The Former ‘Turtle Earth’ Building
This building was originally built in October of 1884, as the Bank of Steelville. It has also seen many more businesses since that time, such as a jewelry store, an insurance company, Locklear & Associates, and most recently, Turtle Earth. It is the currently believed to be oldest building standing on Main Street, in Steelville, right now. It was 24 by 36 feet and cost, approximately $1,900 to build. It was made of brick.
The president of the bank of Steelville was G. W. Matlock, the vice president was J. T. Coffee and the cashier was Thomas R. Gibson. It held $10,000 in original capital stock with 12 stockholders.
In 1925 it was almost robbed when a few people attempted it. In the end, one robber was dead, two were wounded, one was taken prisoner, and a fifth escaped. He was never caught or identified. The sheriff at the time was Mr. Enke. Four were identified as, Albert Walters, Dave McClellan, Leslie Reiter, Basil Doman.
Later, the building was used as the Crawford County Farmers Bank, which was liquidated in 1935. The building still has the original vault in it from the bank.
Ad claims it was the oldest bank in Crawford County
Mr. Baloun, in front of his jewelry store.
