By: John Stibbe, SVP Eastern ND Trust Manager | Photos: Fargo Inc!

Mergers bring new personnel, new cultures, and sometimes new buildings. The former BlackRidgeBANK headquarters building in West Fargo, ND, is home to various First Western team members: mortgage, trust, human resources, IT, insurance, and marketing. 

The building has many unique characteristics. Upon entering the building, you will meet our administrative assistant, whose desk is made from a metal shipping container. The top of the desk is held up by an old International Harvester hydraulic. The main foyer is 2 ½ stories high with a suspended “W” hanging from the ceiling.  

The main floor conference room is spacious with industrial looking lights that came from the Vorkuta Mine in Russia. The conference room and the lobby both feature industrial metal picture frames that contain a “secret” compartment behind the hinged door of the picture frame. The pictures in these frames are originals created to represent the building’s factory and textile themes.

The main floor has 14 private offices. The offices on the east side of the building have unique industrial looking hanging desk lights equipped with Edison bulbs. The east side of the building and the west side has the ability to be cordoned off by massive 8 foot tall and 11 foot wide sliding doors. The doors are supported by and slide on steel beams.  

The fun doesn’t end on the first floor. Upon arriving on the second floor, you will notice a unique wood floor. The floor is the wood basketball floor from the “Old Fieldhouse” at North Dakota State University. 

There are five private offices on the second floor. Both the first floor and the second floor have significant space for ample workspaces. As you enter the second-floor conference room, you will see “Thundering Herd” on the conference room floor reminiscent of yesteryear’s Bison basketball players. The conference room table sits atop 16 real wooden baseball bats, and the tabletop is a replica of the famous Fenway Park scoreboard known as the “Green Monster.” The tabletop score is from a September 20, 1919, game between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. That game was the last game Babe Ruth played for Boston before being sold to New York. The trade led to the “Curse of the Bambino,” and the Red Sox didn’t win another World Series until 2004.

When you take the elevator from one floor to another, the industrial feel and lighting may make you may feel like you are taking a ride into a mine.

Please stop by to visit our West Fargo Trust Department anytime! 

First Western Bank & Trust – Admin Building
825 26th Avenue East
West Fargo, ND 58078