The Northwestern and Pacific Hypotheek Bank was a Dutch mortgage bank established in Spokane Falls in June, 1889 to lend money on the security of real estate. From its beginning the Hypotheek Bank did a brisk business. When 32 blocks of the city’s business district burned in August of 1889, the bank, which had insured with British insurance companies, received payments on its destroyed properties within two weeks. As the town rebuilt, the Hypotheek Bank was a willing lender, and by the end of 1891 it had made loans totaling $4.5 million on urban property and $687,000 on rural. In the wake of the Panic of 1893, the bank foreclosed on outstanding loans, and it is estimated that at the time Hypotheek Bank owned 25% of the central city property.
By 1905 the bank concentrated on loans on agricultural properties in eastern Washington and the western half of northern Idaho. The Hypotheek continued its activity in rural mortgages until after World War II when interest rates began to fall. In 1971 the Hypotheek Bank closed its office in Spokane and sold its remaining accounts to another mortgage firm.
From the guide to the Northwestern and Pacific Hypotheek Bank Records, 1885-1972, (Eastern Washington State Historical Society/Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives)
