![Former Bank Building (and Current Post Office) [Tracy, Iowa]](http://iowabackroads.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/former_bank_building_tracy_iowa.jpg "Former Bank Building (and Current Post Office) [Tracy, Iowa]")
The Iowa State Savings Bank was organized in the unincorporated Marion County town of Tracy in 1903 with a capital of $12,000. The bank originally operated from a former harness shop before a dedicated brick building was constructed in 1912. The bank’s stay in the new building was relatively short-lived, closing its doors in 1927, suffering the fate of thousands of banks across the nation which shuttered during the Great Depression. The century-old building is now home to the Tracy Post Office.
Postal service came to the Jasper County town of Mingo in December 1883. Mail volume in the growing community warranted two deliveries daily to the post office by 1910; that year, revenue from the office exceeded $800. In 2008, the post office moved to the former home of Mingo Trust and Savings Bank. The high rent associated with the upgraded facilities nearly led to an emergency closure of the Mingo Post Office. Town officials averted the closure by purchasing the old bank building and significantly reducing the monthly rent.
The first bank in the Lucas County town of Russell was founded in July 1890 by two residents of nearby Chariton. Operations began in a small wood-frame building before moving to the pictured brick facility in 1896. The building has housed a myriad of bank operations over the past 110 years, including:
Since January 2003, the office has operated as a branch location of Great Western Bank. It’s open three hours a day, five days per week.
In 1900, George W. Blazer moved from the Adams County seat of Corning to the unincorporated community of Brooks and formed the the first local bank, “Bank of Brooks.” The bank was operated within a corner of O.T. Muzzy’s General Store before before a new wood frame building was constructed in 1902. The Brooks location was updated in 1920, with a new cement block exterior and reinforced vault.
Bank robberies were attempted twice in a three year period in the early 1960s, prompting bank owners to relocate to Corning, which offered better police protection. The current facility was purchased in 1966 and opened as the new home for the Bank of Brooks on February 4, 1963. The bank was one of the last three private banks in the state to be operated as a Banking Partnership. Following the collapse of the Exchange Bank in Bloomfield in September 1983, the bank applied for F.D.I.C. Insurance and a State Bank Charter. It was renamed the State Bank of Brooks on June 22, 1984.
In 1898, Farmers Savings Bank was organized with a capital of $10,000 in the Humboldt County community of Ottosen. After starting in a small brick building, the bank moved to an adjacent two-story building in 1901 and relocated again in 1914. During its second relocation, a secure vault was constructed featuring 12-inch concrete walls. The bank closed its doors October 1, 1926; all that remains today is the pictured vault.