The Gilman State Bank is the sole remaining original structure from the town of Gilman, MT. Once a thriving homesteaders' community, drought and economics spelled the town's death knell. It was a story repeated time after time throughout the agricultural areas of the state in the 1920s, and again in the 1930s.
A very handsome little multicolored brick structure, it's actually a marvel that it has survived as most buildings of any value were moved to nearby Augusta when the railroad built into that town. Opened in 1912 or 1913, the bank failed on November 28, 1923, giving it a lifespan of barely a decade.
The Sad Story of Gilman and Its Bank
As the only remaining standing structure in Gilmain, Montana, the Gilman State Bank building is a particularly poignant reminder of the role local banking institutions played in encouraging a small community's aspirations for permanence, prosperity, and prominence during Montana's homesteading period. During the years between 1910-191^ when tens of thousands of new settlers took up homestead claims in Montana, 397 new banks were chartered in the State, many to serve the needs of the numerous fledgling, rural communities.
The town of Gilman was founded when the Great Northern Railway bypassed the established town of Augusta and platted the town of Gilman, named after a railroad employee, approximately two miles to the north. In contemplation of a move to the new townsite, a stockholder of the Augusta State Bank wrote the following in March, 1912: "The townsite company has offered us two lots, free on the best corner in town if we will erect a brick or stone building...I think we can greatly increase our business when we have a building that looks like a bank." The Augusta State Bank reincorporated as the Gilman State Bank in 1912 and the one story, polychrome brick Gilman State Bank building indeed typifies the 1910s ideal of how a bank in a rural Montana farming community should look. In design and construction, the building denotes stability and certainly represented prosperity for the community, however short-lived.
The closure of the Gilman State Bank on November 28, 1923, followed a pattern experienced by many of the 214 banks in Montana that failed during the early years of che 1920's. The Gilman Bank was located in an area of fairly sparce population, supported by somewhat marginal agriculture and livestock production. The dry years after 1917 and the falling agricultural prices caused a chain reaction of events.
When the Gilman State Bank failed and the Great Northern Railroad extended its line to
Augusta in 1923, Gilman residents deserted their community, moving many of their buildings to Augusta. In 1925, the Great Northern hauled the Gilman Depot to Augusta, The Post Office closed in 1942. Only building foundations and the Gilman State Bank building remain as evidence of the ambitious town that briefly existed at this location.
From the NRHP Registration Form