The Montezuma Valley National Bank and its associated store building played a significant role in the commercial history of Cortez.

In 1908 the Montezuma Valley National Bank initiated construction of a stone building. For over four decades (from 1915 through 1957), this building housed the town's only bank.

Shortly after its construction, the bank continued the masonry walls and sheet metal trim onto its adjacent lot creating another commercial building that became an investment property for the bank. This circa 1910 building housed a series of commercial enterprises including one of the town's first bakeries, a drug store and a grocer/butcher shop.

Additionally, the buildings are significant for their method of construction. Longtime, local stonemason Peter Baxstrom and his son Henry utilized sandstone quarried nearby for the two buildings. Very few stone buildings have been identified in Cortez and these are the only commercial buildings employing classical ornamentation - as seen in the dentiled cornices and the pedimented entryways with medallions. This classical ornamentation is sheet metal - a lighter, cheaper and fire-resistant building material that reached its peak of popularity in the last decade of the 19th and first decade of the 20th centuries.

Quoted from the History Colorado website.