Stevensville Bank - Stevensville, MD
Posted by: Mother Wolf
N 38° 58.884 W 076° 18.880
18S E 386128 N 4315534
This was the first banking enterprise on Kent Island, constructed c. 1903.
Waymark Code: WM50P0
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 10/22/2008
Views: 14
Stevensville is a charming historic town that developed after the 1850 sale of two farms owned by James and Charles Stevens.
It prospered due to its prime location at the center of the steamboat trade system that served both sides of the Chesapeake Bay in the mid-19th century. The railroad came to Stevensville in 1902, and by 1909 the town had two schools, four doctors, a blacksmith a sawmill & a bank.
Today, Stevensville, which is located on Kent Island, the 3rd oldest English settlement in the country, is a well-preserved community that retains its 1920s appearance with many, over 100, of the historic structures intact.
The first banking enterprise on the island came in 1903. The bank building was constructed sometime between 1903 and 1907. It is the oldest bank building on Kent Island and one of the earliest surviving in the county.
The front is carefully ordered and is decorated with an interesting and eclectic collection of architectural details. The street facade is divided into three bays by four pilasters. In the center bay to either side of the door are single 1/1 windows with molded surrounds and pedimented hoods supported by scrolled brackets. A second story is suggested by a large triple window above the door and smaller four-light windows with crossetted surrounds in the flanking bays. The cornice consists of a broad band of stucco serving as a fascia, with a modest molding below, and an ornate architrave above. The interior is divided into a public banking room in the front and an office in the rear. The vault is located in the center at the rear of the front room, and is surrounded by a U-shaped counter with tellers' windows. The walls of this room are decorated with narrow headed wainscot paneling below a plain chair rail.
The classical architectural details on the facade of this restored stucco building, combined with its pressed tin ceiling and intact furnishings and vault, helped place it on the National Register of Historic Places, January 3, 1985.