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"The first Bank of Pinole was organized in 1905 by E.M. Downer, Sr. and located in the George Fraser building on San Pablo Avenue between Tennent and Fernandez Avenues. A new limestone neoclassical structure was built across the street in 1915, and remained in use as a bank until the 1960s when it was sold to the Pinole-Hecules Youth Memorial Incorporated by Mechanics Bank. In 1975 the building was purchased by the City of Pinole for $1, with the stipulation that it continue to be used as a youth facility. The building was again sold in 1992 to the Pinole Redevelopment Agency after it was deemed structurally unsafe due to damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The $250,000 received by the city for the transaction was set aside in a fund earmarked specifically for youth purposes. In 1995 the Redevelopment Agency funded the retrofit and renovation of the Old Bank building, which reopened for commercial use in 1996."
