"Dating" Citizens Bank

Norman Connell

 

(Updated, December, 2024)

Norman Connell (Mooresville High School, Class of 1957) was president and CEO of Citizens Bank from 1975 until his retirement in 2001.   Norman started his career at Citizens Bank in Mooresville, Indiana in 1961 following his discharge from the U.S. Air Force.  He saved some undated, unidentified photos showing Citizens Bank when it was located on the southeast corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville.  How can we date those pictures?

Knowing when Citizens Bank was at this location is a first step.  According to a Mooresville Public Library (MPL) handout, Citizens Bank occupied 3 East Main Street from 1931 to 1966.    That is a fairly large time range, however.  So our next step is to examine the photos themselves for dating clues.  (Click on the images below to enlarge them.)

(As a quick sidebar:  This structure in the photo below was commonly known as the Bass Building, constructed around 1890 and demolished in 2022 after being destroyed by the April 2020 tornado.)

There's a story behind the clock hanging on the side of the building (above).  We'll talk more about that at the end of this blog post (scroll to the bottom if you want to skip ahead; otherwise, read on).

This exterior shot of Citizens Bank (above) shows late 1950s automobiles, as well as Copeland Appliances, in the background.  The same MPL handout lists Copeland Appliances at 16 South Indiana Street (which appears in the background) from 1956-1974.  (Copeland Appliances was also located at 18-20 South Indiana Street between 1950-1974, but that's further down, out-of-shot.)  So, given these three bits of information, we can safely assume that Mr. Connell's Citizens Bank photos were taken between 1956-1966, the latter date being the last Citizens Bank was situated at the location shown. 

Can we further narrow the time frame?  Let's look at some interior photos of Citizens Bank.

 

See the calendar in the photo above?  It says, Saturday, July 20.  The twentieth of July fell on a Saturday in 1957 and in 1963.  That cinches the date.  These photos were taken on Saturday, July 20, 1957 or 1963.  But there's one factor that suggests 1957 as the correct date, and that is the photographers/developers.

 

How do we know that these photos were all taken at the same time?  They are all printed on the same type of photographic paper and appear to have been taken by the same (or a similar) camera.  More to the point, they were taken and/or developed by the same two photographers/developers, Squires Studio and Awbrey's Photo Service, both of Mooresville during the 1950s.  Their stamps appear on the backs of the photographs (see below).

What did Citizens Bank look like inside on Saturday, July 20, 1957?

Here are some Citizens Bank employees who were working that day.  None of the photos identified the persons shown, but thanks to Norman's wife, Ruth Connell, we were able to identify three of them.  You can contact Mooresville Public Library if you recognize any of the others (the library now has these pictures in its Indiana Room's banking vertical file).

Martha Sellars, maybe

Identifying Miss Sellars would be fairly easy--her name plate appeared in the photo--unless, of course, it's somebody else standing at Miss Sellars' window when this photo was taken.  So we would need another photo of Martha Sellars to compare against this one, if we're to be sure that this is Martha Sellars.  Guess that takes us back to square one.  (I seem to recall that Ruth Connell identified Martha Sellers in this picture, but I may be misremembering.  I think that's how I knew her first name was Martha, so I'm prepared to go with Ruth on this one.)

Thelma (Blaschke) Weddle and Ed Fields

 

  

Always identify the people, places, circumstances and dates of your photographs.  They might be of enormous local historical value, especially for historians and researchers.  If  you're reading this article, wouldn't you like to know those details about these "slices" of living history?

The Exterior Clock's History

In the photo (above), there's a clock hanging from the exterior of the building.  Assuming the photo was taken in 1957, we could surmise that Citizens Bank displayed such a clock at that time.  To confirm whether the clock was there then, we could, of course, compare this picture against others shown in digitized copies of Mooresville High School yearbooks from the 1950s and early 1960s, before the bank moved to its present location (in 1967) on North Indiana Street (across the street from 3 East Main Street, where it was in these photos above).  (Mooresville Public Library's Indiana Room has print copies of these yearbooks, if you'd prefer looking through those.)  One thing's for certain:  the clock was there, and it had been, in fact, since 1931, as shown in the photo (below).

1931 Citizens Bank photograph shows the exterior clock (far right)

on the Bass Building (courtesy of Citizens Bank)

Citizens Bank, which began in 1931, acquired the exterior clock from its predecessor, Farmers State Bank, which went out-of-business in 1930.  We know this because we can see the same clock as shown in advertising from 1917 and from check logos from the 1920s.

1917 advertisement from the Mooresville High School yearbook

Counter checks (1920s), with clock shown above entrance

The clock first appeared on the Farmers State Bank building in 1904, when it underwent a major renovation.  You can see the clock hanging above the entrance in this photo (below).

1904 Photo from a Farmers State Bank brochure

(Enlarged below)

You can tell it's the same clock (or, at least, the same exterior casing that holds the clock) if you compare the 1957 Citizens Bank photo with the 1904 Farmers State Bank photo and 1917 advertisement.

When Citizens Bank vacated the Bass Building to move across the street in 1967, the clock apparently didn't accompany them.  At least it doesn't appear in this photo below.

Citizens Bank advertisement photo (1967)

courtesy of Mooresville High School's yearbook,

Wagon Trails

Where did the clock end up, you may wonder?  I certainly did.  Then, one day, I noticed something incredible.  There's a clock atop a post on the south side of West Main Street, next to a parking lot (and a drive-through bank teller building), which is across from Mooresville Public Library's old Carnegie building, which is now used by Citizens Bank (plot point!).

Clock on the South Side of West Main Street

Downtown Mooresville, Indiana

Three photos (above) courtesy of Google Maps (October 2024)

The clock face is approximately the same size as the one shown in the Citizens Bank/Farmers State Bank exterior hanging frame.  What caught my attention was the clock face.  Look carefully at the numbers, especially seven.  Do you see the odd curve at the bottom of the seven?  There's a strong resemblance between the clock face number styles!  Compare the photos (below) and see what you think.

West Main Street Clock

(photo by William R. Buckley)

(December 18, 2024)

Enlargements of the 1957 photo of the exterior clock face

on the Citizens Bank building

Admittedly, it's not a perfect match between clock face number styles shown in the 1957 and 2024 photos, but their similarity is striking, and given the approximate equality in sizes of the clock faces themselves, we might surmise that the clock face currently displayed on West Main Street is the same clock, or, at least, a similarly styled clock, as the one that was once attached to Citizens Bank and, possibly, Farmers State Bank.  It's an intriguing supposition.

But that's not all we have to go by.  A few years ago, during a downtown historic walking tour I gave for patrons of Mooresville Public Library, one woman saw the clock and said that her father, who had once worked at Citizens Bank, had told her that the clock on West Main Street was the same as the hanging clock from pre-1967 Citizens Bank.  Unfortunately, we have misplaced her name, but we think she may have been Norman Connell's daughter (see photo at the beginning of this blog post).  How's that for circling around to where we started?

Walking With Dillinger

Take a walking (or driving) tour around Mooresville, Indiana to see John Dillinger-related points-of-interest around town.  Click the images (throughout this article) to enlarge.

Can't make the walk/drive?  Watch this video slideshow below.

John Dillinger's Mooresville Footprint

by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library

DILLINGER’S HOMETOWN HOLDUP

(SELF-GUIDED WALKING TOUR)

Starting from Mooresville Public Library, follow famous bank robber and Mooresville resident John Dillinger’s footsteps during and after his botched attempted robbery of Frank Morgan, owner of the West End Grocery on West High Street, on Saturday, September 6, 1924.  (Watch this video to learn more about this robbery attempt.)

 

Stop #1:  Behind the First Christian Church on South Jefferson Street (between Harrison & High Streets)

Between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturday, September 6, 1924, Frank Morgan, proprietor of the West End Grocery (at 135 West High Street, where Morz/Pedigo Plumbing is located today) was walking home after closing the store.  Suddenly, John Dillinger jumped from the shadows behind the First Christian Church holding a pistol and demanded money from Morgan.  Unbeknownst to Dillinger, Morgan had taken the day’s proceeds to his house earlier in the evening and was not carrying much money at the time of the robbery attempt.  Morgan and Dillinger scuffled, causing Dillinger to drop his firearm, which discharged harmlessly into the air.  Dillinger then struck Morgan with a metal bar (something like a “blackjack” criminals sometimes used in muggings), opening a gash on Morgan’s head.  Morgan, who was a Freemason, shouted a Masonry call of distress, to which fellow Masons throughout the neighborhood promptly responded.  Dillinger panicked and fled east down Broad Alley.  Dillinger’s accomplice, Ed Singleton, who was awaiting Dillinger in an automobile down the street (on South Jefferson close to High Street), raced off when he heard the errant gunshot.



Stop #2:  Lindley Block, 1 West Main Street, Downtown Mooresville

Dillinger escaped along Broad Alley and made his way to Moore & Pearce, a pool hall in the basement of the Lindley Block (1 West Main Street, on the southwest corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville).  There, he asked customers and employees if “Mr. Morgan was all right” after being attacked.  No one there had heard about Morgan’s injuries, since news of the event had not yet travelled downtown.  Subsequently, several persons present wondered how Dillinger had known Morgan was hurt.

 

Lindley Block (first building on left) as it appeared in the Nineteen-Teens.

The building burnt to the ground on December 27, 1925

(Photo courtesy of the Mooresville Times, December 10, 1981, page 10a)

 

Moore & Pearce advertisement from the 1923 White Lick Review

(Mooresville High School Yearbook)

Dillinger went home to the family farm on Old State Road 267 (North Monroe Street at Northridge Drive) and confessed to his crime.  His father recommended that his son turn himself in to Mooresville town marshal Greeson, which John voluntarily did.  Frank Morgan required eleven stitches to sew-up his head wound, and at Dillinger’s trial, the judge rendered a harsh sentence (2-12 years on the first count, and 10-20 years on the second count, with $100 fines for each count) because John had severely injured Morgan and had carried a firearm during the robbery attempt.  Dillinger’s accomplice, Ed Singleton, who retained an attorney (Dillinger did not), received a much lighter sentence in a separate trial.  Dillinger was remanded to the Indiana state reformatory at Pendleton.  During his incarceration, Dillinger, embittered by the severity of his sentencing, mingled with hardcore criminals who taught him tricks of the criminal trade and shaped his unlawful ambitions.

 

John Dillinger Mug Shot (ca. 1924)



DILLINGER AROUND TOWN

(MOORESVILLE, INDIANA)

There are three other locations in Mooresville significant to John Dillinger’s story:  His family’s farm, Harvey Funeral Home, and the town ball park.

Drive-By #1:  The Dillinger Family Farm  

John Dillinger’s family farm was located on Old State Road 267 (North Monroe Street at Northridge Drive), as shown on the map (above).  PLEASE NOTE:  The Dillinger family farmhouse is a private residence.  Please DO NOT DISTURB the residents or owners, and please do NOT take any photographs of the premises without express permission from the residents or owners.

 

 

(Above) Dillinger Farm (image courtesy of Evelyn Frechette)

(Below) John Dillinger outside the family farmhouse, holding a

Thompson submachine gun and, purportedly, the wooden gun he carved

to escape from Crown Point jail (photo 1934)

 



Drive-By #2:  Harvey Funeral Home

 

Harvey Funeral Home was located on the southeast corner of Indiana and Harrison Streets in downtown Mooresville, where Marco's Pizza is now situated (as of 2024) and where Family Video used to be located.  After John Dillinger was shot by FBI agents in Chicago in July, 1934, his remains were returned to Mooresville before burial at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.  Hundreds braved the 103° F. heat wave to see Dillinger’s body at Harvey Funeral Home on July 25, 1934 (see photo below). The line of onlookers circled the block twice.

 

 (Above) John Dillinger’s Body at Harvey Funeral Home, July 25, 1934

(Below) Unloading John Dillinger’s remains at Harvey Funeral Home

 

Drive-By #3:  Mooresville Town Ball Park

Approximate location of the Town Baseball Park

(Image courtesy of Google Maps © 2024)

Bradley Brick Company began in 1904

(Mooresville Times, March 11, 1904)

William "Tommy" McElwain outside the old

Bradley Brick Company office on East South Street

 

Mooresville historian Clara Richardson wrote in her History of Mooresville, 1824-1974 that the Bradley Brick Company, which was located south of East South Street (east of the railroad tracks), was purchased by the Wooley Company.  When Chester E. Lawrence owned the business, he sold a parcel of land to the Town of Mooresville to be used as the Town Baseball Park.  It was there that Mooresville’s semi-professional baseball team, the Walkovers, played their home games.  In 1924 John Dillinger was a member of the Walkovers’ team roster, playing shortstop and second base.  Dillinger also played the same positions on the Martinsville Athletics (see images below), another semi-professional baseball team.  (Dillinger is indicated by the arrow.)

 

John Dillinger as a Player on the Martinsville Athletics Baseball Team (1924)

 

 

The 1919 Mooresville Walkovers Baseball Team Won 26 Straight Games

(Mooresville Times, October 8, 1964)

(Last Updated 7/24/2024)