4257 McDougall Street
First State Bank of Detroit
Unfortunately, I couldn’t dig up much information on this structure. However, while photographing it, I ran into a man named Bobby, who told me a lot about growing up on the east side. More about that later, though.
This structure was built in 1924 as a First State Bank of Detroit Branch. Initially called the German-American Bank, the immigrant-owned operation changed its name to the First State Bank of Detroit in 1917 to try and grow outside of the German community in Detroit. It was founded in 1853 and was quickly used by many groups other than Germans. At the time, the president was George H. Kirchner.
In 1927, three years after the building pictured here was completed, the First State Bank consolidated with the Griswold National Bank to form the Griswold-First State Bank. First State Bank was 74 years old, and the Griswold National Bank was less than five years old.
By 1929, the Griswold-First State Bank would be no longer. I’m not certain what happened, but it was eventually absorbed into the Union Commerce Group, which operated the National Bank of Commerce of Detroit. Two men, Ira F. Acheson, and Calvin H. Newman, were on the run after misappropriating $200,000 of bank funds. Acheson was arrested in New York, and Newman had left for Europe.
Like most of the country, Detroit’s banking institutions were rocked by the Great Depression. Many banks closed their doors for good, and structures sat empty. When the war started, numerous vacant bank buildings were used as machine and tool shops. I’m not sure what happened to this one, but it isn’t impossible that it was utilized for the war effort.
Apart from being used as a bank, I haven’t found any other information online about this structure. At some point, it may have been a corner store.
While photographing it, a man rode up to me on his bicycle. He was riding a blue-teal Mongoose, had a fez-like hat clad with beads, wore numerous rings and necklaces, and had a two-liter of Town Club Cola in his hand.
Bobby and I got to talking and went back and forth about religion, the definition of the word ‘future,’ and the past, present, and future of Poletown East. I could tell Bobby loved to chat with anyone that would listen, and I admired that about him. His hat was homemade, and he prayed for me as I shot his portrait.
Eventually, I had to go to work and leave Bobby to ride his bike around the neighborhood. I hope to see him and chat about life again in the future.
The former bank branch building has been stabilized in the past year. Prior to being cleaned up, the windows were falling apart, and there was graffiti all over the McDougall and Canfield sides of the structure. Hopefully, we’ll see more activity here soon.
