HISTORY OF THE MENOMONEE FALLS BUILDING
The name Bank of Flowers pays tribute to the past. Our historic building was first used as a bank and today continues to have turn of the century charm. In fact, the bank's original vault now serves as our walk-in floral cooler. Our continued passion for flowers has helped our customers to create and celebrate their most precious memories.
The building was designed by Charles C. Anderson, a prominent Waukesha architect, and was constructed by Cameron W. Fraser, a local business man, the editor and publisher of the Menomonee Falls News, and a former Waukesha Country Clerk of Courts. Erected for speculative purposes in 1901, the Fraser building is the Village's finest example of a commercial building designed in Romanesque Revival style architecture.
The Fraser building housed several important Village institutions, including the community's first bank - Citizen's State Bank of Menomonee Falls, the Post Office, the office of the Menomonee Falls News, and the Menomonee Falls Telephone Company. In these capacities, the Fraser building functioned as the communication hub of the Village for several decades.
The building was remodeled and restored in 1988, with more recent remodeling completed in the fall of 2004. The first floor is the home of Bank of Flowers, a full-service floral and gift shop. One of the original bank vaults has been transformed into a fresh flower walk-in cooler and the other vault, which still has the original vault door, is used for storage. The second floor is designated as the "Studio" where Bank of Flowers works on creating large events, weddings and hold design classes. Owner since 2004, Melissa Maas enjoys giving tours to her customers and explaining the small collection of the buildings historic memorabilia displayed at the shop.
Evolution of both shop locations
