Kentucky Places: Clintonville, Bourbon County, Kentucky

In 1903, William F. Heathman established the Clintonville Farmers Bank. Heathman, then in his 60s, was a farmer, county supervisor, postmaster, and Civil War veteran. As I drove through Clintonville on a gray February morning last year and saw the pocket-sized brick building with a distinctive parapet, I knew immediately it was an old bank.

Clintonville Farmers Bank, west and south elevations.

Clintonville, first known as Curtright Station, and then Stipp’s Crossroads, is a crossroads community in southern Bourbon County, near the Fayette and Clark County lines.* A post office – one of the most important (more so than a bank) institutions in developing and connecting rural America – was established in 1831. The community consisted of – in addition to dwellings – “two churches, one tavern, two stores, one doctor, and several mechanics” in 1847.

Clintonville, circa 1877. From the Atlas of Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine and Woodford Counties, Ky, published by D.G. Beers & Company of Philadelphia.

In 1858, by then bearing its current name, the community officially incorporated. Apparently the Civil War resulted in the un-incorporation of the town, at least according to the history written by William Henry Perrin. Even without “town” status, the area flourished due to its fertile soil. (Perrin did relate that Clintonville was historically –  he was writing in 1882, mind you – “a scene of a great deal of horse-racing.”)

Clintonville, as seen on a 1929 15-minute topographic map.

The Clintonville Christian Church, a frame front gable Greek Revival style building, predated the act of incorporation. Built in 1850, the church’s congregation dates to 1830. I’m not sure what details may lurk underneath the application of vinyl siding, but the two entry doors on the façade retain their pedimented surrounds and slight Greek Ear detailing.

The circa 1850 Clintonville Christian Church.

There is also a former school (or at least part of the school) still standing in Clintonville. What appears to be the brick gymnasium of the Clintonville Consolidated School (built in 1925) stands rather forlornly next to a cemetery. The windows are boarded up and portions of the brick wall appear to have been attacked by metal siding.

A portion of the former Clintonville Consolidated School.

But the most compelling part of Clintonville is the former bank. Its days of commerce long since forgotten, the building is nonetheless still quite sturdy looking. At the time of its construction, most rural banks were locally owned and operated. The architecture of these small rural banks is remarkably similar, and all of the ones I’ve encountered share a vocabulary focused on conveying a sense of prosperity, dependability, and stability.**

The façade and east elevation of the bank.

An ornamental metal cornice with a sunburst motif and dentils crowns the parapet wall, while the name of the bank and year of construction are featured below the cornice in stylized, vaguely Art Deco script. Stone sills and lintels accent the windows on the side elevations.

There’s a brick flue on the east side, and I would imagine the interior was divided into two small rooms. In 1924, a year after William Heathman’s death, four armed men attempted to rob the bank. A Mr. Buchanan, a teller at the bank, died  during the robbery. The bank closed not long after this tragic note, and for decades afterward, the little brick building was the Clintonville general store.

From the January 27, 1903 edition of The Bourbon News.

The rich farmland of Clintonville has sprouted many new homes and subdivisions over the last 40 years. William Heathman’s house is gone, replaced by a modern housing development. There are other buildings associated with Clintonville on the Paris-Clintonville Road, but my route lay to the east, and I only glimpsed what lies along Austerlitz Road.

The former bank building could be so splendidly repurposed, and my imagination feverishly attacked the possibilities as I drove home. Not for the first time do I wish I possessed unlimited finances, and could save this perfect example of early 20th century institutional architecture. Given that my home office has been given over to my small piping co-workers in our Pandemic existence, I fantasize about using the bank building as my office.

I highly doubt any small banks designed and built today will spur the passions of dreamers and historians a century hence. So I hope the roof is good and that someone will realize the potential and the historic significance of this small brick piece of the the past.

*The Stipps were early EuroAmerican settlers in the area. William Heathman’s mother was a Stipp.

**The Moorefield Deposit Bank in Nicholas County, Kentucky, was also built in 1903, and is very similar to the Clintonville Bank.