A New Bank Opens on East Main
Local business leader J.L. Elam expands his empire with a new private banking institution.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A private banking institution with J.L. Elam as president and owner is announced for Walla Walla. The new bank, which will be run in connection with Mr. Elam's implement business in the Die Brucke building on East Main street, will be opened for business tomorrow morning with E.J. Davis as cashier and H.H. Marshall as bookkeeper. Mr. Elam's success in the business world, starting 15 years ago, has been little short of phenomenal. Fifteen years ago, with a capital of only a few hundred dollars, Mr. Elam launched into the hardware business in Milton. Today he is the head of the Milton Hardware company, chief stockholder and manager of the Peacock Flouring Mills company of Milton, and owner of the Elam Implement company of Walla Walla, which occupies commodious quarters in the Die Brucke. In addition to these, Mr. Elam is largely interested in farming lands and in other companies in the Inland Empire.
“Mr. Elam's success in the business world, starting 15 years ago, has been little short of phenomenal.”
The 'Die Brucke' building, once a hub of Walla Walla commerce and banking, remains a key part of the city's downtown history. Private banking, once a cornerstone of frontier town growth, has largely been replaced by modern institutional banking, but the urge to consolidate local business power remains a constant in small-city economies.
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