Farmers and Merchants Bank
Farmers and Merchants Bank
Available to visit as part of the Guided Tours conducted by the Willa Cather Foundation. Call 402-746-2653 or visit www.willacather.org for more information.
This building, constructed in 1888 and known as the Garber Bank, was erected by Silas Garber, former Union Army Officer, the founder of Red Cloud (1871), and the fourth governor of Nebraska (1875-1879) who served two terms. Designed in by Lincoln, Nebraska, architects, the Farmers and Merchants Bank retains its Colorado stone façade, its marble steps, and its teller cages shipped by rail from Chicago.
Willa Cather was long a personal friend of the Garbers and eventually used them as prototypes for Captain and Mrs. Forrester in A Lost Lady. The bank is used in two of Cather's other writings: the short story "Two Friends," and the novel Lucy Gayheart. .
