Artifact of the Month: January 2017

Miners & Merchants Bank

Ketchikan's first bank, the Miners & Merchants, opened April 16, 1906. The bank was owned by a group of Seattle investors and quickly became an integral part of the community. It was first housed in the Revilla Hotel on the corner of Front and Mission Streets. The population around that time was estimated to be 1,500 people.

J.R. Heckman and a group of Ketchikan businessmen negotiated the purchase of the bank in 1917. A Territorial charter was issued in January of 1918, and Mr. Heckman became the bank's president, with M.J. Heneghan and P.J. Gilmore serving as vice-presidents. Also in 1918, the bank purchased the property at the corner of Dock and Main, which was the former home of Mike Martin and had been previously gutted by fire. Plans were made to erect a modern, fireproof structure on that site to house the bank. In 1921 the Commercial Building at 306 Main Street was completed, and would be the home of M & M for nearly a century, albeit under the auspices of National Bank of Alaska in 1960 and more recently Wells Fargo in 1999.

As the popularity of digital money increases, banks have made saving as simple as clicking a few buttons on the internet. Back in the early 1910s, M & M distributed these banks made by the Automatic Recording Safe Co. to encourage saving money at home. The small metal bank is oval in shape and accepts paper money as well as quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in their own separate compartments. The bank's special feature is a lock on the top. The key was kept at M & M and in order to retrieve the money inside, patrons would have to visit the bank to have it opened. The minor inconvenience was a great way to save money.

Ketchikan Museums: Tongass Historical Society Collection, THS 78.6.1.1