Old State Bank Building
Frank M. Hohenberger photos courtesy The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
except me, I opened it myself. I’ve owned the building almost 29 years, but I’ve never known the history. The time capsule has all this information,” she said. Returning the building back to its original condition is taking longer than expected, made more difficult by the ongoing COVID pandemic. By August, Hoff had located a specialty firm called Precast Solutions, of Whitestown, Indiana, to make new concrete blocks to look like the original ones. The company used blocks from the old building to make forms to cast new, identical blocks. According to the 1995 Brown County Interim Report, the building was made of “rusticated beveled edge concrete blocks with a rock-face treatment” and has “a high, stepped parapet façade” with “State Bank” carved on a tablet above the entrance. Although the report refers to it as “Farmer’s Trust Bank,” information recovered from the time capsule referred to it as “Nashville State Bank.” When they were tearing down the wall blockby-block, they found a second time capsule. It was packed with letters and other items from 1905, the year of construction. Continued on 44
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he former State Bank building on East Main Street, just east of the courthouse, is one of those iconic Nashville profiles that have been with us for more than a century. Last April, when a car crashed into the historic facade, destroying the door and damaging the front walls, local history buffs and longtime residents worried that the unique look of the building would disappear from Nashville’s horizon. For the building’s owner, Linda Hoff, it was an emotional blow and the beginning of a year-long journey of discovery. She would rebuild—better than it was before —and in the process, discover some answers to questions. A time capsule was found in a corner of the building. “It was a Mason jar. No one has seen it
42 Our Brown County March/April 2021
~by Jeff Tryon
courtesy photo
