The Bank of Rogers was founded by W.R. Felker in 1883, Rogers’ first financial institution. It had two homes before Felker and son J.E. planned to build a grand new bank at 114 South First Street, the center of Rogers’ business and commerce.
The area’s leading architect, A.O. Clarke, designed the building and it took two years to complete. The exterior featured a limestone facade with red granite columns beneath a Romanesque arch. Inside there were mahogany doors, window casings, wall pilasters, and furniture; marble baseboards and center desk; a mosaic tile floor; and a massive three-story vault.
Circular tellers’ cages were located in the middle of the building, above which was a skylight with a catwalk going around it. Sometimes mischievous boys climbed onto the catwalk and annoyed the tellers by dropping pennies on their heads. The half-inch-thick skylight fell in 1912, probably due to rotting of the wooden frame, and was later replaced. The second floor had two suites of office rooms and large meeting room, while the basement held the steam heating plant.
The Bank of Rogers newly opened
in 1907
(Neg. #N010215)
Construction of the building
was a significant sight. Mabel Owens Black
recalled in 1988:
They hauled the cornerstone for the Bank
of Rogers out of the hollow at Lake Atalanta.
. . . They would take the wagon box off of
the wagon and put the stone on just what
they called running gears. Just the wheels
and a pole to hold them together. They
didn’t get it on early enough to get out
before dark. John Myler, father’s boss, said
he walked ahead of the horses and carried a
lantern so they could see how to get up that
hill . . . to Walnut Street.
The new Bank of Rogers opened in July 1907
and lasted seven years until it failed. By
1918 the building became home to the Farmers
State Bank, and then to the American
National Bank in 1937. When that bank closed
in 1962, the building was vacant off-and-on
for 13 years; short-time occupants included
Skaggs Real Estate, Jeffa Scott Tax Service,
Carl W. Knox Insurance Company, and Sun-Kay
Ambulance Service. In 1975 the building
became the first home of the Rogers
Historical Museum, then served as the
offices for KFAA TV-51 between 1987 and
1995. The production staff of architecture
firm Perry Butcher & Associates called the
building home in the late 1990s, and,
beginning in 2000, its current occupant is
the Daisy Airgun Museum.
The second floor of the bank has had a
number of occupants as well. In 1907 the
floor was occupied by the offices of the
Rogers White Lime Company. In the 1910s
there were a number of law offices there,
including Duty & Duty, Earl Blansett, E.M.
Fowler, and W.N. Ivie. In the mid 1920s the
Security Mutual Life Association and the
National Old Line Insurance Company were
officed there. By 1930 Nance & Anderson,
attorneys, and the attorney for the City of
Rogers made the building home. During the
American National Bank’s tenure the second
floor served the bank, but from 1954 to 1970
the second floor was occupied by KAMO radio
station.
The Bank of Rogers building has served the
Rogers community well during its nearly 100
years. It’s been honored by being placed on
the National Register of Historic Places.