Bank Electric Block - Lewistown Central Business Historic District - Lewistown, MT - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

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Bank Electric Block - Lewistown Central Business Historic District - Lewistown, MT

in NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 619355 N 5213463

The Bank Electric Block was so named for the partnership between the First National Bank and the Lewistown Electric & Power Company which was responsible for its construction.

Still very much original, the Wasmansdorff and Eastman designed Bank Electric Block was built in 1913 to house the First National Bank of Lewiston and the offices of the Montana Power Company. One of the largest buildings to line Lewistown's Main Street, the four story flat roofed masonry structure was built by the Seerie Brothers of Denver, Colorado.

Though not extravagantly embellished, the building was given its fair share of terra cotta trim, mostly in a beltline at dividing the ground and second floors and at the cornice, plus terra cotta frames surrounding the windows of the upper four stores. At the cornice are terra cotta panels at each corner of the building, each with a pair of lion's heads, the lions carrying square linked chains in their mouths. There is a total of ten lions dispersed around three sides of the building. Above, the overhanging cornice has several bands of decorated terra cotta blocks and tiles. At the roof is a low parapet of terra cotta blocks or bricks with tombstone-like decorative pieces every few feet. The parapet's corners have projecting seashell-like mouldings.

The section of the Lewistown Central Business Historic District NRHP Nomination Form for the building indicates that one of the partners in the building was the Montana Power Company and that the first owner was the National Realty Co. of Lewistown. Newspaper articles of the time tend to indicate otherwise, stating that:

President David Hilger, of the First National Bank, Sunday received a telegram from the head officers of the Lewistown Electric & Power company in New York stating that they have approved the plans, submitted by the First National here, for the construction of a modern business block in this city, to be occupied by the bank and the power company...

...Mr. Johnson and myself personally took up the matter with the Lewistown Electric & Power company, whom, we were informed, had in mind the erection of a building for its own use. After several trips to Butte and Great ralls and conference with Mr. Hebgen and others largely interested in the power company, we have at last secured their agreement to co-operate with the bank in the construction of the building.
From the Fergus County Democrat

We can't say for certain when the bank vacated this building, but after the Montana Building was built at 224 West Main Street both the First National and the Bank of Fergus county moved to that building. Today the Bank Electric Block remains a commercial building, primarily housing the offices of a number of businesses and services, both private and public.

Bank Electric Block

The First National Bank, organized in 1904 under the National Bank Act, was to become the "lusty offspring" of the Judith Basin Bank (est. 1899). Bankers generally sought the development of the region both as merchants and as landholders, as they remained dependent upon the farmers' prosperity, while the land agent lost interest when the transaction was completed. The interest of bankers in real estate was not simply that of normal banking operation, but that of businessmen engaged in multiple ventures. Many Lewistown bankers were not only large landholders, but were involved in private land office businesses and in organizations dedicated to promoting the dry land acres of Central Montana.

Over four million acres in public land were settled in the Lewistown district between 1900 and 1913, and Lewistown served as the commercial center for the influx of land seekers.

The First National Bank and the Montana Power Company, growing with the town, retained the services of the local firm of Wasmansdorff and Eastman to design the Bank-Electric Building. One hundred homes and at least a dozen large commercial buildings were constructed in Lewistown during 1913, and the Bank-Electric Building stands as a visible sign of the development and prosperity of the community during this period.
From the NRHP Nomination Form, Site# 177