Old Granville State Bank

The Old Granville State Bank is a landmark in the architectural and economic history of this small community. It is representative of pioneer financial institutions that were chartered during the state’s formative period and that were forced into closure during the economic depression of the 1920s. George E. Stubbins established the Granville bank in 1901. Prior to coming to North Dakota, he had been a merchant and real estate agent in Britt, Iowa. After settling in the Granville area, he encouraged immigration, an undertaking that coincided with similar efforts by the Great Northern Railway. The Romanesque Revival bank, designed by an architect from Iowa, closed in 1923 due to rampant failures in land speculation. From 1904 to 1926, the second floor was used as the meeting place of the local Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star. The two-story building’s long narrow configuration and parapet roof are characteristic of North Dakota’s newly settled turn-of-the-twentieth-century towns. Walls are of coursed ashlar granite fieldstone on the principal elevations, with random rubble on the rear and secondary side. Imported sandstone was used for the water table, steps, belt course, lintels, archivolts, cornice copings, and to ornament the canted corner entrance carried on a single column.