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 Three Valleys State Bank - Three Forks, MT Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 45° 53.581 W 111° 33.156
12T E 457129 N 5082308
Though twice a bank, that didn't take and today this substantial brick and stone building houses a museum.
Waymark Code: WMWNE5
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2017
Views: 0
Three Valleys State Bank opened in Three Forks in 1910, just two years after the town was platted. The majority of its clients were homesteaders scratching out a living in the surrounding countryside, which, for the bank, would not be a good thing. Drought hit Montana in 1917 and lasted for several years, forcing many farmers off their land. Eventually, the banks which held the mortgages on these farms would fail, as well. In fact, over half of Montana's banks would disappear as a result of the protracted drought, this one included. After several changes in ownership the bank was, at that time, American National Bank.
When built, the bank was financed by John Quincy Adams, the man known as the "Father of Three Forks", so, when the bank failed, his son, Benjamin opened a real estate office in the building. Since that time a number of businesses have occupied the building while, throughout its history second floor offices have been occupied by various doctors, dentists and lawyers. A bank again in 1960, it, too is now gone and the old bank is now home to the Headwaters Heritage Museum, open June 1 through September 30 (and by appointment in the off season). While the museum has been open for thirty years, we can't state with certainty that it has been in this building for all of those thirty years.
Three Valleys State Bank
The Three Valleys Bank building is a rectangular structure, 25 feet by 76 feet, located on the corner of Main and Cedar Streets, in the downtown commercial area of Three Forks, Montana. The 1911 bank building occupies the north half of a business block, the south half of which was constructed in 1912. The building is masonry construction and is two stories high. The north elevation of the building is entirely brick. On the lower half there are seven evenly-spaced fenestrations, five windows and two doors. Each has a semicircular brick arch with dressed sandstone keystone. The doors, one located in the middle of the elevation and the other at the west end, are wood with a pane of beveled glass in the upper half of each. The hardware on these doors is of the latch type; the escutcheon plates are decorated with embossed scrollwork.
One business that quickly set up shop was the Three Valleys State Bank, chartered April 28, 1910. On July 18. 1910, the newly formed bank purchased lot #1 in block #16 in the city of Three Forks, Montana for the sum of $2800 from Frank and Alma Smith of Cook County Illinois. Financed by town founder John Q. Adams, construction began in November 1910 and was completed February 1911. Three Valleys State Bank was one of 34 state banks chartered in 1911. The other Three Forks bank, First National, had been established February 4, 1909. Indeed, an unprecedented number of banks, both state and national, were chartered in Montana between 1907 and 1919.
Like the community it served, the Three Valleys State Bank flourished through the mid-1910s. By the late 1910s, however, the fortunes for homesteaders and farmers in Montana began to turn. Widespread drought, though not felt as keenly in the Three Forks region as the rest of the state, began in 1917. By the early 1920s, over 11,000 Montana farms "blew away," leaving more than 40,000 people in eastern and central Montana destitute. Compounding the natural disasters were the strains on the national economy following World War I, and the resultant constriction of extractive industries in Montana, such as logging and mining. This combination of factors resulted in a keen economic depression that brought "upon the State and its banking structure an almost complete breakdown." During the flush times prior to 1918, Montana had become heavily overstocked with banks, and many of them had been reckless in their lending policies. Now the overextended banks fell like dominoes. While the financial records of the Three Valleys State Bank no longer exist, it is likely that the enterprise was overextended. American National Bank at 202 Main Street closed permanently when a receiver was appointed on October 19, 1923.
Adding to the already hard economic times, a severe earthquake rocked the city in 1925. On June 27, 1925, an earthquake hit Three Forks, Montana. The first quake hit at 6:21 p.m., the second shock was at 6:54 p.m., and the third shock came at 7:43 p.m. The first earthquake loosened chimneys and veneers on buildings. The second shock resulted in a loud roaring sound resulting from bricks falling and the sound of breaking glass. While the second shock was not as severe as the first, it was certainly more destructive. The third tremor came from the north to the south; it lasted only a few seconds and caused very little further damage. The buildings damaged the most were the Methodist Church, the school, Three Valleys State Bank Building, Labor National Bank Building, drugstores, the Avery Garage, Mestad's City Bakery, and the Brackney Home.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
THREE VALLEYS STATE BANK
Solid bank buildings were designed to assure customers that their money was safe from both theft and bank failure—a tenuous premise in the days before Federal Deposit Insurance. Here Romanesque arches, rusticated sandstone, thick masonry walls, and cavernous entryways marked the first-floor façade and symbolized the bank’s ability to endure, just as had the stone buildings of the Middle Ages. The less elaborate brick second story provided offices for Three Forks’ professionals, including doctors, dentists, and lawyers. Built in 1910, when the town was less than two years old, the sturdy building—financed by John Q. Adams, who founded Three Forks for the Milwaukee Land Company—also expressed its owner’s faith in Three Forks’ future. The bank changed hands several times before American National Bank purchased the seemingly prosperous enterprise in 1917. Soon after, however, extended drought and low commodity prices shattered the homestead economy. Thousands of farmers lost their land, land values dropped by fifty percent, and over half of Montana’s banks failed, including American National in 1923. Two years later, an earthquake shook Three Forks. The quake’s effects can be seen in the blond replacement brick and truncated cornice on the building’s west side. After the bank closed, Adams’ son Benjamin used the building for his real estate office until 1942. Thereafter, it housed a variety of businesses. In 1960, it became a bank once more when Security Bank of Three Forks opened the town’s first bank in thirty-seven years. The building became home to the Headwaters Heritage Museum in 1982.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
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