First National Bank

188 South Main Street

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2022

1. First National Bank Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Aimee Woodall, 9/2022:
The building is a single-story structure, rectangular in plan with a flat roof. The Classical Revival style features on this structure are more specifically described as Italian Renaissance Revival, incorporating classical details such as columns, rounded arches, and a porch arcade/portico. The prominent features of this building are on its primary (west-facing/street facing) facade and include an arcaded porch and bracketed cornice. Pilasters articulate the columns and terminate at the cornice. The exterior walls are tan brick masonry veneer (unpainted) on wood frame. There have been few changes to this building over time, and it appears

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2022

2. First National Bank Marker

The marker is mounted at eye level between the two right arches on the front facade of the building.

to be nearly identical to an historic image of it that was included in an advertisement for the Elizabeth State Bank in the April 14, 1916 Elbert County Tribune.
The First National Bank of Elizabeth is locally significant as a banking institution in the town of Elizabeth during a period of the town’s development. It aided in the establishment, expansion and continuation of businesses that provided services and commodities to the town. It was the only financial commercial location (bank) in the rural community of Elizabeth, Colorado, for twenty-three years. It is also historically significant because it was one of many victims of the economic downturn of the Great Depression. After the bank’s failure, the building lived on to serve many civic and community organizations in Elizabeth’s community in the middle part of the Twentieth Century.
The bank is architecturally significant as a good example of Italian Renaissance Revival. It is the most architecturally distinctive building along Elizabeth’s Main Street. The building also represents architectural features typical to 19th and early 20th Century Commercial buildings, specifically in

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2022

3. First National Bank (southwest elevation)

this case Renaissance Revival elements such as the raised parapet, decorative cornice, rounded arched entries, arcaded porch, and stepped parapets along the building's secondary facades. The building architect is unknown. Local lore speculates that the bank’s founders likely hired an architect or bought a bank-building “kit” from a catalog for their signature brick building along Main Street.
According to the Elbert County Tribune, in 1906, the First National Bank of Elizabeth purchased Lot 6 in Block 1 for $300. The building was completed the following year. After absorbing the Farmers State Bank in 1909, The First National Bank of Elizabeth was the only financial institution in the prospering small town. It focused on serving the needs of the growing agricultural community, as well as the burgeoning railroad and lumber milling industry. In its first two decades, The First National Bank of Elizabeth supported a thriving small town. It has been documented by the Elbert County Historical Society that “the (bank) organizers started with a paid-up capital of $25,000 and by July 1908, had the sum of $105,283.77 in deposits.” In addition

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to the sawmills operating in Elizabeth, at least 13 other local businesses have been identified to have been operating in Elizabeth during the bank’s period of significance.

Excerpt:  National Register Jan 31, 2023. Colorado State Register of Historic Properties Site Number 5EL.321. Constructed in 1907 on the site where it remains today. It sits in the mid-block of the main commercial core (Main Street) of Elizabeth, CO. The building is oriented to the West and faces Main Street. The building is a single-story structure, rectangular in plan with a flat roof.