Union & Peoples National Bank

Art by: Chris Hytha

Story by: Mark Houser

The president of the bank that ordered this highrise had an ulterior motive. When it became the tallest building in town, it surpassed a tower just down the street named after his older brother.

Wiley Reynolds was first in line to take over the bank his father founded, but instead started a factory in 1899 to make cushion springs for buggies, and soon, automobiles. He succeeded in this and further ventures, from plastics to real estate, and commissioned the 14-story Reynolds Building, the tallest thing in Jackson.

Meanwhile, Herbert Reynolds, two years Wiley’s junior, succeeded their father at the bank in 1903. When his bank’s tower topped his brother’s, Herbert was able to gloat for two years until the bank failed; he was forced into early retirement and died in 1939. Wiley’s plant prospered and expanded to supply military contracts during World War II; he died in 1948 aboard his yacht in Florida.

The county occupies the building, and has restored the former banking hall's intricate barrel-vaulted ceiling and arched stained glass windows modeled after ones in a Florentine palazzo. The parks department rents the space for weddings and other events.