Searsport National Bank

Searsport National Bank

The image shows the Searsport National Bank building on Main Street in Searsport. A white horse stands tethered to a granite hiching post at the left. A telephone pole indicates the photograph was taken sometime soon after 1900, when telephone service came to the center of town. The wagon tracks in the dirt street suggest the picture predates the general use of automobiles. Like many of the Eastern's images, the scene is that of a place on the verge of change. According to the Searsport Historical Society's booklet "Around Our Town," (1967), "The Searsport National Bank was chartered in 1853, and under the existing state banking law...was permittted to issue its own currency, which was accepted in nearby towns but was of doubtful value at any great distance. The bank ceased buisness following repeal of the law authorizing it. ..In 1874 local citizens incorporated the Searsport Savings Bank. This bank also failed to meet the needs of the people and in 1882 a second bank (the Searsport National Bank) was organized. Sometime after 1925 the two banks merged ...[into] the Searsport National Bank. The present bank building was built in 1888." Much later the Merrill Trust Bank Company owned the building. Architecturally, the brick and granite-trimmed facade presents a vernacular version of French Second Empire style for its public face--especially in its mansard roof form and classically capped dormers. This mode was very popular for a brief time during the 1880s in towns on the Maine coast. The tall central tower-like section is an exaggerated application of the form, here designed to give the small bank building an important presence in the town. The paved-stone sidewalk in front of the structure also looks new, probably having been built soon after the building was completed.