the summer of 1818, when the bank began business, the state was flooded with paper money, and to add to the financial uncertainty, turned loose a goods box full of her notes. With this, speculation sprang up in all directions; large loans were rashly made and as rashly expended. Most of these financial bubbles exploded within a year, and only a few were alive at the end of two years.”
The Henderson bank wasn’t one of the survivors.
John James Audubon’s mill had provided the lumber to finish the two-story log cabin and after the bank failed the building was used as a tavern.
Trafton assured his readers, however, that much progress in financial stability had been made since 1818 and that Henderson’s five financial institutions were “as solid as the rock of Gibraltar.”
The Gleaner of Nov. 30 noted “throngs of visitors” passed through the bank and admired “this handsome financial plant … which included the fire and burglar-proof vault…. Particularly noticeable and much admired was the ladies’ rest room and its convenient and handsome furnishings and equipment.”
The fire two weeks later was initially reported in the Dec. 15 Gleaner, which noted the alarm was turned in about 1 a.m. that morning by Gleaner paper carrier George Koper. When firefighters arrived, they climbed to the roof of the building but couldn't find any flames.
So, they summoned the bank cashier, Arthur Katterjohn, who unlocked the front door, and a search was made. The basement in the furnace apparently had overheated and ignited a nearby pile of kindling. But the main part of the fire was under the vault, where the wooden floor was covered with cement.
Firefighters had a nightmare battling the blaze. Four of the firefighters were overcome by heat and smoke, two of them seriously enough to seek medical attention.
Details of the battle were not forthcoming until the Dec. 18 Gleaner.
“The fire being in the basement, it was impossible for the firemen to remain in such close quarters for any length of time,” Katterjohn said. “So intense was the heat that they could not endure it, and their only way of getting to the fire was also the sole exit of the accumulating smoke and heat, so that any attempt of the men to remain near enough to control their lines of hose resulted in several of them being overcome, so unbearably hot was the place.”
The fire “was one of the most peculiar ones his men had to fight because of the dense smoke and difficulty in getting to the blaze under a cement floor,” Fire Chief Harry Stolzy told The Gleaner.
“When we first located the fire there was a large pile of kindling blazing,” Stolzy said. “Although we at once ran a line of hose through the front opening of the basement, the men were unable to raise the nozzle enough to get the water to the fire, for the water would strike the concrete above and be deflected before reaching the fire. Only a minimum of the stream (was) doing any good toward extinguishing the flame.”
The firefighters finally were successful by chopping a hole through the wooden floor at the rear of the vault, The Gleaner reported. “A line of hose (was) extended through the aperture, and after stubborn fighting the fire was extinguished.”
The Gleaner’s first story about the fire said damage was “not believed great” but upon closer inspection that proved optimistic. “There is considerable smoke damage to the walls and fixtures,” Katterjohn said. “We may have to replace the entire marble flooring in the main lobby, in addition, of course, to the concrete floor about the entrance to the vault, which felt the full force of the fire and is irreparably damaged.”
Richard Henderson Soaper had been the bank’s president at the time of the fire, although Henry Kraver was on the board of directors. Henderson National Bank lasted little more than another decade. It closed its doors Jan. 15, 1932, in an effort stem the heavy tide of withdrawals during the Great Depression and turned its assets over to the federal comptroller.
In October 1932 Kraver began an effort to reorganize the bank, and put up $5,000 himself; that’s what happened Sept. 19, 1933, when it changed its name to First National Bank. And it remained First National for many years.
I believe the building’s last incarnation as a financial institution was as the Bank of Henderson, which was formed in 2000 as Henderson National Bank, changed its name to Bank of Henderson in 2008, and was later incorporated into Field & Main Bank.
75 YEARS AGO
Lack of a draft board prevented any Henderson County inductions during 1948, according to The Gleaner of Dec. 2, 1948.
Henderson County had a little trouble getting men to serve on the local draft board. Frank G. Schmitt, Solomon O. Heilbronner and Hecht Lackey had been recommended but they declined.
J.T. Armstrong, Arthur Davis and Alfred Kraver were appointed, but Kraver died only days after his appointment. Sam Holder, local commander of the VFW, was named as a replacement, but meanwhile Armstrong and Davis quit. Their replacements were Edwin Biggs Jr. and Dan Lloyd, according to the Dec. 2 Gleaner.
No local men had yet been drafted through the end of 1948. The Gleaner of Jan. 29, 1949, said the first eight local draftees were being sent to Owensboro for physical examinations.
50 YEARS AGO
Henry D. Kloke’s bicycle repair shop wasn’t just a bike repair shop, judging from a feature article written by Judy Jenkins in The Gleaner of Dec. 2, 1973.
He and William Nunn started the shop at 315 First St. in 1920; Nunn died in 1925 and Kloke bought his share.
“We had lot of bicycles to repair, and we had a big business repairing (Ford) Model T’s,” Kloke said. “Model T’s were our specialty, really. We bought parts directly from Ford. You know, you could buy a brand-new Model T for less than $400. I had one and loved it. That was a good car.”
Even after more than five decades at the shop he had no plans to retire. “What would I do? Stay home and wear the carpet out pacing back and forth?”
He said he had lot of help because his son-in-law, Austin Royster, ran the automotive repair side of the business and his daughter, Ruth, did most of the bookkeeping.
25 YEARS AGO
A committee set up by the Henderson City-County Planning Commission to draft a new sign ordinance had set the project aside awhile to get an opinion from City Attorney Joe Ternes – and he yanked the committee’s reins, according to The Gleaner of Nov. 29, 1998.
The committee had wanted to require non-conforming signs to be brought into compliance. Ternes said that would violate the Kentucky Constitution.
“There will not be a sign ordinance mandating people to take down existing signs,” he said. “You can’t provide for their removal under a new ordinance. That would be taking property without compensation, which is unconstitutional. You can’t do that in Kentucky.”
The planning commission didn’t get around to adopting a new ordinance until September of 1999. It replaced one that had been in effect for two decades.
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: A hot fire greeted opening of bank that is now event venue
