Commentary: Memories Of Rogers' Old Bus Station, F&M; Bank

Courtesy Photo Rogers Historical Museum The Farmers and Merchants Bank about 1962 at the southeastern corner of Second and Elm Streets.

Courtesy Photo Rogers Historical Museum The Farmers and Merchants Bank about 1962 at the southeastern corner of Second and Elm Streets.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

ROGERS -- The story of the historic building at the southeast corner of Elm and Second streets dates to the late 1920s.

Benton County Hardware built the structure in the early days of automobiles when it housed the first Ford distributor for this region.

The Rogers Democrat described in 1929 the expansion of Benton County Hardware's motor department as extending from the alley on Elm Street to Second Street and south to the Lane Hotel. The expansion made room for added display of new cars, and more space for the drive-in and filling station department.

Sadly, the Great Depression overcame Benton County Hardware, and the company went bankrupt in the early 1930s.

From the 1930s until the mid-1950s the building housed the Ozark Super Service, the Union Bus Station, Edith Erickson's Cafe and Newsstand and Rogers Taxi Service. At its height in the 1940s, 17 buses came into the station daily to accommodate travelers. Buses were a necessity as many folks didn't have automobiles.

As usual, I asked for reminisces about the building on a popular Rogers' website and many people sent glimpses from their past:

• Dorothy Ocheltree: "It was still a bus station in January 1954. My husband, Ken Ocheltree, had just gotten a discharge from the Marines and came in on the bus."

• Mike Smith: "My dad, Phil Smith, and granddad, Fred Martin, ran the bus station when it had Edith's Cafe as well as a taxi and wrecker business in that building."

• Jim Morgan: "Back in the '50s, I used to catch a bus there and ride to Fayetteville for 50 cents, then I'd walk to Razorback Stadium and get in as a high school student for 50 cents, and return home for another 50 cents. I could attend a game and buy a Coke and hot dog for less than $2."

• Dixie David White: "I remember when the Rogers High School cheerleaders (August 1962) left at 5 a.m. to ride the bus to cheerleading camp in Dallas at Southern Methodist University."

• Tomie Lee Lundy: "In 1951, I got a job with Southwestern Bell Telephone. Since I lived in Bentonville and had no car, I rode the bus daily for a year and a half. So did my mother at different hours for a different job."

• Terry Gracy: "My mother worked at the old bus station before she began her insurance career."

The bus station moved in the mid-1950s. In 1956, Charles Garrett, Dorman Bushong, Vance Hill, Dr. James L. Pickens, J. A. Rife, Carl Shores, Hardy A. Stephenson and others remodeled the old building and formed Farmers and Merchants Bank.

This new bank featured the first drive-up window in Benton County, and it can still be seen on the east side of the building adjoining the alley. F&M Bank was the first bank in Rogers to offer competition to American National Bank, which was the only bank in Rogers from 1931 until 1956. F&M Bank prompted many memories:

• Ken Hoyt: "Hardy Stephenson gave me my first bank loan ever in that building -- without my dad co-signing."

• Betsey Robinson-Harold: "My daddy, Al Robinson, had his last accounting office in the southwest corner of that building before he retired. Mr. Charley Garrett established the bank and Daddy worked for him many years as his business manager, bookkeeper and accountant. Other people who worked with him were Andy McCurdy, my mother Elaine Robinson, Joyce Givers, Jennie Lou Jones, Janet Gurley and Bill Bland."

• Jeff Rylee: "In October 1959, my dad, Dee Rylee, owned the DX Bulk Plant in Bentonville. He borrowed the money to buy a new truck from Dorman Bushong and Hardy Stephenson with basically no collateral, just a handshake."

• Karen Sue Clarke: "I worked at F&M Bank in 1974-75 for Bob Goodwin. I took care of all of the hot checks and typed up memos and knew shorthand. No one does that anymore."

F&M Bank moved from the historic building about 1974 into a huge new complex at 301 W. Chestnut St. that covered the whole block (now Rogers City Hall). About 1990, Rogers acquired the old bus station/bank building and remodeled it into offices for the city attorney, transportation and planning, and inspections and code management departments. The building became vacant in 2006 as the city consolidated offices in the new City Hall at 301 W. Chestnut St.

Several businesses have occupied the historic building in the past few years, but it's mostly vacant and awaiting the next chapter in its story.

Commentary on 09/04/2014