The Townsite Company began promoting Eureka’s agricultural potential in 1907, spurring the need for a local bank. Kalispell and area investors responded by subscribing $25,000 to fill this need. When the bank opened in 1908 on its prominent corner, the Tobacco Plains Journal pronounced it “without doubt the handsomest brick structure” in the western part of the county, and the Kalispell Journal declared the town quite fortunate since “the most important factor in the development of a new country is a solid banking institution.” The $12,000 bank building featured the most up-to-date safe and interior furnishings from Chicago. The Townsite Company shared the bank’s ground floor while the town rented the upstairs for police court and council chambers for $14 a month. The bank’s investors had promised a “good, wide awake man at the helm” and named one of their own, C. A. Hamann of Kalispell, bank president. Deposits of more than $7,000 on opening day were a grand prelude to the bank’s early success, but heavy irrigation investments and closure of the local lumber mill resulted in its failure in 1925. Subsequent owners included the first town clerk, H. G. Pomeroy, and former bank board member and county sheriff Frank Baney. Simple lines and elegant brickwork provide an excellent example of Western Commercial architecture while an unusual wide central arch with a multi-paned cut-glass transom adds particular distinction to this long familiar landmark. Sensitive restoration of the first floor has preserved the original open commercial space, tin ceiling, and wood trim.
]]>Eureka and the Tobacco Plains area are timber country, and it is fitting that the Community Hall here is made of logs, carefully crafted by local workers into this Rustic Style structure in 1942. As the fortunes of the logging industry rose and fell during the twentieth century, so did those of this area. During the 1920s and 1930s, economic depression thinned Eureka’s population but, as a local historian noted, “citizens … never thought of their town as a ghost town.” After the elementary school (which itself had done double duty as a community center) on this site burned down, a variety of groups began working toward this building—their goal not realized for seven years. The Grange, Vets’ Club, American Legion, Little Theater Guild, Community Club, Farmer’s Union, and the Town of Eureka all joined the effort. Just when the logging industry boomed again, this building arose, proving that faith in their community had not been misplaced. Once again, this site was a meeting place for entertainments, celebrations, lectures, and political discussions—a place for Lincoln County residents to set aside the isolation of their rural lifestyle.
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