The First Bank (Springfield)

From Lane Co Oregon

Revision as of 21:37, 15 November 2008

The first bank ( named “The First Bank”) opened on Main Street in 1904.

Springfield News, Friday, April 14, 2008

First Bank of Springfield Really Was First Banking

by Kris Redmond.

I have been thinking about what our city was like as it grew. In the early 1850s, the services that were: A ferry service, a trading-post, shoemaker, wagon maker, cabinetmaker, two blacksmiths, a physician and a merchant. There were two mills and a school. The Springfield School District formed in 1854 and the first post office opened in 1868. Springfield incorporated as a city February 25, 1885.

Almost 19 years after Springfield was incorporated, its first bank opened.

First Bank opened January 1, 1904, with a working capital of $10,000. Henry W. Stewart was its prresident, but served for only three months. E.E. Kepner bought out his partner, Steart, and became the second president. Two years later, the business was bought by First National Bank, which had another building just a block away.

The bank was on Main Street at the corner of Second Street which is now Pioneer Parkway West. The building was brick with large windows and an arched doorway to welcome customers. Nearby was a pair of large shade trees with a water trough between them. T he bank boasted a time-lock safe that ws wheeled into a vault every night. No statements were mailed to customers. To find out their account balances, they had to come to the facility with bankbook in hand.

The bank served the community until about 1933. Springfield Museum records show the only other bank in the community during this time was the Commercial State Bank. Probably because of the Deprression, both banks closed and Springfield was without its own financial institution for almost a decade.