Adel State Bank

107 North 9th Street

 Built in 1882, the Adel State Bank was organized by S. M. Leach and Dr. Caldwell.  It was one of the leading financial institutions of the county being capitalized at $50,000.  It also had some of the wealthiest men in the county as stockholders.  The famous bank robbery of 1895 occurred in this building. At the time of the robbery, George Clark’s law office was on the upper level of the bank.  George heard shots in the bank below and rushed down to see what was going on. He threw open the bank door and started in and the man with the shotgun whirled and pointed it point blank at him and pulled the trigger. The gun misfired. The shell failed to go off and the bandit worked the lever and threw the shell out on the floor and another from the magazine into the barrel. By the time the robber was ready to shoot again George had gone out the door and into the street again. Scroll down to see a number of pictures from the robbery including the actual guns used.

The bank moved to a different location in 1908. Since then, the property on 107 North 9th Street  changed ownerships several times.  It became a number of clothing stores in the early 1900’s, including the Williams Clothing store illustrated below. The building is often remembered as Fisher’s town and County Store or the Cameo Rose.   Currently it is the Axis Seed Company.