First came the Merchant's Bank, best known as
The Flatiron Building, which was built in 1904. Next came this, the Union Bank, built adjacent to the east side of the Merchant's Bank in 1910. Finally, across the street from these two, the Royal Bank arrived on the scene in 1914.
Following the fire of 1906, which levelled the entire block, save for the Merchant's Bank, this was the final building to go up, completing the streetscape. Not nearly as large or ostentatious as its neighbor, the Merchant's Bank, and not occupying a corner lot, as did its other neighbor, the Royal Bank, the Union Bank was, nonetheless, a fitting completion to the block, blending in well with its brick and stone neighbors.
One of the largest financial institutions in Canada at the time of the construction of this branch, by 1925 it had merged with the Royal Bank, which continues in business today.
UNION BANK OF CANADA
This branch of the Union Bank of Canada opened in the Town of Lacombe in 1911; at the time it was one of the largest financial institutions in western Canada. The Union Bank eventually merged with the Royal Bank of Canada in 1925. The construction of the Union Bank building was the final piece in the reconstruction of this block and, like the Urquhart Block, it has facades on both Barnett and Allen Avenues. The Union Bank of Canada was constructed by Sandy Hall, a contractor from Strathcona; Hall was a stonemason by trade who arrived in Lacombe from Scotland the same year he built the Union Bank building.
From the Lacombe Municipal Heritage Survey