A historic building in Vernal featured in books and television shows, including Ripley’s Believe It or Not, is getting a major remodel. Zions Bank representative Zachery Modde announced this week at the Vernal Chamber luncheon that the bank will be moving on August 7th from their famous building on Main Street into the old Oak House Furniture building just south on the same block. This will serve as a temporary location for Zions Bank as the historic brick building is remodeled over the next year. Modde shared that the historical integrity will be preserved during the project and Zions Bank will be open for business from their new temporary location on Monday, August 10th. An ATM and night drop box will be available. For now there will be no drive through. Curbside assistance will be available, however, upon request. The Zions Bank building is known as the Parcel Post Bank as a nod to William Coltharp who was the sole banker in Vernal in 1916 and decided his bank needed a bigger building. Rather than have 80,000 bricks sent from Salt Lake City by wagon freighters at 15 cents per brick, Coltharp mailed each brick by parcel post at the much more affordable rate of 7 cents each. The rate was honored but word traveled to Washington, D.C. and regulations were changed as a result. Zions Bank became the proud owner of the “brick-by-mail” building in 1974 and thanks to their current remodel, the historic building will stand proud for hopefully another 100 years.
Photo Credit: www.zionsbank.com
