The historic Farm Credit Building is actually two identical structures that were built over the course of eleven years. The east Half, which fronts 19th Street, was built first in 1923 and was originally called the Bankers Reserve Life Company Building. The West Half, which fronts Douglas Street, was completed in 1934 after President Franklin Roosevelt established the Farm Credit Administration to help stem the high-rate of foreclosures that had devastated family farms during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt made Omaha a regional headquarters and the Bankers Reserve Life Company Building was aptly renamed the Farm Credit Building.