Site of the Bedford Branch, State Bank of Indiana

This spot in Bedford once held one of the engines of early Indiana finance. The State Bank of Indiana was chartered by the legislature, and on January twenty-eighth of eighteen thirty-four, lawmakers created the Bedford Branch as one of just ten original branch banks across the young state. Branches were set up in towns like Indianapolis, Madison, New Albany, Vincennes, and here in Bedford.

Serving the surrounding counties, the branch funneled credit into a frontier economy and helped Bedford grow into the limestone capital it would become. The State Bank of Indiana's charter ran out in eighteen fifty-seven, and its buildings passed in eighteen fifty-nine to a successor, the Second Bank of Indiana.