Cedarville Grocery
 (Formerly The Bank of Surprise Valley)
Townsend and Main Streets, Cedarville

The brick building that is home to Cedarville Grocery was once a prosperous bank serving the needs of the area’s ranching families.

Organized as a result of the intelligent and energetic efforts of Mr. Frederick E. Bush, the first Bank of Surprise Valley opened for business in March of 1905 with a capital stock of $25,000. Bush worked as cashier and was a major stock holder in the venture.

In 1906, Tom Acty, using locally made bricks, constructed the building on the corner of Main and Townsend Streets at a cost of “about $8000”. Local papers boasted it was “well equipped with modern appliances for the conduct of their growing business.”

Stan Harris (Bush’s grandson by marriage) writes that Fred traveled to the area from Iowa and worked in the Goose Lake Valley from the ages of 17 to 22. He later worked in Alturas before moving to Surprise Valley. “Bush must have been quite organized. He opened the Bank in March and got married in July to Miss Bessie Fitzgerald of Alturas, and spent the rest of his life in and around Cedarville.”

Bush worked his way up to Bank President of the Modoc County Bank over 28 years. Branches were opened in Cedarville and Fort Bidwell during that time. One historical account characterized Bush as “an intelligent student of public questions. He believes in Republican principles and gives his allegiance to that party. In matters of a fraternal nature he has no especial connection except with the Knights of Pythias.”

Fred Bush and Phebe Mickle in the Bank of Surprise Valley

In 1924, Bush moved his banking operation’s headquarters to Alturas, leaving branches in Cedarville and Fort Bidwell. An undated Modoc Record story said, “But when Cedarville seemed on the verge of blowing away, he (Bush) moved to Alturas and changed the name to the 'Modoc County Bank'. Like other banks across the Nation, it failed in 1933. One reason for this failure was that the bank overextended itself in trying to help cattlemen who had been hit by a three year drought.”

FDR was inaugurated on March 4, 1933 and within days declared a National Bank Holiday, suspending all banking transactions. By then, 11,000 of the nation’s 25,000 banks had failed, including all three branches of the Modoc County Bank. None of the 3 local banks ever reopened.

Another article said, “Depositors in the defunct Modoc County Bank will be paid dividends this month totaling $18,248.00. The bank went bankrupt here on Sept.2, 1932, a time that is becoming known as the "infamous great depression".

Looking back, that final settlement for the bank’s depositors was considered quite generous though the bitterness of the times has not been forgotten by some local families to this day.

Photo from Stan Harris

After its failure, the bank’s Cedarville building was acquired by Walter and Dorothy Kober. They operated “Kober’s Kash and Carry” store in that location for 38 years before selling it to Ron and Lee Seibel and Allan and Patricia Leydecker in 1972. The new owners changed the name to “Cedarville Grocery”.

Today the building is owned by Penny and Pat Flanagan. They recently refinished the original wood floors. Look closely and you’ll notice the coins they embedded in empty holes found in the one-time bank’s old floorboards.

If you visit the store, be sure to look over the historic photos on display. The frame of the bank’s vault is still visible in the rear of the store: Penny says one can faintly make out “Bank of Surprise Valley” under the old paint. The vault’s metal door was donated during WWII to a local scrap metal drive.

The Flanagans sometimes unbolt the old bank sign above the wooden porch cover on the front of the building on special occasions. It’s a simple sign that serves to remind residents of the building’s short life as a financial institution.