The bank for the little mining town of Imperial occupied a building that accomplished its architectural mission perfectly. It was small, but it gave the impression of being respectable and substantial—a place where your money would be safe.
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The Imperial Bank
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By the Montour Railroad in Imperial
The Imperial station on the Montour Railroad has become, with much remodeling, the Findlay Township Activity Center, which residents can rent for (you probably guessed already) activities. A neat little red caboose sits beside the old railroad bed, which is now the Montour Trail.
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Imperial
Founded as Montour City, Imperial was renamed for the mining company that founded it, the Imperial Coal Company. It is picturesque in its decay, and yet not decayed enough that it is not a pleasant town to live in. The buildings along the old Montour Railroad below, for example, are still in use by a construction contractor. The other two views are parts of the business district on Main Street, which has little business these days.
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Valley Presbyterian Church, Imperial
This charming Arts-and-Crafts Gothic church is the most distinguished building in the little hamlet of Imperial. It was built, according to the date stone, in 1911 for a congregation that had been founded in 1840, and the large cemetery behind the church has tombstones going back to that foundation.
The outstanding feature of the church is its belfry, with simple and massive woodwork that echoes the Gothic arches below, but also flares out into bell shapes, like a Sunday-school-supplement illustration of the bells within.
A postwar Sunday-school wing in the rear is built from nearly matching brick.