In 1910 the National Bank building was completed, becoming the tallest building in all of Washington State for a short time.

In 1891 the National Bank of Spokane was created with the backing of wealthy businessmen from the region. At the time there were few notably tall buildings in Washington. The National Bank hosted a nationwide competition for the design plan of the building.

D.H. Burnham and Co, the largest architecture firm in the world at the time, won the design competition. Burnham designed a number of iconic buildings including the Union Station in Washington D.C., the Continental Trust Company skyscraper in Baltimore, and New York's Flatiron Building.

Costing 1.3 million dollars, the construction of the building began in March and took eight months to complete. The framed with fireproofed steel beams and the exterior material was a white terra cotta. The framing of the windows on every floor was wood that was painted a deep green. The 16th floor was topped with an arcade with a commanding view of the expanding city. The interior of the building matched the grandeur of the exterior. Two entrances opened into a grand lobby fitted with granite columns. Five elevators carried Spokanites to upper floors. The building was 219 feet tall and a total of 16 floors, and opened in January of 1911. This was one of D.H Burnham’s final building designs as he passed away a year later.

It was not only the largest building in Spokane but the tallest building in the state. Inside the basement of the National Bank was its greatest asset, the bank's vault. In an era before federal deposit insurance, the reputation of a bank rested on the thickness of its walls. Protected by a 23” thick steel door that weighed 36 tons, the vault was 27’ x 9’ the walls were made from three 1.5” thick layers of different types of steel making it the most secure in the Northwest for quite some time.

The Old National Bank Building’s reign as the tallest building in Washington was brief. Later in 1911, the Key Bank Building in Tacoma took the title. Today the Old National Bank Building still stands in downtown Spokane as the US bank building.

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The Oldest Bank North of the Snake River

Spokane's first bank once stood on this site. Located on the northwest corner of Howard St. and Spokane Falls Boulevard (formerly Front St.), approximately where the Fountain Cafe is today, first stood the Bank of Spokane Falls.

Pioneer and businessman Anthony McCue Cannon came to Spokane in April 1878. After he and along with J.J. Browne purchased half of James Glover's townsite to establish Spokan Falls, Cannon sought to establish a bank in order to generate business and new settlers into his fledgling town. At the time, the only bank in eastern Washington was in Walla Walla. In 1879, he borrowed $1000 from his sister-in-law, Mrs. Pope, and began his bank without any formal license. Cannon also successfully lobbied the Northern Pacific Railroad to build a line to Cheney where he invited new settlers to come and live in his town. As the region's sole bank, Cannon's business soon prospered.

The location of the bank would change several times over the course of its history. In 1879, Cannon occupied the same building as James Glover's first store, built in 1873. Cannon later built an entire block from Main St. to Riverside and Mill St. (now Wall St.) to Howard St. where it would serve as his economic and financial hub. His new building was two stories tall and made of wood and located just west of the northwest corner of Mill and Riverside.

Wood might not have been the right choice. On the evening of August 4, 1889, the Great Spokane Fire swept away most of the fledgling city. Originating near the intersection of Post Street and Railroad Avenue, the fire quickly ravaged its way northward and consumed Cannon's Block. Immediately after the fire, he temporarily moved his bank to the Review Building where he used his connections with the Hypotheekbank Dutch firm to quickly rebuild downtown Spokane. There, the bank would remain, temporarily.

Cannon began construction on arguably one of the most audacious buildings in Spokane history, the Marble Bank Building. But on June 5, 1893, just a few weeks before the Bank of Spokane Falls was suppose to move into its new place, the bank failed. Cannon's reputation as a successful businessman belied the risks that he had taken. At the time of failure, the bank had $200,000 in cash deposits. But construction costs for his new bank building proved costly, costs that Cannon covered with his depositor's money and an additional $80,000 loan from Hypotheekbank.

When the Panic of 1893 struck, Cannon desperately tried to acquire loans to replenish his vault but to no avail. Cannon had no choice but to close his doors. He died two years later in 1895, broke. For the Bank of Spokane Falls, Spokane's oldest financial institution that began in 1879, its doors would remain forever shut.

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