John T. Banks Building -402 Oak Street

Civil War veteran, druggist and early city leader John T. Banks built the brick structure in 1887. The building was at the center of a political storm in Morgan County in 1891. When a vote declared Decatur as the county seat, residents moved records surreptitiously by horse and buggy at night from Somerville. Originally three stories, the Banks Building housed the courthouse for two years while a permanent courthouse on Ferry Street was being built.

Later, the building housed a hospital and retail store. After a fire in 1915, the third story was removed and the building was mainly used for apartments and boarding rooms until the 1970’s. Restored in 2002, this historic building is now office space.