Farmers & Merchants Bank / Masonic Lodge - Downtown Troy Historic District - Troy, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 58.778 W 090° 58.873
15S E 674867 N 4316454
In 1905, Troy was once again plagued by fire when two commercial buildings at the intersection of Main and E. Cherry Streets burned – including Troy’s post office. This building was one of the reconstructed replacements in 1906.
Waymark Code: WMR5X6
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 05/14/2016
Views: 1
County of building: Lincoln County
Location of building: Main St. & Cherry St., Troy
City lot # 134
Date built: 1906
Historic Name: Farmers & Merchants Bank / Masonic Lodge
Current Owner: Vacant in 2016
"398 Main Street (Contributing)
The building at 398 Main Street was constructed in 1906 as the Farmers & Merchants Bank.
The upper floor was originally used as a Masonic Lodge. The two-story buff brick commercial
building has a flat roof and a concrete foundation. The primary and side (south) elevations have
been altered with exterior (c. 1970) stone veneer (lower level storefront). The building has an offcenter
recessed entry with paired single-light replacement doors. There is a replacement transom
light above the doors. Offsetting the entry on the main elevation is a c. 1970 commercial style
window bay with paired fixed glass and aluminum lights. The side (south) elevation has a similar
commercial style window (east end) and a single door entry (west end). Two openings in the mid
elevation (lower level) have been enclosed. A canvas awning extends above the entrance and
commercial style windows on the primary (east) and south elevations. Upper story windows are
partially filled with synthetic siding and hold replacement one-over-one windows. The window
openings retain original limestone sills and decorative fan jack arches. A course of pink granite
extends horizontally along all elevations at the second-story windowsill level. The building retains original pink granite quoins. A pink granite date stone that bears the name of the lodge,
Masonic symbol, and date of establishment is centered at the upper façade between the
elevation’s two windows. The building retains an original heavy terra cotta cornice along the
roofline decorated with dentils and scalloped shells." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"On the
darker side of Troy’s struggles during the Depression, both downtown banks were closed in 1930
(People’s Bank) and 1931 (Farmers and Merchants Bank)." ~ Timothy W. Hubbard and Lewis E. Davids, Banking in Mid-America: A History of Missouri’s Banks
(Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1969), 164.