The historic Zions Bank building in downtown Vernal is on schedule to reopen later this month after a nearly 2 year long remodel process. In August of 2020 the bank announced that the historic brick building was undergoing a major remodel but promised that the historical integrity of the famous building would be preserved. For those that didn’t know, the Zions Bank building is known as the Parcel Post Bank as a nod to William Coltharp who was the sole banker in Vernal in 1916 and in need of a bigger location. Rather than have 80,000 bricks sent from Salt Lake City by wagon freighters at 15 cents per brick, Coltharp mailed each brick by parcel post at the much more affordable rate of 7 cents each. The rate was honored by the postal system but word traveled to Washington, D.C. and regulations were changed as a result. Zions Bank became the proud owner of the “brick-by-mail” building in 1974 and thanks to their now nearly finished remodel, the historic building will stand proud for hopefully another 100 years. Banking services at the newly remodeled Zions Bank are set to resume after 3:00pm on Friday, June 24th.
