The Merchants National Bank Building is a two-story, red brick building in

Lehigh, Oklahoma Lehigh is a city in Coal County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 356 at the 2010 census. History Lehigh began as the first mining camp in what is now Coal County, Oklahoma.Caruthers, Lorene"Lehigh,"''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History ...

, located at the southwest corner of Main Street and Railway Street. It was one of two banks that served Lehigh during the town's mining boom. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

.State Historic Preservation Office: Oklahoma Historical Societ
''Oklahoma's National Register Handbook''
April 1, 2015. Accessed July 2, 2015. It is historically significant because it represents the economic growth and decline of Lehigh and exemplifies Late Victorian Renaissance architecture.

History

During the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Lehigh was a prosperous community due to the high demand for coal from mines in Coal County. The Merchants National Bank was founded in 1906. It was the second bank in Lehigh; the Lehigh National Bank, founded in 1898, was the first. Merchants National Bank operated out of a temporary headquarters for the first several months of its operation. On January 29, 1907, it was announced that the constructing contract for the bank's building had been awarded to Faudree Brothers of Atoka, Oklahoma. The new bank was built on the southwest corner of Katy Avenue and Main Street, and it was, architecturally, one of the most striking buildings in town. At the time it was built, the bank was located in

Atoka County Atoka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,007. Its county seat is Atoka. The county was formed before statehood from Choctaw Lands, and its name honors a Choctaw Chief named ...

, a part of the

Pushmataha District Pushmataha District was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the former Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. Also called the Third District, it encompassed the southwestern one-third of the nation. The Pushmataha District was na ...

of the Choctaw Nation. The coal boom ended in the 1910s, as railroads switched to cheaper fuel oil to power their trains. In the early 1920s, the railroads closed their mines in Lehigh. Declining crop prices and damage to the cotton crop from boll weevils further weakened the economy. The Merchants National Bank closed in 1923. The building subsequently housed a grocery store. Many of the other buildings on main street were abandoned. As part of

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

projects during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, most of the abandoned buildings on Main Street were torn down. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, there was again a demand for coal in the area, and many of the town's buildings were torn down or moved so the ground underneath them could be readily mined. By the 1980s, the grocery store in the Merchants National Bank Building had closed, and the building had deteriorated and been damaged by vandals. In the 1980s, the Lehigh Historical Society completed restoration work on the building.Caruthers, Lorene
"Lehigh,"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Oklahoma Historical Society, Accessed July 4, 2015. They replaced most of the windows and repaired the roof, ceilings, and floors. The building is the only remaining commercial building in what was once downtown Lehigh. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Architecture

The building is two stories high and made of red brick with cream brick highlights. It measured 34 by 70 feet, with the short side facing Main Street and the long side facing Railroad Street. It is in the Late Victorian Renaissance style. At the northwest corner, there is a pyramidal tower with a steeply pitched roof and a short, rounded spire. Along the roof of the building, there is a brick parapet on the north and east sides with a sandstone capstone and eight

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s. The west side of the building has no windows and an unadorned parapet because the west wall was a

party wall A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings that is shared by the occupants of each residence or business. Typically, the builder ...

for the adjacent building. The building has arched windows framed in buff bricks. It has a recessed corner entrance, which is supported by a red granite column on a sandstone pier. The entryway is arch-shaped, and the arch is filled in with decorated wrought iron in a fan-shaped design. The first floor of the building contains the original banking room, which has a pressed tin ceiling, stained oak door and window surrounds, and keystones above the window arches. It has a poured concrete floor, which replaced the original floor, which had been damaged by rot. The plaster walls have been covered by fiberboard.

References

{{NRHP in Coal County, Oklahoma Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Renaissance Revival architecture in Oklahoma Commercial buildings completed in 1907 Coal County, Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Coal County, Oklahoma