Frank E. Bodley. The men upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility for prosperity and advancement along every line of commercial and industrial activity are the captains of industry and finance who are in command of the armies which are fighting to preserve the nation’s standing among the countries of the earth, as well as against those foes to established currency and methods of transacting business. Without them and their sound, conservative policies, the country would be at the mercy of every irresponsible, unscrupulous speculator or visionary idealist. As is but natural, the financiers of the country’s great cities are the ones called upon principally to bear the greatest amount of this responsibility, but the smaller communities contribute their share according to their size and progressive spirit, and throughout the State of Kansas there are found communities whose citizens are serving faithfully and well in the financial ranks. Among these at Chanute in Neosho County is found F. E. Bodley, president of the Peoples-Home State Bank of Chanute and a well and favorably known banker whose operations have been extensive and important and whose reputation rests upon many years of upright and honorable dealing.
Mr. Bodley was born April 24, 1859, at Princeton, Illinois, son of O. J. and Amelia (Uhler) Bodley. In 1889 he became interested in banking, at Quenemo, Osage County, where he remained for years as president of the Farmers State Bank. In 1905 he came to Chanute to become vice president of the Bank of Commerce and resigned that position and was made president of the Peoples-Home State Bank, an office which holds at the present time. Mr. Bodley is widely known in banking circles as a man of high ability, careful, conservative, farseeing and possessing excellent judgment. The Peoples-Home State Bank, the policies of which he is so ably directing, was established in 1906 as the Peoples State Bank and was merged with the Home State Bank in 1907, the latter having been established in 1903. Today the capital and surplus is $60,000 and deposits are over one-half million dollars. The officers are: F. E. Bodley, president; J. L. Barnes, vice president; H. C. Bodley, cashier; and J. E. Wood, assistant cashier. The banking house was erected in 1906 by Mr. Bodley for the bank, and he still owned it, this structure being situated at the corner of Main Street and Santa Fe Avenue. It is a modern bank building, of brick and Carthage stone, the bank being located on the first floor of the building.
In 1886, near Ottawa, Kansas, Mr. Bodley was married to Miss Laura Copple, daughter of the late John and Emma (Rasdell) Copple, and to this union there had been born one son: Harold C., a graduate of St. John’s Military Academy, Salina, Kansas, who is cashier of the Peoples-Home State Bank of Channte and one of the prominent and rising young business men of the city.