Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Cosmos Mariner
Taken: July 17, 2014
Caption: Welcome to Beekman Bank! (located inside the Beekman Bank Building)
Additional Description:
You're standing in one of the earliest banks established in the Oregon Territory and one of Jacksonville's most renowned landmarks. In 1856, Cornelius C. Beekman opened an express service in the building on the opposite street corner. In 1863 he became a Wells Fargo Express Company agent, moved into this building and began buying miners gold, shipping it to the San Francisco mint and accepting deposits that he stored in his vault. But banking wasn't the only business transacted in this room, as customers could also purchase stationery goods, schoolbooks and even insurance. Beekman Bank continued to operate for the next 35 years. Although Mr. Beekman retired in 1913, the business remained open until his death in 1915. It was then that the Beekman Bank became a time capsule of Southern Oregon history, as the family locked the doors for good. Today, it looks much the same as it did on the last day of business some 90 years ago.

The cigar-smoking Mr. Beekman stands next to his fully jeweled Howard and Davis scales while bank clerk Henry Dox looks up from his work. Beekman claimed these "balances" weighed up to 200 ounces, yet the slightest breath would depress the scale pan. (SOHS # 1959)
Southern Oregon Historical Society
Submitted: February 14, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Database Locator Identification Number: p416630
File Size: 3.020 Megabytes

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