{"nrhp_refnum":"83001946","name":"Farmers Branch, State Bank of Ohio","other_names":["Old Bank Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"14 Front St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ripley","county":"Brown County","state":"OH","lat":38.74569717600008,"lon":-83.84663029299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story sandstone and brick commercial building at 14 Front Street in Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, built in 1860 as the Farmers Branch of the State Bank of Ohio. It sits on the Ohio River side of Front Street.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant as Ripley's first banking concern and as the town's finest example of 19th century commercial architecture, shown in its Neo-classical sandstone facade. It is also the only surviving 19th century commercial building facing the Ohio River on Front Street, Ripley's first commercial area, and it is tied to the town's peak period of commercial growth.","narrative":"Built in 1860 at 14 Front Street in Ripley, Ohio, this two-story building housed the Farmers Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, the town's first banking concern. Its main facade, facing southwest, is entirely sandstone in a Neoclassical design, with a central bay under a segmental pediment, corbelled posts, and three second-story \"kneeling windows\" borrowed from Italian Renaissance architecture. A heavy cornice reworks a Doric frieze with metopes and triglyphs. The north side is brick with a blind arcade of four arches and sandstone impost blocks. The rear wall was destroyed in the 1934 Ohio River flood, rebuilt in concrete block around 1940, and veneered with period brick in 1981. Ripley was a busy river port until railroads and canals favored larger towns, and this bank reflects the town's most dramatic period of commercial growth. It is the only remaining 19th century commercial building facing the river on Front Street, Ripley's first commercial area. The bank later became the Farmers National Bank and then the Citizens National Bank, and the building later served as a railroad office.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Neoclassic (Neo-classical ornamentation, with Italian Renaissance \"kneeling window\" details)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, unaltered and on its original site, with work in progress noted. The rear wall was rebuilt with concrete block after the 1934 flood and veneered with period brick in 1981.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.511216-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/83001946.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001946/574b6f3189-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001946/574b6f3189-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farmers_Branch,_State_Bank_of_Ohio.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farmers_Branch,_State_Bank_of_Ohio.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85000552","name":"Ripley Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/ripley-historic-district-85000552/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986859","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137605158"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/brown-county/farmers-branch-state-bank-of-ohio-83001946/"}