McMinnville Bank

250 NE 3rd Street  |  Built 1885

J.C. Braly built the McMinnville National Bank Building in 1885. This narrow, two-story Italianate-style
structure spanned six bays along C Street (today’s Cowls) and presented a slender stucco-covered
façade to Third Street. Two upper-story windows faced Third Street, while a distinctive clipped corner
held the entrance and a window topped with a pediment inscribed “1885.” The second story retains
much of its original character, including one-over-one double-hung sash windows, piers scored to
simulate stone, continuous segmental arched labels above the windows, and an elaborate cornice with
corbelled brickwork and brackets. In 1890, this building became one of the first in McMinnville fitted
throughout with indoor water pipes.

The Yamhill County Bank opened here on October 18, 1886. It became the McMinnville National Bank in
1888 and operated from this location until 1905, when it moved to the Jacobson Block. In 1904, the
Oregon Fire Relief Association (OFRA, later Oregon Mutual Insurance) purchased the building. The
company renovated the ground floor and added a matching two-story extension on the Cowls Street
side that increased the bays from four to six. OFRA occupied the building until 1922, when it moved to
new quarters at Fourth and Davis streets. In late 1924, after remodeling the ground floor, McMinnville
Water & Light established its headquarters here.

Over the decades the building also housed a meat market, physicians’ offices, a boot and shoe repair
shop, and law offices. In the early 1990s, owner Alex Clemens renovated the long-unused second floor
into four unique apartments, which became Third Street Flats around 2013. The Bitter Monk, a popular
craft beer taproom, opened on the ground floor in 2014. The McMinnville Bank Building reflects the
city’s early commercial boom. While the ground floor has seen modernization, the upper floors preserve
fine Italianate details typical of late-19th-century commercial architecture.

For images of the the property, and further details, check out the link below:

Historic Resources Inventory Documentation