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(Stuart, IA) -- A Stuart bank robbed by outlaws Bonnie and Clyde nearly 100 years ago is getting a new life.
"Told this is a hold up and they start demanding money, get the four people that were in the bank, two employees and a couple others on the floor, told them they won't be hurt if they were quiet, blah, blah, blah," said Bob Cook, Stuart Historian.
Bonnie and Clyde stole around $1,500 from the bank on April 16, 1934. The pair died weeks later in Louisiana.
Now, almost a hundred years later, a couple from Van Meter is restoring the bank, planning to turn the historic building into a commercial space and residential unit.
"The biggest thing about restoring something historical is what do you go off of, so we have a picture, in black and white from 1934, and that's the picture after the bank got robbed," said Abby Duncan, Duncan Construction.
The original building was built in 1877. Duncan says there were a lot of safety hazards and issues by the time she and her husband, Wes, got into the bank. The couple plans to maintain as many of the historical elements as they can. They were even able to keep an original brick wall on the inside of the building.
"The history is there and it will go away if nobody remembers it, if we don't do something, the challenge and the interest of trying to make something look like a black and white picture, and make it come back to life," said Duncan.
The exterior of the building will be complete in January, with the rest of the building expected to be finished later next year.