Mountain West Bank celebrates pre-opening in Wallace
Mountain West Bank will open its doors to the public on June 13.
Photo by MOLLY ROBERTS
Members of the community and staff of Mountain West Bank gather to tour the century-old building.
Across the street, staff of Mountain West Bank and members of the community enjoyed food and drinks at the Loft.
Bank tellers beautiful space.
WALLACE — Wallace continues to celebrate the opening of the new branch office in the gorgeous First National Bank Building on the corner of Sixth and Bank Street. The Wallace branch held a pre-opening celebration last week, as people were invited for food, drinks and camaraderie, and a tour of the beautiful building, before the official opening on Monday, June 13.
The building itself was built about 106 years ago, acquired in 2016 by John Magnuson who bought it with the goal of maintaining its historical integrity.
A Guide to Historic Wallace, Idaho, describes the building as a second renaissance revival, with a white terra cotta structure, that is distinguished by the Doric columns. The Doric column is an architectural element from ancient Greece and represents one of the five orders of classical architecture.
The building went through extensive restoration in the 1980s and received the Orchid Aware from the Idaho State Historic Society in 1988.
Mountain West Bank opening in Wallace is exciting for the town, as they have only had an ATM after the closing of the U.S. Bank in January 2022.
Gina Doerschel, a native to the Silver Valley, will take over as new Branch Manager of the Wallace bank, and is incredibly excited to take on this endeavor.
“Everyone should know how important this is to the Mountain West Bank to be here in the Silver Valley. This was a well thought out decision and wasn’t taken lightly,” she said. “Coming here was the right thing to do, for all the right reasons. We want to be here, and we are so excited.”
Mountain West Bank's new Wallace branch will offer business and personal deposit accounts, consumer loans, home loans, business loans, and other business banking services.
“I think it’s being able to fill and take care of such important needs for the people and businesses in Wallace and it’s surrounding areas,” Doerschel said. “With the departure of the other bank, Mountain West coming into town will not only fill that void, but we’re also going to have fun doing it! You’re going to be seeing us out in the community, and not just the branch.”
The event itself was a great success, with many familiar faces in attendance to support the opening of the bank.
“We had an amazing turnout, and the buzz of so many conversations just added to the vibe of excitement from the community,” Doerschel said. “Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to our pre-opening celebration. I can’t tell you how happy it made me to see so many familiar faces along with all of the new. My team and I felt so welcomed by everyone and look forward to our future here, and hope that everyone will love my team as much as I do!”
Mountain West Bank would also like to thank Ken Lynn of the Loft on Bank for the use of his facility, along with the 1313 for providing food and beverages service. In addition, thanks go to The Fainting Goat, Cogs, The Blackboard Cafe’ and Lemieux’s catering for their delicious food as well.
Mountain West Bank was founded in Coeur d'Alene in 1993.
In addition to its Coeur d'Alene headquarters, Mountain West Bank operates 21 branches, financial service centers, and lending centers throughout Idaho and Eastern Washington.
It is a division of Montana-based Glacier Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Glacier Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: GBCI) that operates 194 offices in 124 communities in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona and Nevada. Visit MountainWestBank.com for more details. Member FDIC.
