Salvisa, Kentucky is a tiny town of just over 100 residents in northern Mercer County, Kentucky, named for the Salt and Kentucky Rivers (the latter was originally known as the “Levisa”). Since the mid-20th century, school consolidation, new roads bypassing Main Street (and bisecting the town), and the decline of the farming economy and a rural way of life, Salvisa has shrunk into itself. So I was relieved when I stopped there earlier this week to see that some of the buildings I remember are still intact.* There haven’t been any cashiers working in generations at the Farmer’s Bank Building, located at the corner of Main Street and Sugar Street, but it is still standing.
Façade and north elevation of the Farmer’s Bank Building in Salvisa, Kentucky.
The brick, two-story bank was built in 1903 on land purchased from C.A. Forston. Unlike many other early 20th century banks in rural Kentucky, this was a large scale building. ** I don’t know if the second story was intended for residential use (as was common for many two-story commercial buildings of the day) or if that was a security risk? It could have been a meeting room or used for a fraternal or social organization.
The corner entry, circa 2004.
The bank faces east and toward Main Street. There were likely two bays to the side of the diagonally placed entry door on the façade. Those openings have been poorly bricked up, as have the façade window openings on the second story.
The facade has been heavily altered.
The north elevation, toward Sugar Street, is in better shape, with three segmentally arched windows on the first story, and above them, a delightful trio of three arched windows! There is a door at the northeast corner, although I imagine that was a window originally. In the 1980s an exterior staircase led from the sidewalk to that opening.
A door on the opposite end of the north elevation retains a wonderful, bracketed door hood. Such a stylistic statement for a secondary entry!
Entry door on the north elevation.
Like many small town banks, the Farmer’s Bank of Salvisa seemed beset by misdeeds and tragedies. In 1910, Mrs. Charles E. Gaines was rendered “almost prostrate” by the “shocking exposure of her husband’s alleged defalcations.” It seems that Mr. Gaines made false entries in the books and absconded with $8,000. He then told his wife he was going to the State Fair for the day and then never came home.***
Location of Salvisa.
In 1914, Salvisa was a “town of about 500 where there is ample church, banking and other desirable accommodations.” Prosperous farms lined the former turnpike road around the town, there was a railroad (Southern Railroad) and depot, and life was good. Then came World War I, and the things were never quite the same for the bank.
Detail of the cornice on the front of the bank.
In 1921, the Farmer’s Bank was robbed. Two local farmers held up the bank in a “bold daylight robbery.” The thieves gagged the cashier (who was in the bank alone) and after taking all of the money in the bank ($1,800), they “coolly walked down the steps and into their automobile,” and headed toward Lawrenceburg. A car chase ensured, and the culprits (after many bullets flew) were arrested.
Salvisa in 1952.
The bank only had two employees at the time, and two years later, the bank closed and was sold. In later years, it served as hotel and a pool hall. It’s been empty as long as I can remember.
North and west elevations of the bank.
In 1986, there were still two grocery stores in Salvisa, weekly Rook games sponsored by the Ruritan Club (the civic organization was founded in 1968 and used to host Ruritan Days – I don’t know if that still occurs), and frequent trips into “town” by farmers in north Mercer County.
Looking south down Main Street in Salvisa, Kentucky.
But Salvisa is pretty quiet these days. Main Street still feels like a Main Street though, and if only someone would come along with the vision and the money (the money is pretty important), than perhaps some businesses could once again open in the former store buildings. In order for buildings to be preserved, they must be used. There are so many rural communities like Salvisa around Kentucky – and although I am eternally optimistic…there are many things standing in the way of those places attracting residents. Access to groceries and schools and high-speed internet are pretty high priorities to many folks.****
I’ll cross my fingers for Salvisa.
*My first photographic excursion through Salvisa was in 2004, with an early digital camera (the quality of those images is very poor now). Many, many houses are now gone. My mother grew up on a farm not far from Salvisa, and I recall one trip through the streets of Salvisa, she telling me who had lived in each house during her childhood.
**See some other posts featuring historic Kentucky banks here:
Kentucky Places: Clintonville, Bourbon County, Kentucky
Farmer’s Bank Building, Smiths Grove, Warren County, Kentucky
***Kentucky Advocate, September 22, 1910, page 1. Gaines turned up a few weeks later, having gone to the State Fair, and then on to Centerville, Mississippi, on business. He explained all of the trouble as “bad bookkeeping and he can explain everything.”
****(I live just three miles our county seat and we have NO internet – although broadband is available 1.5 miles down the road and in another county, and 1/2 mile the other way – we live in a small isolated bubble of no service)
I was born in 1966, during my childhood Donald Tyler had what I would call a Dish Barn type place. I don’t recall going in as a kid but am sure I did at least once. All the pretty decorative bowls sitting in the window aleays drew my attention. I was way up in age before it closed. The most recent business was Egbert’s Gun Vault, owner Terry Egbert. It has been closed for years.
Is this not the same building where Dr. Seay had his practice for several years until the 1950’s?
I can remember being taken to the store in Salvisa for ice cream when we were little and spent the night with Nana and Pop! Maybe the white building alongside the bank?
I’m crossing my fingers too. I am very sad about small towns disappearing. They had banks, schools, lodge halls, churches. Sometimes the churches survive.