Keyes Store- on January 1, 1896. For this for this space a rental of $40 per year was agreed upon with and additional charge of $12 per year for electric lights, payable semi-annually. The Association had made it the practice to be open Saturday evenings, but this was ·changed to Monday nights in Ma.rch, 1896, as the local facilities had changed their pay day to Monday.

During the ensuing decade, the Association expanded steadily in number of shareholders, building loans and resources, which totalled $140,000 in 1907. Two years later-January January 30, 1909 the rate of progress again necessitated enlarged facilities and the two story brick building adjoining the Bank on West Main Street was purchased from George W. Scott for $3,500.

This was the Association's first permanent home, being remodeled for the purpose under the dircction of Henry Gaensslen. The prudence and economy which had always been so characteristic of the Association were again manifested, in that the rear of the store was fitted for the Association while the front was rented to R. C. Holmes, the jeweler. The move was quickly justified by increased business with the resources advancing to $210,000

by 1911. F. J. Herdeg was then devoting his entire time to the management of the institution and in 1914 the need for larger facilities made it necessary to occupy the entire first floor, which was remodeled for the purpose. The resources were then $715,000, having more than tripled in a three year period.

In the fire of 1924, the stability of the Association was tested in more ways than one. As this great fire broke out in the Opera House, almost directly in back of the Association building, the flames soon spread to the street. Hearing that the Association building was menaced, the Secretary and his family rushed to the fire. They had just time to gather up all the records, files and machines and put them into the vault, and they were leaving the building just as the rear wall started to cave in.

When the fire was finally brought under control the next day, the vault was the only remaining part of the building that had not been destroyed. All records were found to have come through the fire safely and intact. The property was fully insured and no losses were sustained by either the Association or its shareholders.

The present Association building was

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erected the next year-192 5-at a cost of $60,000. The rapid growth of the Association -it then had resources of $3,400,000-both justified and necessitated a building of character. The new structure was carefully planned and modernly equipped to meet the expanding requirements of the Association for years to come.

Upon the death of Franklin J. Herdeg in 1934, Franklin L. Herdeg was selected to succeed him as president. He has continued in that office and directed the management of the Association to the present time. But the traditions of the institution always have been much more than the names of a few individuals, just as the range of service has always been wider than simply the Gowanda environs. The Association now serves home owners and home builders within a fifty mile radius in the counties of Erie, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua

The mortgages advanced by the Association during these fifty years count up to the impressive sum of $10,540,000 and the dividends paid during this half century of progress total $3,681,570.

Some of the past directors, in addition to those already named, include E. A. Shaw, D. B. Forbush, William Wallace, Samuel Keyes, Dr. A. D. Lake, John Ritz, W. A. Becker, Joseph Schaack, C. W. Gulley, John . Schatt, Richard Wilhelm, B. J. Crawford, M. P. Kellogg, and William Wilber.

If this book has given you, the reader, a better appreciation of the Gowanda land' and the institutions that serve it, the sponsors feel that the effort will prove a justifiable undertaking as well as a suitable commemoration of the historical progress of the Gowanda Cooperative Saving and Loan Association.

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