Old Missoula

The following article appeared in the Missoulian Centennial issue on page 31 of Section E.

 

When the Western Montana National Bank began its career in 1889, barring banks at Deer Lodge and Philipsburg, it was one of two in western Montana.

With one other, it stood alone in what had become the counties of Ravalli, Flathead, Lincoln, Mineral, Lake and the greater part of Granite.

 

Early Bankers

The bank was organized by Ferdinand Kennett; G. A. Wolf; J. H. T. Ryman, Charles Otto; Mrs. Lucretia Worden, widow of Frank L. Worden; Levi J. Fish, and August Wierich, who signed the organization certificate and the articles of association of the bank Jan. 15, 1889.

The charter is dated March 21, 1889. The same year the bank opened for business, the articles of association provided that the board of directors would consist of five shareholders and appointed Wolf, Ryman, Kennett, Otto and Fish as the first directors of the bank.

 

Kennett Elected

Kennett was elected president; Ryman, vice president, and Wolf, cashier. Since Kennett; presidents have been Wolf, 1900-1919; Frederick T. Sterling, 1919-1933; W. L. Murphy, 1933-1938; Paul S. Gillespie, 1938-1960; James A. Hart, 1960.

The Western Montana National Bank has been housed at the southeast corner of Higgins avenue and Broadway since the Montana Building was erected in 1910 by Charles L. Cowell and Joseph M. Dixon. The six-story building became the property of the bank in 1951.

 

Improvements

In 1938 a general alteration of the main banking room was made by the bank. Another large-scale remodeling program began in 1950 and was completed in 1958. The $100,000 program included remodeling of the basement, remodeling of the Hilton & Hilton and Rochester Co. space for use of the timepay department, and enlargement of the main banking room.

The basement now accommodates bookkeeping and safe deposit departments, the vault, and employes recreation and lunchroom quarters. The timepay department was set up to function almost independently of the bank, with a separate teller for receiving payments on installment loans and consumer finance contracts. Entrance is from the foyer of the Montana Building.

The final remodeling phase, enlargement of the main banking room, was completed in 1959. The remodeling of the first floor doubled the size of the lobby in addition to providing two drive-in deposit windows for motorists.

 

Drive-In Banking

Drive-in banking was possible when the Western Montana National Bank absorbed the space occupied by Cameron & Johnson’s Post Office News Stand and the Save On Drug. These were destroyed in a $250,000 fire July 27, 1956.

The drive-in addition to the bank was so constructed as to serve as a foundation for a six-story building at some future date.

Features of the entire program included the installation of a modern ventilating system and high intensity lighting. In connection with the program, new sidewalks were constructed.

 

Great Growth Shown

On the 70th anniversary of the bank in 1959, resources totaled $19,700,000, exactly 100 times more than the $197,000 of record at the close of the institution’s first year. In 1958 capital stock had been increased from $350,000 to $500,000 and surplus from $230,000 to $300,000, making a total capital and surplus of $800,000. As early as 1929 the capital stock and assets of the Western Montana Bank were acquired by the First Bank Stock Corporation of Minneapolis.

Directors of the bank are Gillespie, Hart, H. O. Bell, J. C. Garlington and Newell Gough. Officers are James A. Hart, president; E. J. Stowe and R. C. Runke, vice presidents; O. H. Mann, vice president and cashier; H. O. Worden, R. L. Kenyon, and C. F. Kellogg, assistant vice presidents; L. R. Merkt, assistant cashier and auditor; Allen O. Allen, assistant cashier.