Fruit Growers Bank / Mize Rose Garden

Location: Southeast Corner of Butler and Mason, Saugatuck
Date: 1906-

The first bank in Saugatuck was founded in 1896 by shopkeeper A. B. Taylor, as an adjunct to his general store business on the southwest corner of Mason and Butler streets. It later moved across the street to the southeast corner, to what was the originally the Palace Meat Market building of 1896. In October of 1906 it was chartered as a state bank, called the Fruit Growers State Bank because of the large orchard industry in the area. In September of 1965 the Fruit Growers State Bank merged with the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank of South Haven, retaining the name of the latter. The bank constructed a new one-story brick building on Mason Street, immediately behind the original structure; the old building was demolished after the move on February 24, 1971. Several mergers have occurred since 1971, and the Saugatuck bank is operating today as a branch of Chemical Bank, with corporate offices in Midland, Michigan.

When the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank moved to the new building and the old bank building was demolished, a small park fronting on Butler Street remained. In 1997 the City of Saugatuck was notified that Roxie Ann Mize, a former Chicago office worker, had bequeathed $450,000 to the city “to create and maintain in perpetuity a memorial rose garden” in memory of her brother Sam and his wife Doris. Now known as the Mize Rose Garden, the park is open in the summer for strolling, resting, and exchanging wedding vows.