The Federal Reserve Banks began a multi-year restructuring of their check operations in 2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System

The Federal Reserve Banks began a multi-year restructuring of their check operations in 2003 as part of a long-term strategy to respond to the declining use of checks by consumers and businesses and the greater use of electronics in check processing. The Reserve Banks will have reduced the number of full-service check processing locations from 45 in 2003 to 4 by early 2011.