Kent’s Hometown Bank building, located at 136 N. Water St., is now a “Local Historic Property,” thanks to a unanimous City Council vote on Feb. 19.
The designation may render the bank eligible for future grants and tax credits, allowing the institution to “continue supporting the community in downtown Kent as it has for over 126 years,” Hometown Bank Board Chairman Howard T. Boyle II and President/CEO Michael A. Lewis stated in a letter to Kent Community Development Director Bridget Susel.
Such funds would help the bank care for and perhaps improve the building, which, like all old structures, is costly to maintain, Boyle wrote in a historical overview he supplied to city leaders.
Boyle said he is not anticipating applying for the building’s inclusion in the national registry. He said he understood that local and state designations carry the same benefits.
“All we want is the local designation because that gives us everything we need. We would be able to avail ourselves of state grants, some tax credits or tax abatements the state might have. I don’t know that we would ever take advantage of these things, but we certainly would if they fit our needs,” Boyle said.
A local historian himself, Boyle noted that the widowed Betsy Carver, a rare (for those times) female entrepreneur, and her two sons had the building built on the site of Levi Reed’s Livery Stable, which had burned in 1887. The Carvers’ idea was to extend North Water Street’s retail and commercial area and to enhance their other properties south of the new building.
Construction began during the winter of 1888-89, and the building was first occupied in the spring of 1889. Then known as the Carver Building, its tenants included the Keifel Grocery, Getz Brothers Hardware, barber and beauty shops and several bakery stores and restaurants.
The second floor has housed the Knights of Pythias Hall, the Elks Club and the offices of Dr. Emily Widdecombe, Kent’s first female physician.
In 1898, Hometown Building and Loan, which evolved into today’s Hometown Bank, was founded in the offices of the Getz Brothers Hardware store. The building was later sold to tenants that occupied it at that time, with the Getz brothers acting as building managers. That arrangement held until Hometown purchased it in the early 1970s.
Architecturally, the Hometown Bank building was originally a late-century Gothic design. After its front facade was destroyed in a fire in February 1937, the building was redesigned and updated. Today’s bank’s leaders have dedicated themselves to returning the building to its original construction. The storefronts and original window openings have been preserved, and the building’s interior now reflects its original design, once obscured by remodels done in the 1970s, 1983 and 2003.
“It’s effectively a new building. However, it’s technically an original building. It’s a tribute to what you can do with an old building if it matters to you and it’s important to you,” Boyle said. “We never skimped on a value. Whatever the building needed, we did for it, and you can tell. It’s very obvious when you walk around the building.”
In 1998, Hometown Bank designed and built Hometown Bank Plaza at the intersection of Main and Water streets, immediately south of the bank. Hometown Bank designated the site as an entertainment venue for the people of Kent and regards it as Hometown Bank’s front yard. The land had once been the site of the Kent Building, erected in 1836 as the Franklin Exchange Building. That building burned in 1972.
Kent Community Development notes that six other city buildings carry the Local Historic Property designation:
- Franklin Hotel, 176 E. Main St., on March 28, 2012
- Kent Wells Sherman House, 247 N. Water St., on June 19, 2013
- The Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St., on Aug. 20, 2014
- L.N. Gross Company Building, 315 Gougler Ave., on Feb. 17, 2016
- Davey Tree Bryce Building, 905 Bryce Rd., on July 20, 2016
- Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent, 228 Gougler Ave., on Aug. 21, 2024
The Franklin Hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan. 14, 2013. The LN Gross Co. Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 2, 2016.
Designating the building as a local historic property is not the same as designating it as state or national historic landmark, though a single site may boast all three designations, a 2023 explainer from the National Trust for Historic Preservation states.
Local designations give property owners confidence in the long-term stability of the neighborhood, the explainer states. Property owners are more likely to invest in their land to benefit the entire community and to see themselves as stewards of history.
State designations trigger regulatory protection from state government actions and may determine if a property owner is eligible for state funding, tax benefits or other incentives.
Sites listed as National Historic Landmarks or included on the National Register of Historic Places are protected against threats by federal projects and render the owners eligible for preservation funds and federal historic tax credits that can help offset rehabilitation costs, the explainer states.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.