Ohio jewel box bank 1
June 29, 2026 at 9:42 PM by Dr. Drang
Last year, around Labor Day, I visited five of Louis Sullivan’s jewel box banks:
- Farmers and Merchants Union Bank in Columbus, Wisconsin
- National Farmers’ Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota
- Henry Adams Building in Algona, Iowa
- Merchant’s National Bank in Grinnell, Iowa
- People’s Savings Bank in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
These all fit in with a little driving circuit that included visiting my daughter and my younger son. This year, I headed east to pick up the last three.
This morning’s bank was the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association in Sidney, Ohio. Despite what that Wikipedia page says, it’s now operated by F&M Bank, which bought out People’s in 2022. You can sort of tell by the large but tasteful “F&M Bank” lettering on the front (north) façade.
F&M could have used a font in which their F was a better match to the F in the original THRIFT lettering, but you can’t expect bank executives to notice things like that. At least they didn’t go with the sans serif font they use in their logo. The horizontal line of slightly damaged bricks is where the old name of the bank used to be.
The bank was built in 1917, which puts it second to last in the sequence, younger than all the other jewel boxes except the Farmers and Merchants Bank. The date of construction is prominent on the west façade.
You’ll probably need to zoom in to see the date; it’s not only small, but I was shooting into the sun, so the contrast isn’t great. The 1886 date you see at the left end is when People’s Federal Savings and Loan was founded.
While we’re on the west side, let’s check out some of the details.
The lion with the shield on top of a pilaster is at the southwest corner of the building, off the right edge of my west façade photo. You may recognize him—he’s basically the same as the entranceway lions at the Merchant’s National Bank.
Each of the lion heads that appear along the bottom of the windows has a copper pipe in its open mouth. Clearly this is to drain rainwater that collects on the sills, although I don’t know if the pipes are still working. Sullivan undoubtedly considered this a “form follows function” thing.
Most of the decorative elements on this building are organic, but there are geometric features along the cornice at the top of the building and around the arch on the north façade.
Sullivan “signed” this building in the architrave above the entrance. Not just in the little LOUIS SULLIVAN ARCHITECT in the lower left corner, but in the big stylized LSA at the center of the piece.
Just inside the entrance is the landmark designation plaque.
After seeing the lovely exterior, I have to say I was a little disappointed when I went through the foyer into the interior. It’s nice enough, but I was ready to be hit by something like the interior of the National Farmers’ Bank. No such luck. The lines are clean, there’s a good view of the west windows, and there’s a gorgeous skylight running down the center of the ceiling, but no murals or hanging lights.
One of the tellers told me there used to be stencils of some sort running along the tops of the walls, but they were painted over. An odd decision, given how well the rest of the building has been preserved, but maybe they couldn’t be saved—or weren’t original.
Another small disappointment was the lack of documentation. Other banks had small shrines to their buildings, with displays of drawings, old photographs, or even pieces of original terra cotta and brickwork. F&M had a little pamphlet and a visitors’ signature book, but that was it.
I don’t want to be too hard on this bank. It really is beautiful and in great shape. I guess my expectations for the interior were just too high after walking around and photographing the north and west façades. F&M can’t be blamed if the previous owner didn’t keep the original drawings. Also, it’s a pretty small space—no second floor or mezzanine for a shrine.