County of building: Morgan County
Location of building: 300 W. State St. & N. Sandy St., Jacksonville
"On Jan. 2, 1913, customers and visitors got their first look at the interior of the new eight-story Ayers National Bank building [now known as The Farmers State Bank & Trust Co. building].
"Jacksonville citizens probably were as impressed by the finished product as one of the Jacksonville Daily Journal reporters, who went through the building just a few days before it opened.
“It’s a great building, equaled by few in all Illinois, and it is a credit to the enterprise and sagacity of the men behind it, a credit to all Jacksonville as well,” the reporter wrote.
"The Journal writer had good reason to praise it. The 110-foot-tall building was the first steel-frame and reinforced concrete structure in Jacksonville and one of the first of its type built in downstate Illinois.
"The building, which costs $250,000, was constructed between August 1911 and December 1912 as the headquarters of Ayers National Bank, which, at the time, was one of the state’s leading financial institutions outside of Chicago.
"The bank’s officers, primarily Millard Fillmore Dunlap and Andrew Russel, wanted the most modern and impressive building they could buy, and they contracted with noted Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt to provide it.
"Hunt was in the prime of a far-reaching and lucrative career when he planned the Ayers bank building. His office was in Chicago, but he practiced his art from coast to coast.
"Hunt designed numerous types of buildings, including railroad stations in Kansas City, Dallas and Oakland, a museum in Newark, New Jersey, and banks in Chicago. He also planned the construction of the Dunlap Hotel in Jacksonville, which was completed in 1925.
"In addition to being the first steel-frame and reinforced concrete building in Morgan County, the Ayers bank building is also believed to have been the first bank in the county to have a separate teller just for women and the first to use an electrical rotary fan system to provide ventilation for every room in the building.
"The building was built as a symbol of Ayers bank’s success and stability. The bank, founded by the Ayers family in 1852, was one of downstate Illinois’ largest in 1913, and it continued to grow until, in 1930, it had resources of almost $9 million.
"However, Ayers bank ultimately was at the center of one of the greatest scandals in Jacksonville banking history. Although the bank managed to withstand the early years of the Great Depression, unsound and illegal banking practices by Dunlap and Russel forced the federal government to close the bank in November 1932.
"Eventually, depositors received only 33 cents on the dollar, Dunlap and Russel went to prison, and the region suffered a blow from which it took years to recover.
"Ayers bank went into receivership, and The Farmers State Bank & Trust Co. bought the building for $53,000 at a 1939 foreclosure sale. After some remodeling, Farmers moved its operations into the building in 1941.
"From 1913 until 1984, the building housed the offices of dentists, physicians and other professionals on its upper floors. In 1985, Farmers renovated the entire building for its exclusive use. And in 1996, Farmers built an addition to the north side of the building, a wing which stylistically resembles the first floor of the original bank building.
"The building was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986" ~ By Greg Olson, Jacksonville Journal Courier