18. First National Bank Building

Next to the Reliable Hardware building is the 1919 First National Bank building, where Kokopelli’s is today.  John Andersen and John Dobson bought the property in 1917 and constructed this building in the Neo-Classical style in 1919.  You can still make out the four pillars built into the front of the structure.  Though they are covered in pink stucco and blend in with the rest of the building today, these were once very ornate marble, reminiscent of the grand structures of the ancient world.  A photograph of the amazing interior of the Bank is on the sixth page of your photo guidebook.  On opening day, February 24, 1920, the Chandler Arizonan dedicated the entire front page to the new bank.  The cost to build was $20,000 and opening capital for the new bank was $50,000 plus a $5,000 surplus.  The Bank’s first directors were Dobson, Andersen, H.C. Gardner, and Alva  Morgareidge.  Floyd Bouton (b. 1896) went to work for First National not long after it opened.  After being discharged from service in World War I, Bouton came to Chandler to join relatives.  He started as a bookkeeper here and later became a teller.  He later noted, “In 1925 there were two banks—the Bank of Chandler and the First National Bank—and they consolidated on December 19, 1925, and the Bank of Chandler took over the First National Bank and moved down there to their quarters on Boston Street.”  Subsequently, the merger operated as the Bank of Chandler.  In 1931, the assets of the Bank were purchased by the Arizona Bank.  In 1936, Valley Bank took over and operated at this location until 1958.