LaCrosse, Endicott residents lament loss of bank

What happens when the only bank in town closes its doors, and residents and local businesses are left without a place to deposit funds, cash checks and even get change for conducting business?

LaCrosse and Endicott in Whitman County have been operating in a no bank mode since the Bank of Whitman branches were closed down by FDIC and state officials Aug. 5.

“It’s devastating,” Jeannine Larkin, head of the LaCrosse Business Association noted. Larkin said the association is comprised of about 12 businesses which have to operate now without a bank in town.

LaCrosse and Endicott branches of Bank of Whitman were closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. along with 18 other branches the night of Friday, Aug. 5.

Eight branches opened Aug. 8 under the Columbia Bank banner, but 12, including Endicott and LaCrosse, didn’t. Deposits of the banch banks were transferred to branches that opened under the Columbia banner.

Michael Broeckel, manager of the former Bank of Whitman, now Columbia Bank in Ritzville paid a visit to businesses and others in LaCrosse to help ease the transition.

Larkin noted the LaCrosse bank shutdown hit just as a two-year struggle to get the LaCrosse Market back on line was approaching success. A contractor is now at work on the former store building which has been boosted with a fund grant from the Port of Whitman.

Both Larkin and Lois Startin at Startin’s Repair pointed out the absence of a bank will be a handicap when the LaCrosse market committee attempts to sign an operator for the revived store. The new proprietor could face the possibility of going into business without a local bank.

Larkin noted the shutdown also added a burden to the older residents of LaCrosse who are used to in-person banking and don’t like the idea of driving to Ritzville or Colfax to conduct transactions.

“The loss of a store took a toll on our senior citizens, and the loss of the bank could also have an impact,” Larkin said.

The bank shutdown at LaCrosse also could have an impact on the Teapot Cafe because its building was owned by the Bank of Whitman branch next door.

Sherry Garrett, who has operated the Teapot for 10 years, said the bank and the cafe share a common wall with the back of the bank vault part of the wall.

Garrett said she has been advised that the new owners of the building plan to work things out.

The Bank of Whitman branch at LaCrosse was in the town’s traditional bank site, for many years the site of the former SeaFirst Bank which became Bank of America.

Bank of Whitman first opened a branch in a modular unit on Main Street. After it moved to the traditional bank site the modular was purchsed by an out-of-town resident and remodeled for use as a residence for hunting.

Jenny Meyer, proprietor of the Endicott Food Market also said the shutdown of the bank in her town was a blow. She has operated the market for 22 years.

“All that time I’ve been able to just go across the street to do my banking. Now I can’t do that,” she noted.

Meyer said she is now faced with making daily deposits in Colfax, a task she can’t complete alone. She said she’s been relying on friends to drive the deposits into Colfax.

Meyer noted FDIC staffers who were at the Endicott bank after Aug 5 to assist local residents, said the FDIC will make an effort to sell the bank building which was at one time was the site of Rainier Bank.

Anne Lowe of Endicott said many residents of Endicott are upset with the loss of a bank. She exepcts the bank topic will come up when the Endicott Community Club resumes meetings after the busy harvest season.

Lowe noted Community Club and Endicott Gun Club events can generate a lot of cash, and she doesn’t like the idea of having to transport those kind of funds back and forth to Colfax or elsewhere.

At Rosalia, Ray Bernard, manager of the Bank of Fairfield branch, said they have been picking up new accounts at a brisk pace since the Bank of Whitman was shut down. Exit of the Bank of Whitman followed a shutdown of US Bank in Rosalia on the Friday of Battle Days weekend. That’s the loss of two banks within 60 days.

Bernard said much of the new businesss is also being generated by the Bank of Fairfield loan office which has been established in Colfax.

Normal procedure is for residents to open new accounts and then deposit a check from the now closed Bank of Whitman, Bernard said.

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