Lincoln Bank Tower

Lincoln Bank Tower groundbreaking August 16, 1929.

The Lincoln Bank Tower in Fort Wayne, Indiana is a skyscraper in the art deco style. Construction began less than a month before the stock market crash of October, 1929, that brought on the Great Depression.

While its design was based on the Tribune Tower in Chicago and the Empire State Building in New York City, the Lincoln Bank Tower is considered to be a monument to the German immigrants who settled the Fort Wayne area at the turn of the 20th century.

The building was comissioned by German immigrant Charles Buesching, the president of the Lincoln Bank and Trust Company. The bank was originally named the German-American Bank of Fort Wayne, but changed its because of anti-German sentiment sparked by World War I.

The architect for the project was Alvin M. Strauss. When it was completed in 1930, the 312-foot building was Indiana's first skyscraper and, for many years, the Hoosier state's tallest office structure.