The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 42, October 20, 2002, Article 12

BACK TO THE FUTURE IN DENVER

  From the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, CO comes this
  story, published October 16, 2002:

  "First United Bank President Stephen P. Baltz loves history.

  And he says he's saddened that most of Colorado's banks have
  lost their local history through mergers and acquisitions and are
  now headquartered in places such as California, Minnesota,
  Ohio, Utah, North Dakota and Alabama.

  But Baltz is rolling back the clock in his latest banking branch,
  which he expects to open by mid-November in the historic
  Equitable Building in the heart of downtown Denver.

  "You'll be stepping back into time" when you enter his bank at
  740 17th St., Baltz said, while walking around the space that
  will look as much as possible like the First National Bank of
  Denver looked from 1896 to 1911, when Colorado business
  pioneer David Moffat was president and the bank was located
  in the Equitable Building.

  ...  he's re-creating the space based on old photos of Moffat
  and his nephew, Fred Moffat.  The photos show the Moffats
  sitting in their offices in the old First National Bank of Denver,
  which in 1897 was the largest west of the Mississippi River.

  Baltz also owns the adjacent Molly's of Denver space. He
  hopes to carve out a small portion of that to replicate David
  Moffat's former office...

  Baltz is spending about a million dollars on the renovation.

  The new bank will have replicas of the old mahogany desks
  and chairs seen in the photos. The walls will be covered
  with antique maps.

  Teller cages - which had bars as a defense against bank
  robbers - also will be be replicated, but Baltz won't require
  his employees to dress in historic garb.

  "We might have special days when we get dressed up," he
  said.

  Former First National Bank executive - and de facto historian
  - Bob Pulcipher, takes his hat off to Baltz.

  While there are other historic banks in Denver, such as the
  Colorado National Bank that is relatively unchanged over
  the past 80 years, no one has done what Baltz is undertaking,
  said Pulcipher, one of the authors of a coffee-table book on
  First National Bank called the Pioneer Western Bank - First
  of Denver: 1860-1980.

  "To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever given a
  contractor an old photo of a bank and said, 'Build this for
  me,' " Pulcipher said."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_82_1481472,00.html

  [So on "dress up days," will they hand out large size
  national bank notes in change?

  See the full story on the newspaper's web site, along with
  a photo of an antique 7.5 ton bank vault door being lowered
  into the building.   And if you have any interest in early
  Denver numismatic history, you should locate a copy of the
  "Pioneer Western Bank" book, published in 1984.  I have a
  copy in my library and it's a great source of information on
  Clark, Gruber & Co and the first Denver branch mint, along
  with color illustrations of of Denver numismatic items including
  pioneer gold, paper money and checks.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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