Our historic office building at sunset on a fall Delta afternoon. Our office was originally the home of the Bank of Alex Brown.

Our History: A look back and inside at our historic office building.

Our office was the original home of the Bank of Alex Brown - built in 1916. Even today is often referred to as the old Bank of Alex Brown building.

The bank grew out of a grocery store and mercantile business operated by John Brown, son of Alex Brown, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. , John became known for the issuance of Wells Fargo bank drafts to replace gold payments made by city produce buyers back then for Delta farmer’s produce. Gradually, John evolved his business into the Bank of Alex Brown and received a State Charter in 1913.

That explains why we have an historic walk-in safe in the middle of our office. Besides the old safe adding a distinctive part of the Delta’s history to our building, it provides a very functional setting for our important file storage purposes.

Several members of the Brown family also made the bank building their residence during those early years, which explains why our upstairs offices include such interesting features as credenzas that can be rolled around to expose trundle beds, a dumb waiter and more.

We are proud of our historic office and its roots here in Walnut Grove, CA, and have provided the photos below to show you more of its interesting character and uniqueness.

We doubt you’ll find many other insurance agencies with a genuine, turn of the 20th century, walk in bank vault still functionally in use today. Our building was the original home of the Bank of Alex Brown, chartered in 1913. The vault that once held gold coins stored by San Francisco bay area fruit shippers to pay early Delta settlers and farmers for their produce now stores our important customer information safely and securely. Pictured above, left to right, are Chris Cook, Cheryl Gemingani and Janet Hauser.

The photo on the left is taken from our first floor office entrance area and shows the entrance to our upstairs office.

In the old days, there was more than one way to get materials and supplies up to the 2nd floor. Besides the stairs (photo on the right), a “dumb waiter” was used to transport materials upstairs and down.

We have kept the upstairs restroom in tact to enjoy another look back to our building’s past.

Our 2nd floor conference room.

Each of the 2nd floor offices were built to house a hidden Trundel bed, so that the Brown family members could work and sleep in the same building.

Since the original bank building was built there has been a rumor of a hidden apartment tucked away somewhere in the 2nd floor of our office building. Well, we are hear to proclaim that rumor as truth, which you can see pictured above.

Check out the location of the credenza in the left hand photo (highlighted by the red arrow). Now compare that to the photo on the right. As you can see, the credenza can be revolved to open and reveal the “hidden apartment” it leads to.

As we understand it, during the early days of the Bank of Alex Brown, this office was used by John Brown. When the work day ended, he simply moved his office credenza and stepped into the “secret apartment”, which was actually part of his living quarters.

Today, we used that area for additional storage space.