About The Building

Established during the summer of 1915, the bank was founded by an ambitious young man from Denver, who arrived in New Raymer and organized a meeting of interested citizens who might be willing to become shareholders.  Joseph Nives Quinn had been working for several years as a teller in the US National Bank in Denver. Somehow he determined that New Raymer was a good location to start a bank and launch what turned into a lifelong career as a professional banker.  With Quinn’s encouragement, a number of local farmers and businessmen purchased shares and the State Bank of Raymer was incorporated.

Quinn arranged for a small masonry bank to be constructed on a primary corner in the town’s commercial center, and the building was completed in little more than six weeks after the organizational meeting had occurred.  Between 1915 and 1926, the State Bank of Raymer provided citizens along with the agricultural and business community in and around New Raymer with a local financial institution that was largely owned and operated by their neighbors, many of whom were well known as successful farmers, ranchers and businessmen.  The bank provided its customers with a place to deposit cash, manage checking accounts, take out loans, and even store their valuables in a vault that was advertised as fireproof and burglar proof.

Despite the best efforts of management and the board of directors to make the bank successful, it fell on hard times following World War I due to the approval of too many bad loans combined with deflation of agricultural prices that impacted the rural economy as a whole.  In late 1926, the bank was declared insolvent and seized by the State Bank Commissioner, which arranged to liquidate its assets. The building was never used for commercial purposes again. Its period of significance under this criterion runs from 1915 to 1926, reflecting the bank’s period of operation.

The small one-story masonry building, the only one in town other than the 1974 post office across the street to the east, is a simple western settlement-era building that reflects its modest budget, rapid construction schedule, and appropriateness for a small agricultural market town.  Its architecture is best defined as part of the Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements style applied to a commercial building.  This is reflected in the finer quality of masonry employed on its two street facades, along with its large storefront windows facing Centre Avenue, and cutaway corner and main entry oriented to the intersection.

On the interior, the building consisted solely of a primary banking room and a concrete vault.  The rear addition was constructed around 1930 to add a kitchen after the building ceased to be used for commercial purposes.

(Information from the State Register of Historic Places Registration Form written by Ron Sladek.)