A Look Inside Old Michigan Banks: 1900-1920s

The Library of Congress says "The Oldest Bank in Michigan" is the former Detroit Savings Bank, located at 7968 Kercheval Avenue in Detroit (photos in the gallery below). Bank operation shut down a long time ago and since then the building has been a pizza place, body garage, and currently is an establishment called “Barkside”, a bar and outside play area for dogs and their masters.

But that is not the purpose of this article.

The main reason is to show what the interiors of many of Michigan's banks looked like from 1900-1920s. The décor and atmospheres that widely vary from city to city, small town to village.

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As you think about what the inside of your current bank or credit union looks like, your mind's eye may see a couch and a couple of chairs in the lobby and a line that is cordoned to look like a mini-mouse maze that leads up to the “next in line” area.

As for the tellers, are you still able to stand there face-to-face with them? Are you now required to digitally 'sign-in', sit down, and wait until your name is called – then proceed to their cubicle, sit down again, and do your business? Banking has changed for the most part and so have their lobbies.

Gone are the ornate architecture and expensive furnishings.
Whatever happened to the steel bars that used to be in the tellers' windows?
Need cash? Many places will give you some...digitally transferred to your account.

All that aside, banking has been made easier in some ways, and in others, more hoops to jump through – mostly for security reasons.

The gallery below shows the interiors of many old Michigan banks, from 1900 to the 1920s. They range from simple to ornate to garish...all to give you a backward glimpse of how the insides of our banking establishments appeared back in the days of our great-great (and even extra-great) grandparents...