Crowell Bank

Baxter Springs' first bank, the Bank of Baxter, also called the Crowell Bank, was established in 1870 and operated in this building. Its founder, H. R. Crowell, was Baxter Springs' second mayor. In May 1876, Jesse James and an accomplice who may have been Cole Younger held up the bank cashier and escaped with $2900. The bandits headed south for Indian Territory, taunting locals to pursue them, and a posse followed them to a point seven miles south of town, where they waylaid the posse and disarmed their pursuers. The Crowell Bank collapsed in 1887 because of poor management and hard times. In this century, the building has housed a grocery store and several restaurants, and although its facade was rebuilt in 1926, the rest of the building is original.

Baxter Springs, Kansas · United States