Drought and the accompanying hard times hit much of Montana in the 1920s, a full 10 years before the
Dirty Thirties was to grip the world by the throat. Incorporated December 24, 1908, Fromberg's Clarks Fork National Bank, however, was able to weather the financial storms of both the '20s and the '30s, surviving until its failure on March 19, 1987. At that time it was absorbed by
The Yellowstone Bank, which is today headquartered in nearby Laurel, MT. When dissolved the bank had $8,423,000 in assets, with $8,159,000 in deposits.
The status of the old Clarks Fork National Bank building is not known at present. Though apparently not abandoned, the stuccoed masonry building bears no signage, indicating that could be a residence, or it could be used at present as a storage building. Quite simple in its design, the bank has the flat roof typical of small town, small budget banks of the time, with stepped parapets down each side. While situated on a desirable corner lot, this bank lacked the canted corner entrance also common at the time. Atop the corner facing the Montana Avenue - West River Street intersection is an old plastic sign which reads
NAT'L BANK, atop which is an analog clock.
The large painted
Clarks Fork National Bank across the frieze remains quite bright. Below that, across most of the front, is a Grandma Moses genre mural, depicting Fromberg, possibly as it was when the bank was incorporated in 1908. In the background is a row of grain elevators, while a stage coach passes by in the foreground, with the Fromberg downtown business area in the middle ground, all in basic blue.