The California Bank
The building site of their bank was just one block from Spring
Street and on the cable car line H.C. Witmer and associates had
inaugurated in 1885, just two years before the bank building was
completed. The California Bank opened for business in 1887 and
continued successfully until 1903. At that time it was converted
into the American National Bank with Clayton Witmer as Vice President.
In July of the following year Clayton resigned, but maintained
his banking interests as a Director of the First National Bank
and the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company.
Shown in the final construction phase
in 1886, this four-story, brick exterior Gothic Revival Victorian
command the corner of Second and Fort Street (now Broadway).
On a sunny December day in 1887, Shaffner's
California Views took this photo of the completed California Bank,
just months after the bank's incorporation in August. Tenants
in the turreted building included dentists, whose offices had
a view of the Presbyterian church, built in 1883 at a cost of
$20,000 (including the lot) on the southeast corner.
Spittoons and brass foot rails do not
belie the elegant interior of the California Bank. The clock indicates
3:20
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