Citizen's Banking & Trust Company Building

Citizen's Banking & Trust Co. Building

Photo by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17283828

Quick Facts

Location:

232-242 E. Main St. Ashland, OR

Designation:

National Register of Historic Places

In 1910, Citizen's Bank retained architect W. F. Bowen to design a bank building--two stories of buff-colored brick with granite detailing--and make it visually compatible with the building to the east, which was then under construction for Clyde Payne, a local real estate agent. Upon completion, the bank occupied the prominent corner storefront while the Payne section--more modestly constructed of the brick without any granite trim--housed a grocery and barbershop. The combined second floor, accessed via a shared entry, provided space for a number of Ashland professionals. The Citizen's Banking and Trust Company Building clearly reflects a period of civic pride, economic growth, and prosperity unequalled in Ashland's history. The building's location firmly anchors Ashland's modern business district as the outstanding and most intact building constructed during the city's boom years from 1909 to 1913. The new bank met with immediate success and grew rapidly. After only a year of operation, its resources increased more than 200 percent, rising from $115,596 in December of 1910 to $217,879 in November of 1911. This rapid growth was attributed to the community orientation of the bank's loan policies. The bank had a policy of turning deposits back into the local economy.

Like many other successful financial institutions, the bank failed during the Depression; the building later housed retail and office space at the ground level, while the second floor was converted to office and apartment use. It remains a center of shopping in the bustling downtown historic district. Although the bank liquidated its assets during the Great Depression, none of the depositors lost any of their money.

The Citizen's Banking & Trust Co. Building is located at 232-242 E. Main St. The stores and eating establishments that now occupy the building are open to the public. 

Discover more Oregon history by visiting the Ashland, OR travel itinerary.