201-203 E. Main - New Cordell Courthouse Square Historic District - Cordell, OK - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

This building is a two-story brick building with a flat roof, constructed in 1903. The first floor today is occupied by the Edward Jones financial office, and the second floor is a residential area called Bank Lofts.

The first floor has a canted entrance above which is shown "1903 / Bank". The large arched windows were filled with glass blocks and a fixed pane during a remodel in the 1950's. Three green cloth awnings cover the entrance and windows flanking the entrance. The second floor windows are double hung. During the complete remodel, in and out, in the 1950's, the exterior brick was covered with stucco and the elaborate parapet was shaved. This bank building is directly east of the Washita County Courthouse.

On the south side of the building is a bronze plaque describing the vast history of this building. It reads:

Cordell National Bank Building In 1903 this seventy-five foot corner building was built as the City National Bank of New Cordell. It was one of the first brick buildings erected in the National Register District and is now the oldest structure in the District. The Main and Market Street entrance to the building had a unique steeple-like parapet wall which was removed in the mid 1950's soon after the original brick was plastered. The lower floor served as the Cordell National Bank until 1965 when the bank moved their location to 116 N. College. The Cordell National Bank became one of the largest and busiest banks in Western Oklahoma with deposits of over $80 million by 1985. For over eighty years, Cordell National Bank was one of three community owned national banks serving the trade area from the downtown square. None of the three prominent local banks survived the dual agricultural and energy crisis of the mid 1980's when Oklahoma lost over 150 community owned banks. The Armfield and Kiewer families owned and managed the bank for four generations, and the founder's great grandson re-purchased the building in 1992. The upper story served many uses from 1903 until the 1960's. The west end originally was The Pioneer Telephone Exchange, Cordell's first phone company. The upstairs space here served the community as legal offices with such early day counsselors as Ash, Bailey, Bales, Billups, Knott, Massingale, Plumlee, Towner, and Wood occupying many of the six original offices. The upper story was re-introduced on August 26, 2003, to dedicate the building for its Centennial (1903-2003) through an adaptive residential use of the second floor. The Bank Lofts, studio apartments, are the first commercial enterprise upstairs since the late 1950's. Apartment and mixed use space on the second floor was prevalent in the economically robust downtown square before 1965. In the 1990's and early 2000's several Cordell buildings, including this one, have funded rehabilitation work with the Federal Investment Tax Credit used as a supplement that finances historic preservation projects. Dedicated August, 2003

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): New Cordell Courthouse Square Historic District Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link] Address: 2021 E. Main Street Cordell, OK 73632 How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]

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