On January 2, 1903, Ridgeway became the first city in Harrison County to have a national bank. The First National Bank of Ridgeway evolved from the Ridgeway Exchange Bank, started in 1885 by local businessmen and located in a small shack on the Miner & Frees Lumber yard. It had an initial capital amount of $25,000 which was approximately equal to $872,000 in 2022.
The bank purchased Lot 11, Block 15 from J. Y. Spragg and her husband for $800 in May 1903 and construction began on a handsome brick building on the northwest corner of Vine and Main Streets. They had hoped to be done by the first part of 1904, but the bank was not able to move into its shiny new building until July 1904.
First National Bank became a vital part of the community until December 1930 when customers found a notice posted to the door that the bank was closed permanently. After the stock market crash of 1929, the bank had been experiencing some losses due to devaluing of assets. During the fall of 1930, they had had a number of people coming into making withdrawals and closing accounts, adding to the bank’s problems. “Persons familiar with banking conditions at Ridgeway say that prolonged gossip to the effect that the bank would fail, sooner or later, probably was more responsible for the failure than anything else”, adding the bank would probably have survived the hard times if people had kept their faith and their money in the bank. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Dec 10, 1930). The old bank building still stands and has been home to many businesses since First National closed, most recently home to the First Missouri Bank (now Verimore Bank) which sadly moved out during the pandemic.
