GERMAN AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK

The right side of this building was the original home of the German American Savings Bank.

GERMAN AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK. Nicholas J. SCHRUP, Sr. and members of the board founded the bank as a branch of the GERMAN SAVINGS BANK at 18th and Couler (Central) Avenue. Based upon its success, German American Savings bank was chartered by the State of Iowa on January 1, 1905. (1) The directors, shareholders, and articles of incorporation of the two banks were generally the same.

The bank was originally called the "Eighteenth Street German Savings Bank." Perhaps to differentiate it from its predecessor, the new bank was moved several store fronts to the north into a building clearly marked "Bank" near its roof.

The German American Savings Bank opened for business in January 1912. Its board of directors included Schrup; Charles CHRISTMAN, a retired merchant; W. S. DENNIS, a flour manufacturer; M. J. McCullough, a real estate and insurance broker; Henry Michel, an attorney; Charles SASS, a banker; and Charles Joseph SPAHN, Sr., a lumberman.

Anti-German feeling in the nation following the United States' entry into WORLD WAR I led the bank to change its name. On August 1, 1918, the German American Savings Bank was issued a new charter under the name of the AMERICAN TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK. (2) It opened for business in a new building located at 1842 Central--on the same side of the street and in the same block as the original home of the bank.

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SOURCE:

1. U. S. Bank Profiles. Online: http://www.bankencyclopedia.com/American-Trust-Savings-Bank-13150-Dubuque-Iowa.html#ovHistory

2. American Trust and Savings Bank History, Online: http://atbancorp.com/history-american-trust.html

Butchers, Bankers, and Cabinet Makers," Booklet accompanying the Robert Reding exhibit at the OLD JAIL from 2007-2010.

"Our History...the Beginning," an American Trust Publication, compiled by Jerry ENZLER, Winter 2011