Downtown Hillsboro’s branch of US Bank is gone.
In October, U.S. Bancorp announced that 32 of its Oregon branches would be permanently closed. This included more than 25% of its Portland Metro Area branches. Downtown Hillsboro’s, at 210 E. Main Street, was one of them. According to the company, the reduction had been in planning for some time. The move was a result of ongoing work to keep service offerings aligned with customers’ preference shift toward online and voice interactions instead of ‘brick and mortar’ facilities.
Hillsboro area US Bank customers need not worry about being left high and dry. Other branches around town will remain. The branch at 1661 NE Cornell Road (at NE 17th Avenue). The Orenco Station branch at 7090 NE Cornell Road. The Tanasbourne branch at 2550 NE 106th Avenue (NE Evergreen Parkway and 185th Avenue). There are some ATM-only locations as well. However, customers should bear in mind that the US Bank ATM at the Cornelius Pass Road/E. Main Street Albertson’s is also on the elimination list.
The bank’s withdrawal from downtown Hillsboro is quite a blow to the district. In addition to being the city’s oldest US Bank branch and the company’s Hillsboro flagship, the facility was a hub for the area’s business banking. And had been since the 1950s.
The blow is felt in terms of the city’s heritage too. The site’s history as a financial institution began long before US Bank’s expansion into Hillsboro.
In 1911, the prominent Wehrung family of Hillsboro commissioned a renovation of the two-story, brick building they had erected at this street corner about 20 years earlier. The project’s main driver was the installation of a new tenant: the Hillsboro National Bank. The Wehrungs were major investors in the just-formed company. The Hillsboro National Bank would succumb during the 1930s, a victim of the Great Depression. The failing bank was merged into one of its competitors and across-the-street neighbor, the Hillsboro Commercial Bank. Thus, the Commercial National Bank came to be.
The Commercial National Bank took up occupancy in the former Wehrung building and, during the 1940s, the firm had the structure radically altered to exhibit the sleek, Moderne architecture that was in vogue at the time. The early 1950s saw two more business mergers. The second was the Commercial National being purchased by, and assimilated into, the U.S. National Bank of Portland (the predecessor of US Bank). This occurred on Nov. 29, 1954. For a short time, U.S. National continued to operate in the old Wehrung building. Ultimately, though, it was knocked down (along with one neighbor to the east and a few to the south) and replaced by the present structure and parking lot.
Nothing has been announced regarding the future of the now-vacant building and real estate at the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue and E. Main Street. The site is an ultra-prime downtown location, though. Certainly, new development of some sort will find its way onto the property.
