Source:
James Ford, M.D.,"Genealogy of the Ford Family" (Wabash, MO: Plain
Dealer, 1890).
James
Mitchell Ford
Ford
Building
First
National Bank of
Denison
James Mitchell Ford
(1841–1927)
was a remarkable man who was active in Denison for at least ten
years, between 1880 and 1890.
Ford was a veteran of the Civil War, serving in the
130th regiment of
Indiana Volunteers. His final assignment was as procurement officer for
General
Dodge at St. Louis, Missouri. He was educated at Wabash College and
Butler
University. Subsequently
he took a Doctorate in Medicine
and a license in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of
Michigan
(1869). He practiced medicine briefly in his hometown of Wabash,
Missouri, and
in 1869 married Beulah
Kirk (1846–1948),
daughter of a judge in Kokomo, Indiana. The couple settled in Kansas
City,
where Dr. Ford became one of the city's largest real estate investors,
as well
as a member of the Board of Aldermen.
By 1881, Dr. Ford was
investing in Denison, as
well as Alabama and other southern states. That year, as president of
Denison's
First National Bank, he oversaw construction of an imposing building at
231
West Main Street, popularly called the "Ford Building." Later it
became home to the Citizens National Bank.
Ford
Building, also called First National Bank
ca 1912
231 W. Main St., corner of N. Rusk Ave.
Postcard view
This was the first chartered bank in Denison. Eventually it
became the Citizens National bank.
Ford was also a director of
the Denison Land and
Investment Company, and president of Denison Cotton Manufacturing
Company. He
purchased the Gardner & McKinstry drug store at 322 West Main
Street. Then,
around 1892, he sold it to another druggist newly arrived in Denison
from
Missouri ~ Charles
D. Kingston.
By 1880, James and Beulah had a
son, Ernest Elwood Ford
(1870–1952). By 1900, they were
living in Phoenix, Arizona Territory. Ten years later, they had
moved to California, living first at San Gabriel and then in Alhambra
in Los
Angeles County. James died there on November 13, 1927. Beulah passed
away a
year later.
BIOGRAPHY INDEX
Susan Hawkins
© 2024
|