Building History

The People's National Bank of Washington was founded in 1889 by nine of Seattle's leading businessmen: Arthur A. Denny, William Elder Bailey, Bailey Gatzert, John Collins, John Leary, Otto Ranke, James R. Hayden, Jacob Furth, and Leigh S.J. Hunt. Gatzert, of the Schwabacher Hardware Company, served as the first president of the board of trustees, with Furth as vice-president, Denny, second vice-president, and Hayden as manager. Others on the first board included Louis Schwabacher, Bailey, Leary, Collins and building contractor Ranke. The first officers were Hayden as cashier and secretary, Frank L. Blodgett, assistant cashier, and the law firm of Preston, Carr and Preston. By 1897, the People's Savings Bank continued to operate in the Occidental Block and Furth had become president, serving with A.A. Denny, vice-president; James Hayden, manager, cashier and secretary; and Frank I. Blodgett, assistant cashier. (See Polk's Seattle Directory Company's Seattle City Directory, 1897, p. 618.)

As noted in the pamphlet, Seattle and the Orient, "The bank was for eight years located in the west end of the Occidental Block, the quarters now occupied by the Hotel Seattle." (See Alfred D. Bowen, Seattle and the Orient, [Seattle: Seattle Times Printing Company, 1900], pp. 130-131.)

PCAD id: 22364