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History / About the Past
In 1858, William Bradley opened a bank on the Northeast corner of the Centerville Square. By 1870, he
had banks in Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri. William and his wife had four children: David Campbell,
Olive A., James A. and William Jr.
David Campbell (D.C.) Bradley was well educated, having attended Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa and
graduating from Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. He married Cora M. Stubbs of Fairfield and had
two children, Williams S. and Bettina (who died during the flu epidemic in 1917).
D.C. and his brother, J.A. came to jointly own several banks in this area. D.C. was a liberal giver to the
community and helped support the Interurban Rail System, the Iowa Southern Utilities Company, the Pure Ice
Company and the Centerville Brick Yard. He was heavily vested in agriculture and mining, both of which were
booming prior to 1925, then peaked and began to decline. When D.C. had a stroke in 1927, he sold his interests
in the banks. J.A. managed to keep the banks solvent through the depression but D.C. went bankrupt and died
in 1928 at the age of 69 in his mansion. It is said, he died of a broken heart.
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