73. Fruit Growers Bank and Mize Rose Garden

Location: Southeast corner of Butler and Mason, Saugatuck

A late-1940s Memorial Day parade marches by the Fruit Growers Bank building, recognizable by its arched window and door, horizontal stonework bands and corner tower.

The first bank in Saugatuck was founded in 1896 by shopkeeper A.B. Taylor as an adjunct to his general store on the southwest corner of Mason and Butler streets. In 1906 the A.B. Taylor Bank was chartered as a state bank and renamed the Fruit Growers State Bank because of the prosperous orchard industry in the area.

In 1912 or 1915, the bank moved across Butler Street to the former Palace Meat Market building (built 1896).
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 Fruit Growers State Bank building was demolished after the move on February 24, 1971. The empty lot became a small park.

In 1997, Roxie Ann Mize, a former resident, 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. Sam Mize cultivated extensive rose gardens around his retirement home on Silver Lake.

Today, the former Fruit Growers Bank site is the Mize Rose Garden. The garden is open in the summer for strolling, resting and exchanging wedding vows.