The Marion Building and Loan Association was organized in 1887 and was an active factor in the development of Marion. Leroy Goddard and J.B. Bainbridge were involved in its formation with Leroy Goddard serving as its first President up to about 1889 and Bainbridge serving for 15 years or more after him.
When the coal industry became active in Williamson County in the 1870’s and began to boom at the turn of the century, housing for miners was required.
The Loan Association was formed in order to finance building operations and promote home ownership. A large percentage of turn of the century home ownership came through the Loan Association.
It was limited by its charter to Williamson County and its organization was managed by the most reliable business men of the community and sustained no material losses though loaning liberally to homebuilders. At least, that’s the way it was until the stock market crash of late 1929.
In the early 1930’s when the Depression was at its height there were over one thousand empty dwelling houses in Marion, Illinois. The city’s two financial institutions, the First National Bank and the Marion State and Savings Bank joined with the three building and loan associations, the Marion Building and Loan, Williamson County Building and Loan and the Coal Belt Building and Loan, in pooling their repossessed residential properties.
They formed a rental agency, and named a group of men to pick out the least desirable houses to remove. Over 400 of these houses were actually torn down. Many were removed by sectionalizing them and transporting them to other towns. For further information on this event, see 1930’s Depression causes demolition of over 400 Marion homes.
By the end of the 1930’s, the loan association was no longer listed in directories.
A piece of information currently available to me comes from a 1919 advertisement printed in the booklet “Marion, Illinois, the Opportunity City”. The Officers and Directors listed were then as follows:
J.H. Burnett, President; H. Spieldoch, Vice President; R.R. Fowler, Treasurer; W.H. Warder, Attorney; J.C.B. Smith, Secretary; Directors: H. Spieldoch, George C. Campbell, W.H. Warder, John M. Dodd, W.G. Cochran, J.M. Aikman, B.D. Bracy, A.J. Binkley, and J.H. Burnett.
Gleaning the 1905 Souvenir History revealed that George C. Campbell was a director as early as 1904 and that DeWitt Clinton Smith, brother of J.C.B. Smith, served as Assistant Secretary from 1899 to at least 1904.
The Goodspeed History noted that Leroy Goddard was an incorporator and first president and that Edward E. Mitchell was Secretary in 1894.
I ran across one note indicating that prior to construction of the Marion State and Savings Bank building ,now the Hotel State, in 1914 the Loan Association was located in the 200 block of the square. When the Marion State and Savings Bank was completed, the Loan Association located there until its demise.
(Data from Goodspeed’s History of Williamson County; 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; Williamson County in the World War, 1919; Marion City Directories; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 08/07/2013)