Barnett: The rise and fall of Florida's largest bank

Once housing an institution that enhanced the lives of tens of thousands of citizens over a century, the abandoned Barnett Bank Building still stands two blocks from William Boyd Barnett’s 1877 bank, despite its namesake disappearing from the banking industry nearly 20 years ago.

Mowbray and Uffinger’s ‘U’-shaped building design was described as a handsomely-proportioned structure, reflecting the eclectic influences of the Italian Renaissance architectural style. The steel frame of the building’s design featured a limestone-faced, two-story arcade at street level, a series of lion head details above the third floor, and a parapet roof dominated with obelisks.

Ground was broken on the tower at the corner of Laura and Adams Streets in early March 1926. With a payroll of $12,000 a week and E.A. Burnap as the superintendent, three hundred men were employed by James Stewart and Company to construct the new tower. On May 19, 1926, seventy-six days after construction commenced, the American flag was raised over the building’s steel frame, marking its topping out in record time. Up until this event, never had a Florida building been raised so expeditiously.

In 1927, Barnett celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, marked by gala ceremonies dedicating its new, eighteen floor office building. The Barnett Bank Building would become and remain Jacksonville’s tallest skyscraper until the Southbank’s Prudential Building was constructed in 1954.

Just two years later, the bank experienced the Great Depression and Barnett tried unsuccessfully to merge with Florida National Bank. Baker, Fentress & Company owned Consolidated Naval Stores in Jacksonville and purchased a sizable quantity of Barnett stock. The infusion of capital left the bank stronger, but ended complete family control of the institution.

A bank holding company was begun after the stock market crash in 1929, and Barnett National Securities Corporation purchased and reopened several failed banks. The day before a bank holiday on March 5, 1933, Barnett expected a bank run. To prevent this, Bion directed the bank’s personnel to pull all small denomination bills from the vault, and leave the $50s, $100s, $500s and $1,000 bills. Tellers were instructed to slowly count each withdrawal. Those at the end of the line saw their friends and neighbors leave the bank carrying large stacks of bills, which prompted many customers to regain confidence and leave without their money.

Although the building was known for being Barnett Bank’s headquarters, office space within the building was leased to several smaller companies, including W.W. Cummer & Sons and A.I. Dupont. The Cummers came from a long line of lumber barons, whose business interests began in Canada before branching out to Michigan, Virginia, and Florida. As early as 1890, Wellington Willson Cummer recognized the value of Florida cypress and prolific stands of pine timberlands in the state. After relocating his family from Morley, MI to Jacksonville, he went on to found the Cummer Lumber Company in 1896. Among his many feats, Wellington built a railroad for transporting lumber from the low country of Florida to Jacksonville, where the mills and distribution centers were located. His sons, Arthur Cummer and Waldo Cummer, along with his son-in-law, John L. Roe, all of whom came up through the ranks in the family business, assumed control of the company after Wellington’s death in 1909.

Arthur Cummer also served as director and vice-president of Barnett National Bank. His offices were located on the 16th floor of the Barnett from the building’s 1926 opening until the 1970s. Arthur and wife Ninah’s art collection and riverfront home were bequeathed to the city of Jacksonville in 1958 to establish the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

Alfred Irénée du Pont’s office was located on the fifteenth floor of the Barnett. du Pont had relocated to Jacksonville from Delaware in 1926. When du Pont died in 1935, his estate was valued at over $56 million and his assets included the St. Joe Company, the Florida East Coast Railway, and the Epping Forest estate. Today, the Nemours Foundation, which runs children’s medical facilities in Delaware and Florida, is the charitable beneficiary of the Alfred I. du Pont Testamentary Trust.