Plans were underway in May 1919 for the merger of two banks and the construction of a “handsome, modern building” in Berry, Kentucky. The merger of the Berry Deposit Bank and the Farmers Deposit Bank would give the the community “one of the most prominent banking institutions of the State.” Architect John Gillig of Cynthiana, Kentucky, designed the building, located on the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue.*
The circa 1921 former Union Bank of Berry, captured during a summer thunderstorm, 2024.
Berry is a small town on the south fork of the Licking River in Harrison County, Kentucky, northwest of the county seat of Cynthiana. First known as Berry’s Station, it was christened thus in honor of one of the first residents, George W. Berry, who built a house in the area in 1836. Berry wore many hats, as he opened the first store in the fledgling village, and established the first post office on April 10, 1856.
Section of the USGS topographic quad map of Berry, Kentucky.
Berry donated part of his land to the Covington and Lexington Railroad, and with the advent of the rail line, the village blossomed into a town. Incorporated in 1867, the “Station” was dropped from the post office name, and the town became simply Berry.
Section of the 1877 D.G. Beers and Company map of Harrison County, Kentucky, showing Berry.
Berry, with some 500 residents in 1919, was a going concern, and the new bank was proudly touted as a “model of beauty and convenience.”
The two-story brick building is trimmed with Bedford stone, and the main, corner-facing entryway, features a curved, broken arch, and originally there were heavy bronze doors, flanked by Tuscan columns. The columns are till here, but the door is now a dour, modern metal and glass affair.
A second, less ornate doorway on the north elevation led directly to the six office rooms on the second story. The footprint of the new bank measured 50 by 34 feet, and took the place of a former tavern and inn, known as the Stone Hotel.
Facade and west elevations of the bank.
The interior of the first floor featured a ceramic tile floor and marble wainscotting and counters. Plater cornices detailed the juncture of wall and ceiling. The 10 by 14 foot vault was burglar proof – built of heavy concrete with steel rods, and housed inside its impenetrable walls was a heavy security safe (also declared to be burglar proof!). The famous looting of the Union Bank by “yeggmen” (safecrackers) in March 1920 occurred in this building’s predecessor.
The bank was heated with steam and had its own water pumping plant – all of these up-to-date luxuries were estimated to cost $20,000. Despite the optimism expressed in 1919, construction failed to get under way until the summer of 1921. The contractor for the project was Mac Perrin, and the brick mason was George Hoskins of Cynthiana.
A 1978 ad for the Union Bank of Berry.
The Union Bank of Berry was a steadfast pillar of the town, even when “rampant loitering and vandalism” in the summer of 1978 resulted in the removal of an acorn-shaped stone ornament from above the main entry door of the bank. The 70-to-100 pound stone acorn was pried loose and, according to some locals, hurled into the Licking River.
(I don’t know what happened to that acorn, and I sure wish I could find a historic, pre-1978 photograph of the bank…)
East elevation of the bank, from across the railroad tracks that still run through the town.
But in 1979, declaring that “the day of the small bank is swiftly passing,” the Union Bank of Berry became part of the larger Farmers National Bank, which opened its fourth branch location in the historic building.
From the July 12, 2012, edition of The Cynthiana Democrat.
The bank didn’t quite make it to the century mark, as the world of finance kept changing. But Farmers National Bank decided on a positive course of action even as they ended banking services in Berry – they donated the historic Union Bank building to the city for use as Berry’s city hall.
I wandered through Berry during a downpour on a hot September day, and I don’t know how well the interior of the historic bank has fared over the years – but I am so very glad the handsome building still stands.
Sources:
The Cynthiana Democrat, May 29, 1919, page 1
The Cynthiana Democrat, July 31, 1919, page 1
The Cynthiana Democrat, April 1, 1920, page 1
The Cynthiana Democrat, August 17, 1978, pages 1 and 3
The Cynthiana Democrat, December 31, 1979, pages 1 and 3
*Gillig practiced independently and was also partners with architect Howard Armistead Churchill of Lexington, Kentucky.
