The State Bank of Leon. The writer had been extolling the virtues of business establishments in thirty states but he had never yet run across just such an institution as the State Bank of Leon in any town within five or six times the size of this city. This bank occupies a three floor pressed brick and stone trimmed structure 50 by 122 feet in size and made absolutely fireproof with steel and reinforced concrete.
The above bank had an unusual personnel. The officers are M. W. Marshall. president; J. A. Marshall, vice president, and W. S. Marshall, cashier. These gentlemen are brothers, are all numbered among the leading and forceful business men of Southwest Kansas and all are actively engaged in business in Leon. Their father, the late Henry H. Marshall, was one of the five old pioneer business men whose clear vision foretold the splendid development that had followed in the community since the elder Marshall settled here in 1871. The splendid legacy of personal integrity, depth of character and fine business ability which he left is fully and strongly manifested in the three sons who rank with the ablest men of their field.
- Read about the Marshall family and their Walnut Springs Camp
The capital stock of the State Bank of Leon is $10,000.00; surplus $12,000.00; deposits $250,000.00 and total resources $275,000.00. The big banking room is fitted with mahogany, brass and dull marble fixtures, tiled floor, fireproof vault, safe deposit boxes for patrons, Mosler screw door safethe kind that had never been burglarizedand all other accessories for the safeguarding of customers’ interests.
Always liberal with friends and patrons, this bank had at the same time stayed safely within the limits prescribed by the best ethics of sound banking. The management stands singularly close to the needs and interests of its friends.
Above the bank in the big fireproof building are offices arranged in suites and a convention room on the third floor. And the entire second floor back of the office suites is a big modern opera house, also fireproof from top to bottom, with a big stage, including concrete floor and boxes. Across this auditorium are the longest steel span girders in the state50 feet by 14 by 36 inches. These huge girders rest on great steel pillars, the weight on the walls thus being reduced to a minimum. The entire building is roofed with solid concrete.
The Marshall brothers own upwards of 1,800 acres of the finest farming land in the state near Leon. All men who would command recognition in the largest conters, they have chosen to stay in Leon and make big investments here because they like their old home locality better than any other spot on earth. Social democratie in their tastes and loyal to their community, these gentlemen have made broad individual successes, conspicuous among which is the splendid bank that had long stood as so vital a factor in the business life of the community.