Bank of Issaquah

On January 1, 1900, Wilber W. Sylvester opened the doors of his new bank on Front Street north of Mill Street (now Sunset Way) in a wooden western style false front building. Later, branch offices were open in Redmond, Snoqualmie, North Bend and Tolt (Carnation).  Sylvester was President and his son Warren C. Sylvester was the teller. The bank also operated an insurance office. 

On October 18, 1909, they broke ground for a new building on the northwest corner of Front and Cooper Streets (now Front and Alder). A $9,000 contract to construct the two story bank building was given to Barnett & Farmer of Burlington, Washington - which had previously built similar structures in Burlington, Arlington and Sedro Wooley. The architect was George Wellington Stoddard.  The bank was to have colored glazed concrete brick on two sides and plate glass windows with prism headlight. 0. N. Becker got the job of extending the existing bank fixtures to fit the new building. 

The building was to have the first concrete sidewalks in Issaquah with material supplied from W.W. Sylvester's newly opened gravel pit northeast of town. The building was set back an additional three feet from Front Street so that the eleven foot wide sidewalks could be installed.  Mr. Sylvester also convinced other property owners on the west side of Front Street to set their buildings back. Even today the sidewalks on the west side of Front Street are three feet wider than on the east side.

Two thirty-five foot poles were placed on top of the new building on December 17, 1909, to be used in conjunction with the new wireless telegraph system.

By May 18, 1910, the work of laying the ornamental brick on the new building was in progress.  The new bank building was occupied on July 1st and the grand opening was held on August 12th.  

At that time, the second floor front suite was occupied by Doctor C. C. Dobbs, dentist.  In December, Doctor O.A. Kells, physician and surgeon opened his office on the second floor rear suite.  Dr. Kells lived at the Grand Central Hotel.

Assets of the bank (as of September 1990) totaled $169,559.89 with Roy E. Green as cashier.

During the week of May 12, 1911, both the bank and Dr. Dobbs installed new typewriters. Typewriters were becoming as much a necessity to country businessmen as to their neighbors in the larger cities.

On April 22, 1913, the Issaquah State Bank was Incorporated by H. L. Schultz, W. L. Collier and L.P. Schaefer with capitalization of $25,000. Sylvester apparently sold the Bank of Issaquah to the Issaquah State Bank Corporation in 1914 and the bank changed to its new name.

Issaquah Historical Society photo 78.59.4
The ornate interior of the Issaquah State Bank in 1914

Some time during the following years the telephone exchange moved into the second floor of the bank and in mid 1922 the Post Office moved into the rear main floor level from it former location in Gibson's Drug Store.  A. J. Peters eventually gained control of the bank and in 1933 sold a major interest to the Hall Investment Company, which was owned by C. Beadon Hall and Isadore V. Hall (brother and sister). They had previously organized a bank at Duvall in 1912, the Tolt State Bank (Carnation) in 1918, bought control of the State Bank of North Bend in 1924, and purchased the State Bank of Snoqualmie in 1929.

In 1936 the bank was paying 3% interest on savings and had safe deposit vaults available for rent.

In 1940 Albert W. Jensen became cashier for the bank and became a Director in 1942. He was previously employed by Hall's bank at Tolt from 1924 to 1927.

Washington State Bank
(State Bank Of Washington)

In 1944 the Halls merged the five banks with the new charted Bellevue State Bank to form the State Bank of Washington. The main office was at Snoqualmie.

In October 26, 1944, the Issaquah Post Office moved from the bank building to the Masonic Hall on Mill Street.

At the Issaquah branch, Vivian G. LeMoine began work in November of 1945 as head bookkeeper. Donald T. Williams was head teller as of January of 1949.  The Washington State Bank's assets totaled $7,851,300 at the close of business on June 30, 1949.  It had become a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

In early 1949 the bank temporarily moved to the Hepler Ford Motor Company building on the southeast comer of Front and Mill Streets in preparation for remodeling of the old bank building.  

An open house was held in the newly remodeled building on Saturday August 20, 1949, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Note: banks were not open on Saturdays in 1949.) The bank reopened in the building the following Tuesday.  Olav Boen Construction Company of 3647 Stone Way in Seattle was the general contractor who did the remodeling. W.H. Norton Tile and Marble Company of 7545 Bothell Way in Seattle furnished and installed the outside green composition tile on the exterior of the building.  Bellevue Plumbing and Heating of Bellevue installed new heating and plumbing systems and Herb Johnson Lumber Yard and Cabinet Shop of North Bend, made and installed the cabinet and finish wood work, and Nicols Electric Company of Bellevue, furnished and installed all electric wiring and fixtures. Seattle Bronze Company of 315 2nd Ave. West in Seattle, furnished and installed all bronze work. E.B. Wolfe & Company of 8409 18th Ave. SW Seattle, performed all painting for the project  The vault inside the bank was also moved and a parking lot was added to the west side of the building.

As of August of 1949 Dee Sherrill was promoted from a position of teller to  assistant Manager.  At that time Gordon Catching was teller.  Albert W. Jensen continued as manager and C. Beadon Hall continued as president. Bank Directors included; C. Beardon Hall, Isadora Hall, Edith Bagwell, Wheeler Coy, Albert W. Jensen, J.I. Miller, Nels Overland, Henry Pratt, C. J. Rud, Edward K. Wright, Hans Forester (Issaquah Creamery owner), and Joseph J. Lewis (a director since the 1930's and the original builder/owner of Lewis Hardware).

Issaquah Historical Society photo 91.7.88 
The Bank Building circa 1953.

On Monday, December 31, 1956, the Seattle First National Bank (formerly Dexter Horton's National Bank) purchased the Washington State Bank (and its eight branch offices) from Beadon C. Hall.  The sale was precipitated by the need for increased funding and management expertise to accommodate foreseen growth. The existing staff at the bank was retained.

In 1968 the Seattle First National Bank built a new building at 665 Front Street North and moved into the new quarters.

In 1974, the Seafirst Corp. was established as a one-bank holding company, and the bank became popularly known as "Seafirst."  In 1989, Seafirst Corp. was purchased by BankAmerica Corp. but the "Seafirst" name was maintained in Washington state until 1999, when a merger between BankAmerica and Nation's Bank created a national chain of banks under a single name, "Bank of America."

From the notes of Eric Erickson, 1999.
Major Bibliographic References:

• The Issaquah Press
• Issaquah Independent
• Issaquah Post Office History 1870 to 1977 by LeRoy Kolin, Bellevue Washington 1997
• King County Tax Assessor Records

Related Article

• Sept 25, 1999, Seattle Post-Intelligencer article,
   Come Monday, Seafirst name is history

Building Information

• See  Historic Buildings and Sites, Issaquah Bank Building