US Bank closes its doors in Wallace

WALLACE — Thursday was the end of an era for the city of Wallace, but greener pastures may be on the horizon.

The Sixth and Cedar branch of US Bank closed its doors for the final time, something the town’s leadership had been anticipating the bank’s closure since notices were sent to its customer base in mid-October of last year.

The reason behind the closure was explained in the letter to the customers, stating that, “Customers’ banking preferences and behaviors are changing, influencing how and where we operate. As a result, we are consolidating some of our physical locations.”

The notices were met with outcry from local residents all the way up to Wallace Mayor Lynn Mogensen — all of whom sought to understand the basis for the decision to remove the only financial institution from the Shoshone County seat.

“US Bank’s decision is unfortunate, but they’ve made similar moves all across the country,” said Wallace Chamber coordinator Dave Copelan. “They’re closing branches in other economically vital communities having nothing to do with the local economy and everything to do with a corporate decision.”

The Wallace branch serves not only their 1,600 accounts, but also folks and businesses in Silverton, Mullan, and even across the Montana border — which means those who reside near Mullan or even further will require anywhere from a 48 to 60-plus mile round trip to visit their “local” US Bank branch in Pinehurst. However the automatic teller machine (ATM) located at the US Bank building will remain in operation.

While the situation has been stressful for the residents in Wallace and those surrounding communities, the community leaders have been hard at work to ensure that a resolution is found that will allow residents to do their banking in Wallace again.

“We’ve been working closely with the Commerce Department and then with some local banks,” Copelan said. “I’m confident that we’ll have at least a community bank and a credit union in Wallace by the end of 2022.”

The only thing standing in their way is overcoming the various regulatory hurdles that accompany setting up a financial institution.

Copelan anticipates that the First National Bank building on the corner of Sixth and Bank streets will once again house a bank.

“It underlines the fact that the city of Wallace in particular and Shoshone County in general is a great place to do business,” Copelan said. “There are a lot of opportunities here.”