Old news 2

Below is an ad from a January 1915 issue of the Jasper County Democrat. Santa is riding the latest in flying technology.

First National Bank opened a new office in 1917. The building now hosts Consolidated Insurance, which a few years ago restored the building to its original appearance.

Did you know that Mt Ayr once had a bank? It was quite successful in its day, despite being robbed in November of 1919. This article was from the Evening Republican.

Jasper County has interesting banking history. Quite a number of banks have come and gone. In 1904 one of the banks went out of business because of embezzlement by the bank president, Thomas McCoy (who was also the first Mayor of Rensselaer, elected in 1896). He spent a few years in jail but came back to visit friends in 1912.

Some people at the time of the collapse of the bank were so upset that one dynamited the McCoy house on Milroy Avenue.

In 2017 we have watched the death of Saint Joseph's College. A century earlier it was still young and growing. The article below is from the Jasper County Democrat, Saturday, Dec 1, 1917.