The following information about the Micanopy Banking Company building is from the Micanopy Historical Trail website:
This bank located here was founded in 1906 by John Jacob Barr when Micanopy was a very prosperous town. The red brick building remains, with the marble and iron grills of the tellers' cages and large vault. For a time, the post office was located in this building. Later, it became an antique store with apartments to the rear and upstairs. This building has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Additional information about the Micanopy Banking Company is from the Alachua County Historic Preservation website:
Organization of the Micanopy Banking Company by John Jacob Barr in 1906 reflected prosperous times. In contrast to older buildings on the Square, the style of the bank building is classical; with a prominent denticulated cornice, and thresholds, window sills and keystones made of marble.
The following information about the Micanopy Historic District is available on the Florida Division of Historical Resources website:
MICANOPY HISTORIC DISTRICT. 1776-1930. 16 blocks. Predominant styles: Frame Vernacular, Classical, Victorian, and Bungalow. The site of the town contains evidence of aboriginal occupation. The town has been continuously settled since 1821. It was once a thriving market town, but by the late 19th century it began to decline as it fell under the social, political, and economic shadow of Gainesville. N.R. 1983.
From Wikipedia:
The Micanopy Historic District is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on January 28, 1983) located in Micanopy, Florida. It encompasses approximately 470 acres (1.9 km2), bounded by roughly Cholokka Boulevard from US 441 to Ocala Street then Smith Street West to Okehumkee Street. It contains 35 historic buildings.
The Micanopy Area Chamber of Commerce provides the following history of the town:
The land first belonged to the indigenous people. Some of the Potanos, who numbered in the thousands, could have seen Hernando de Soto as he and his 1539 expeditionary force of men and horses trekked through Florida's hinterland. Subsequent warfare with the Spaniards and epidemic diseases contributed to the decline of the Potano population to a few hundred in the 1600s. English raiders in the early 1700s destroyed the Spanish missions in northern Florida and carried away most of the Potanos and other Timucuan tribesman to slavery in South Carolina.
By the mid 1700s, Creek Indians from Georgia, who were later called Seminoles, occupied the former Timucuan territory. In 1774, William Bartram visited the Seminole village Cuscowilla which was located near present day Micanopy. The town of Micanopy was founded in 1821. An early settler, Edward Wanton, with the help of his slaves and freed slaves, built a Trading Post. Wanton, working together with Moses Levy, established a viable town. The town of Micanopy has two items of note: it is the first inland town, i.e. not on a river, and it is the first United States town in Florida. As occasional skirmishes broke out between settlers and the Seminole Indians, Fort Defiance was built in Micanopy in the 1830s. It was evacuated and burned in 1836. Fort Micanopy was established in 1837, closed in 1843 and reopened off and on until 1856.
The town of Micanopy was incorporated in 1889. In 1881, Micanopy was described as a settlement of 600 people, with schools, churches, hotels, stores, a grist mill and a cotton mill.
Today, Micanopy's Historic District encompasses 38 buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Indian Mound is on the local Historic District and the State Master Site File. Any tour of the town's shops and historical sites begins at the Museum, housed in the Thrasher Warehouse on Cholokka Blvd.