896 G Street

Address: 896 G Street

Legal Description: East Side of Lot 80

Building: Fraternity Temple/Geneva State Bank/Heagney Building

1872 Vacant lot.

1878 James H. Bigelow purchased Lot 80 from the State of Nebraska.

1880 A large frame building was located here and occupied by the Geneva Exchange Bank,

1885 G. W. Smith, J. Fisher, and W. V. Fifield purchased all of Lot 80 from J. H. Bigelow and wife.

1885 The old Geneva Exchange Bank building was hauled into Center Street, just east of the new one.  It was then moved behind the new building and used by Billings & Donisthorpe for their law office and as the Central Telephone office at 112-118 No. 9th.

1889 The Geneva Exchange Bank became the First National Bank with capital stock $50,000.00.  Officers were President, G. W. Smith; Cashier F. J. Miller; Vice-President, Dr. A. G. McGrew, Vice-President, G. W. Clauson, and Attorney W. V. Fifield.  The bank offices were on the second floor with exterior steps on the east and south sides.

1891 Work commenced on the brick block building being built for the First National Bank, Odd Fellow and Knights of Pythias.  It was built at a cost of $26,000.00.  The material was St. Louis pressed brick and Wisconsin red limestone.  The new opera house in the Fraternity Temple was opened with a home talent production of “Kathleen Mavourneen.”

1892 In March, the new bank building was completed and the bank and J. M. Burke’s hardware store moved into their new quarters.  The buildings formerly occupied by the bank and Burke were moved out of the street.  

1892 A rental agreement between First National Bank, Knights of Pythias, and the IOOF was filed in the County Clerk’s office.

1892 The Sanborn Maps showed a bank on the main floor, offices on the second floor, and a hall on the third floor.  There were also offices in the basement.

1893 Ballard, the shoe man, moved his stock into the east room north of the First National Bank rooms.  Mr. Ballard received $1,200.00 of insurance in payment of loss to his stock in the recent fire in the Fisher block at the west end of Court Street.

1896 The business room in Fraternity Temple building was papered preparatory to the moving in of the Barnett hardware stock.

1896 Camp’s opened a new barber shop in the first room north of the Geneva National Bank, not in the basement, but on the ground floor, east side of the Fraternity Temple.

1897 The Sanborn Maps showed a bank on the main floor to the south, and a barber on the main floor to the north.  There were offices in the basement and on the second floor. There was a hall on the third floor.

1899 In April, Frank Held, Merchant Tailor, rented the room in the Fraternity Temple formerly occupied by Company G.

1899 The Geneva State Bank organized in March.  E. Sandrock, president and C. S. Trotter, cashier.  Geneva National Bank with a capital of $50,000.00 went into voluntary liquidation. The Geneva State Bank with a capital of $25,000.00 took its place and succeeded to its business.  

1899 The Geneva State Bank purchased the assets of the Geneva National Bank and also the First National Bank, including the banking quarters and offices on the second story of the Fraternity Temple building.

1900 About this time, brick sidewalks were laid on the east and south sides of the building.

1904 On Oct. 25, a fire broke out in the Benson & Hensley Café located in a frame building to the west of the Fraternity Temple in the early morning hours.  The fire was so intense that it broke out the café windows and those in the Fraternity Temple building to the east.  The café and Fraternity Temple building were destroyed. 

1904 While the Fraternity Temple/Geneva State Bank fire was still burning, Frank Sloan, bank officer, got a team of horses and hurried out through the night to the home of Dan Goodrich and rented the Goodrich building.  The bank people were able to open their vault and remove some of their furnishings to their temporary quarters  and the next day they were ready for business at the opening hour at 874 G.

1905 In May, Emil Sandrock and Frank W. Sloan each took one of the stone lions that survived the fire.  The lions had adorned the entrance to the bank and would become "yard art" at their residences.  Mr. Sandrock was living on Pearl Street (119 North 11th Street) and Mr. Sloan's home was on Lincoln Street (1045 H Street).  Nebraska Signal, May 12, 1905"  When Frank Putlitz saw Frank Sloan driving a farm truck wagon through the street Monday with the big stone animal, he rushed into the office of the city clerk and demanded that he take out a license to conduct a circus parade."  Currently Leo and Lisa (as named by Howard Hamilton) are still on guard duty in Geneva.  Lisa was moved to the back yard of 709 North 11th Street and Leo has remained at his original post, although he has been moved a few feet east for his safety.

1905 Charles Heagney received the contract to build a new building on this site.  The Geneva State Bank/Heagney was built.  Work on the bank building had been completed up to the top of the second floor.  Heagney retained ownership of the second floor offices.  In September, it was decided to make a three-story building instead of a two-story one.  The third story would be used by the I. O. O. F. Lodge.  Some work had to be torn out and rebuilt so that the architectural beauty of the building might not be marred.  The Geneva State Bank owned the first floor and basement.

1906 Geneva State Bank moved into its new building that replaced the Fraternity Temple building that was destroyed by fire in 1904.

1906 In March, Atherton and Evans moved their real estate, loan and insurance office from the basement into the east room of the Heagney building.  The office opened on Center street and was but one step above the sidewalk.  The room had a plate glass front with prism glass transoms.

1907 Geneva State Bank Officers:  Frank W. Sloan, President; E. Sandrock, Vice-President; E. J. Dempster, Cashier; Job Smith, Assistant Cashier.

1909 The Sanborn Maps showed a bank on the main floor to the south and offices on the main floor to the north.  It does not reference any other floors.

1909 In July, Atherton bought out Evans’ interest when Evans moved to Boise, ID.  The firm was just known as H. A. Atherton.

1909 In September, Atherton took a new partner, G. Willson of Fullerton.  The firm was known as Atherton and Willson.

1909 In December, Atherton sold his interest in the firm of Atherton and Willson to his partner, Willson.  The firm was known as G. Willson Co.  His son, F. R. Willson, was associated with the firm.

1920 The Odd Fellows Lodge purchased the lot and building at 824 G Street for $6,000.00.  The furniture from their meeting rooms above the Geneva State Bank was moved to the second floor of the Odd Fellows building where the new IOOF Lodge Hall was located. The bank also purchased Charles Heagney’s interest in the building about this time.  Geneva State Bank then owned the entire lot.

1922 The Sanborn Maps showed a bank on the main floor to the south and offices on the main floor to the north.  There was a barber in the basement.

1925 Geneva State Bank  built a covered three stall parking area back of the Bender Shoe Shop.  The building was used for cars of bank officials.

1926 R. T. Clark and his crew began work on the new concrete walk east of the bank building, lowering it to the level of the new post office building that was built to the north of the bank.

1933 The Sanborn Maps showed a bank on the main floor. The office to the north was addressed as 118 North 9th and basement locations were addressed as 112 North 9th.  Earl H. Wilkins became president of the bank after serving as a bookkeeper for 25 years.

1936 Geneva State Bank installed an air cooling unit.

1943 The Sanborn Maps showed a bank on the main floor.

1948 Hugh F. Wilkins succeeded his father as president of the bank.

1960 The Geneva State Bank completely remodeled the east half of the first floor.  The outside stairway to the basement was removed and lowered the first floor to street level.  The main entrance was moved a few feet north of the original corner entrance facing east.  The lobby was glassed in and the stairway to the second floor was moved.  A second entrance was added on the east side of the building.

1961 A large crowd attended the open house held at the remodeled Geneva State Bank.

1965 The bank remodeled the Walton Barber Shop to the north to make room for a drive-in window.

1983 A new drive-in was built behind the main bank across the alley and west of the city office.  The new facility entrance was on H Street.  

1986 Hugh C. (Cam) Wilkins took over from his father as president of the bank.

2009 With Cam’s death, John C. Wilkins took over as president of the bank.

2013 Major remodeling of the bank was undertaken, including offices in buildings owned by the bank to the west and demolishing the adjacent one story addition to the north of the bank.  The drive-in lanes were moved back to the north side of the main bank building.  The teller area was more compact, while the waiting area was out of the traffic lane.  All banking offices were located on the first floor.

2014   The renovation was completed in February.  The Geneva State Bank was renamed Heartland Bank.

This was ongoing as of the last posting.