Burr Oak Savings Bank

Burr Oak Savings Bank
Location3608 236th Avenue
Burr Oak, Iowa
Coordinates43°27′29″N 91°51′55″W / 43.45806°N 91.86528°W / 43.45806; -91.86528
Built1910
Built byMcGee & Riceland
Architectural styleItalianate
NRHP reference No.01000857[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 8, 2001

Burr Oak Savings Bank – also known as the Burr Oak Post Office – is an historic building located in Burr Oak, Iowa, United States. The free-standing, single-story, brick structure was built in 1910 in the Italianate style.[2] Its primary decorative feature is a panel with corbeled brickwork in a dentil-like pattern, and the bracketed tin cornice above it.[3] In 1931 it suffered a robbery, being the first robbery in Winneshiek County.[4] That same year – as well as in 1941, 1955 and 1967 – the building underwent expansions. [5] After the bank closed, the building was used as a barber shop[6] and the post office, which closed in 1981. In 2014 it became the Visitors Center for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and Park.[7] It is the only building that remains on Burr Oak's main street from a period of economic expansion in early 20th-century Iowa, based on agricultural production and land values.[8] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "Burr Oak Savings Bank – Burr Oak, IA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). www.winneshiekcounty.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2020.
  4. ^ "First bank robbery in county history in Burr Oak". decorahnewspapers.com. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  5. ^ "Buffalo Savings Bank". buffaloah.com. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  6. ^ Jack, Zachary Michael (December 28, 2016). Wish You Were Here: Love & Longing in an American Heartland. Truman State University Press. ISBN 978-1-61248-171-5.
  7. ^ Hotel, The Masters. "Welcome to The Masters Hotel Home of the ingalls family 1876-1877". The Masters Hotel. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  8. ^ Marlys A. Svendsen. "Burr Oak Savings Bank". National Park Service. Retrieved July 9, 2016. with photos