Three Valleys State Bank

The Three Valleys State Bank, at 202 Main St. in Three Forks, Montana, was built in 1911. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[1] It is the current home of the Headwaters Heritage Museum.

Headwaters Heritage Museum
EstablishedMay 1990
LocationThree Forks, Montana
Coordinates45°53′35″N 111°33′07″W
TypeHistory museum
Websitewww.tfhistory.org
Three Valleys State Bank
Three Valleys State Bank is located in Montana
Three Valleys State Bank
Location202 Main St., Three Forks, Montana
Coordinates45°53′35″N 111°33′07″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1911
Architectural styleWestern Commercial
NRHP reference No.05000256[1]
Added to NRHPApril 11, 2005

The bank was chartered on April 28, 1910, and it purchased the building lot on which the bank stands on July 18. 1910, for $2,800. Construction was financed by town founder John Q. Adams; construction started in November 1910 and was complete in February 1911.[2]

The building is "a well-executed example of the Western Commercial style in two-part commercial block form." The design also included elements of Romanesque Revival style, including use of round arches, pilasters, and a dentilled cornice."[2]

The town and the bank's prospects dimmed in economic depression and crop failures; the original owners sold the bank to American National Bank in 1917. American National survived through a wave of bank insolvencies in the state until it too failed in November 1923 and was taken over by Labor National Bank. Its doors were apparently not reopened, however.[2]

The one other Three Forks bank, First National, was established in 1909, and was liquidated in March 1923.[2]

The town, including the bank building, was damaged in an earthquake on June 27, 1925; the building's parapet and cornice were not completely repaired and so evidence of the earthquake is still visible.[2]

After 37 years with no bank in town, the building again hosted a bank, the Security Bank in Three Forks (or First Security Bank?), beginning in 1960, and ending in 1980 when the bank moved to a new building. It was arranged that the local historical society could purchase the building to open a museum.[2]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. Marcia Fairhurst; Kate Hampton (January 2005). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Three Valleys State Bank / American National Bank; First Security Bank; Headwaters Historical Society; Headwaters Heritage Museum". National Park Service. Retrieved September 1, 2019. With accompanying five photos from 2004


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