A brief note about Bradyville
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 11:40 am
Just a whisper of the village that thrived here 100 years ago, Bradyville was once home to two banks, four stores, a telephone switchboard and even a hospital. Regarding the 90-year-old bank that Tink Driver has hopes of restoring to its former glory, he said, "There were two banks there for a while. The Peoples Bank of Bradyville was in a little wooden storehouse next to a small brick building on the opposite side of the road. The stone building standing was called the Bank of Bradyville and was chartered in about 1910 or 1911." The banks merged in 1924 or 1925 and took on the name Union State Bank, which can be seen etched in the stone at the top of the structure. "They hewed the stone out of the hills of Bradyville and hauled them specifically for a bank," Bush said. It was built on property that formerly belonged to Dr. James Curlee. In 1925 the Cannon County Banking Company of Woodbury absorbed Union State Bank. Both enterprises closed during the Depression. Empty for a few years, the bank structure later served as the Bradyville Post Office. Bush remembers when the building served as the polling place for local, state and national elections. "It was just a neat place to walk into," he said. Over later decades, it was used as a residence. As for the name of the community of Bradyville, Bush said, "It is believed the name came from a man named Brady, whose first name might have been Joseph, who, during the 1820s, preached in the area, especially at a bluff two miles across the ridge on Carson Creek that came to be known as Brady's Rock.
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