From the Archives - March 25, 2021

Remember getting that little “piggy bank” as a gift from your local bank? You saved all your coins by dropping it into the slot on the pig’s back. No, you couldn’t retrieve any of the coins as there was no hole on the bottom for your convenience. You were to take it back to the bank. The cashier would open it, and you were to deposit the coins into a savings account. But, as some of you may remember, the only way to open it was to smash it with a hammer! Sometimes, you needed that money to buy an item you so desperately wanted, and you took out after that “piggy bank” with a hammer of your own!

This little “piggy bank” survived that fate, as the owner never dropped a single coin into it. It was saved as a souvenir from the First Security Bank.

On the city lot vacated by the I.O.O.F. building (which housed Stone’s Grocery, Sigman’s Grocery, and then M & M Grocery), the First Security Bank was constructed in 1968. Sometime between 1968 and 1977 the bank handed out the “piggy banks.” Dr. Barker opened his optometry clinic in 1977 and retired in 2015. The building opened in 2019 as the Plaza Downtown, creating office space for several businesses.

Your Boundary County Historical Society and Museum, 7229 Main, Bonners Ferry, Idaho sponsors this column.

As the museum remains closed, you can visit the website at www.boundarycountymuseum.org or the museum’s Facebook Page for historical photos and stories, and to see upcoming events. Or we can be reached at doyouremember@meadowcrk.com or telephone 208-267-7720. Thank you for your continued support!