Founded in 1905 as an independent community bank, The Mechanics Bank has become one of the largest banks headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, with more than $2.5 billion in assets, the bank continues to maintain its independence and serve the community.

The Mechanics Bank has been under the leadership of the Downer family for most of its history. E. M. Downer steered the bank through the 1920s, boom years when Richmond, home of the bank's headquarters, was a major West Coast industrial center, and The Mechanics Bank served Standard Oil, Santa Fe Railroad, the Ford Motor Company, and their employees. Downer also successfully led the bank through the Great Depression years while many other banks succumbed.

In 1939, with World War II already underway, Richmond became a major hub of industrial and shipping activities, and home to the Kaiser shipbuilding company, adding more then 70,000 new citizens. Enjoying burgeoning growth during this period, The Mechanics Bank pioneered such innovations as the first personal, automobile, and appliance loans in Northern California, as well as the first drive-in banking facility. From 1941 to 1945, the bank more than quadrupled in size, adding commercial and corporate offices in Walnut Creek, Oakland, Marin, the Napa Valley, and Pleasanton. More recently, The Mechanics Bank has added offices in San Francisco and the Sacramento area.

The Mechanics Bank owners and employees believe that as an independent, family-owned community bank, they have a responsibility to give back to the communities they serve. The bank’s corporate giving program mainly focuses on youth and education, but also supports a variety of cultural, civic, and health and human services organizations. Employees are encouraged to become active, as well. Fully two-thirds are engaged in at least one community organization or nonprofit activity.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support we’ve been given over the years,” says Eddie Downer III, chairman of The Mechanics Bank. “Remembering the lean years during the Depression, and the tremendous faith placed in us by the people of greater Richmond area, we will always feel a bond with those communities, and an obligation to give back.”

Downer’s grandfather, E. M. Downer, infused The Mechanics Bank with commitment to community. A former weekly newspaper publisher, local postmaster and telegrapher, chairman of the Pinole-Hercules school board for 25 years and a small town mayor, he understood the needs of local communities, and believed a community bank’s justification for being was to serve those needs. That became The Mechanics Bank’s operating philosophy, carried out through its first century.

The bank has historically supported youth, education, and youth-oriented programs—the kinds of programs that can help change lives by fostering skills that lead to independence., The Bank supports a variety of programs ranging from Boys and Girls Clubs, Police Activities Leagues (PAL), performing arts centers, homeless centers, local school districts, and community housing development efforts to programs for local seniors and those that help disabled persons acquire work and life skills. A key tenet is that the money must be spent within the communities served by The Mechanics Bank.

“While we admire the national support that bigger, multi-state banks provide to major organizations, we firmly believe that a community bank’s activities, whether commercial or philanthropic, should benefit the people in the areas we serve. Our loans focus on businesses and individuals in our area, and we don’t make charitable donations unless they directly benefit our local communities.

“This centennial year, we have committed to ongoing donations of $1,000 per employee to organizations in the communities where we operate,” says Downer. “While the total may seem small compared to some major corporations, its impact is magnified because every dime is spent locally.”

In addition to money, the bank has, over the years, made significant donations of property, and in one case, forgave a major loan to a non-profit organization when it determined that paying it back would inhibit the organization’s ability to accomplish its primary goals.

“Being principally family-owned has given us the freedom to do things that large publicly traded companies cannot,” says Downer, a third generation member of the founding family. “We believe that our mission extends beyond profit-making. We want to make every community in which we operate a better place.”

For more profiles of Community Capital business members of local BALLE networks, click on the links below:

Exchange Bank, Santa Rosa, California