Bank of Mound Bayou

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Mound Bayou Bank
Mississippi Landmark  No. V. M212 [1]
Bank of Mound Bayou.png
c. 1907
USA Mississippi location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationW. Main Street,
Mound Bayou, Mississippi, U.S.
Coordinates 33°52′32″N90°43′43″W / 33.87556°N 90.72861°W / 33.87556; -90.72861 (Mound Bayou Bank)
Arealess than one acre
Built1904 (1904)
NRHP reference No. 96000187 [2]
USMS No.V. M212 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 1, 1996
Designated USMSNovember 1, 1995

Bank of Mound Bayou, also known as Mound Bayou Bank, was a financial institution and is a historic building in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. [3] It was founded in 1904 by African American businessmen Charles Banks and Eugene Parker Booze, and was one of the first Black-owned banks in the state. [4] [5] It remained active until 1914.

Contents

The former building is a contributing property of the Mound Bayou Historic District since September 11, 2013, [6] is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since March 1, 1996, under the name "Mound Bayou Bank"; [3] and is listed as a Mississippi Landmark since November 1, 1995. [1]

History

Former Bank of Mound Bayou building, 2014 Mound Bayou Bank, Mound Bayou, Mississippi.jpg
Former Bank of Mound Bayou building, 2014

The town of Mound Bayou was founded on the Delta of Mississippi as an independent all-Black community in 1887, led by Isaiah T. Montgomery. [7] [8] Many of the early residents had been enslaved prior to the end of the American Civil War in 1865.

Banks had attended the 1901 first meeting of the National Negro Business League in Boston, where he met Isaiah T. Montgomery; and Eugene P. Booze had recently married to one of Montgomery's daughters. [9] Around 1903, businessmen Charles Banks and Eugene Parker Booze decided to move from Clarksdale, Mississippi to Mound Bayou. [9]

Booze and Banks founded the Bank of Mound Bayou in 1904. [9] [4] Banks held roughly two-thirds the stock, and served as the cashier and head of operations of the bank. [9] Booker T. Washington wrote an article in 1907 in The World’s Work magazine, where he praised the Bank of Mound Bayou. [10]

The bank closed due to a recession and after a decline in cotton prices in 1914. [9] [5] In June 1915, they reorganized and opened a new bank called the Mound Bayou State Bank, [11] which remained open for about a decade. [12]

Over the years, the facade of the building has changes, but the layout has remained the same. [5] The Mound Bayou Bank building is the only commercial building remaining in the town which links to the prosperity the thriving community experienced in the early years of the 20th century. [5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Property: Mound Bayou Bank". Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). Retrieved September 30, 2025.
  2. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Mound Bayou Bank". NPGallery, Digital Asset Management System.
  4. 1 2 Brown, Angela (April 23, 2022). "Remembering Mound Bayou: Mississippi's Black Wall Street". Our Mississippi Magazine. Archived from the original on June 22, 2025. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Mound Bayou Bank". National Park Service. 1996. Retrieved September 30, 2025. With accompanying pictures
  6. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Mound Bayou Historic District". National Park Service. 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2025. With accompanying pictures
  7. ↑ Wormser, Richard (October 18, 2002). "Isiah Washington". Jim Crow Stories: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Educational Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on October 18, 2002.
  8. ↑ Educational Broadcasting Corporation (December 28, 2002). "Williams v. Mississippi (1898)". Jim Crow Stories: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Public Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on December 28, 2002.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Jackson Jr., David H. (July 10, 2017). "Banks, Charles". Mississippi Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  10. ↑ Ingham, John N. (February 2000). Banks, Charles (25 March 1873–1923), banker and businessman . American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1001931.
  11. ↑ McMillen, Neil R. (1990). Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow. University of Illinois Press. pp. 188–189. ISBN   978-0-252-06156-1.
  12. ↑ Harlan, Louis R. (December 4, 1986). Booker T. Washington. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-028138-0.
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