Peoples Heritage Bank Donates Building to Town of West Paris

Building may be used for town library

WEST PARIS, Maine - Peoples Heritage Bank has donated its former branch building on Main Street to the Town of West Paris.

The keys to the donated building, valued at $85,000, were presented to town officials Monday by Edward Dilworth, divisional president of Oxford Bank & Trust and Karen Austin, a business development and sales manager at the bank. Town officials present included selectmen Jim Marshall and Terry Campbell, and Town Clerk Dian Rainey.

The building, which was an Oxford Bank & Trust branch until April of this year, will now be used by the town, possibly for a library. Peoples customers in West Paris are now served by the South Paris and Oxford branches.

Peoples Heritage Bank, which now operates four Oxford Bank & Trust branches in the area, announced last spring a consolidation initiative that included several branch closings throughout the state, including the West Paris branch. The new initiative was partly due to the increase in customer demand for automated banking and a decrease in branch services.

"We thought we would show our gratitude to our customers in the area, who are still served by the South Paris branch, by making this donation to the town so they can put the building to good use," said David Ott, chief banking officer at Peoples.

Peoples Heritage Bank is a Maine-based bank with 69 branches throughout the state and more than 2,400 employees.
# # #