The last phase in Sullivan's career was largely devoted to
designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern
agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a
revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small
institutions sympathetic to local needs. These buildings posed
no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all
low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise
important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan's
solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but
'modern' and unrelated to historical precedent in order to
communicate their transformed character. They are the final and
most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill,
with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta.
Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its
setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town
square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney and Columbus).
At Columbus an arcade down the side of the b