Wednesday, February 17, 2016
The Cass Bank and Trust Building was constructed in 1927, the same year the Ford Model A was introduced. This was a tumultuous time for transportation in general which meant that customer traffic was going to be evolving rapidly and Cass Bank would need to change along with it in order to survive. Over the subsequent years, they did just that as they worked to continually tailor products and services to meet their customer's needs. For example, when a new highway was constructed in the 1950s which divided the neighborhood and brought increasingly concentrated industrial facilities and truck terminals into the area, Cass Bank constructed a drive up facility in 1957 on the east side of the bank along with walk up teller windows to serve these clients and in so doing boasted that they were the first of their kind. Ten years later, in 1967, they were one of the first banks in the nation to utilize electronic computers to process payroll. Cass Bank eventually vacated this building in 1988 and it sat vacant until 1991 when it became a Greyhound Bus Station. Greyhound remained at this location for 17 years until ultimately moving to another location in 2008. It has been vacant since Greyhound left and has been in a steady decline since then. There were talks of converting this property into a Veterans Center, a role that would be beneficial in this area, but as of 2016 this project still hasn't come together.
