14 Hoosier Banker November 2015 FEATURE Among the member banks of the Indiana Bankers Association, 77 have been in operation 100 years or longer. This year Farmers State Bank, LaGrange (FSB), joins the roster of centennial banks. IBA congratulates FSB and the other centennial banks that have weathered economic changes and challenges to bring strength to Indiana. In this issue of Hoosier Banker, we focus on our proud banking heritage. Farmers State Bank, LaGrange In 1915, in the month of June, a group of residents in the vicinity of Stroh, Indiana, gathered to organize a bank to accommodate a new settlement forming in LaGrange County. Five months later, Farmers State Bank officially opened its doors for business. The bank began its century-long tenure with 40 stockholders and, at the close of its first day of business, resources exceeding $35,000. Within its first 90 days, FSB more than doubled its resources. For the following 13 years, the bank continued to enjoy healthy growth, reaching over a quarter of a million dollars in assets in 1928. Economic conditions soon changed abruptly, however. In October 1929, the stock market collapsed, ushering in the Great Depression. Within four years, nearly half of all U.S. banks had failed. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated into office in March 1933, his first official act was to declare a “National Bank Holiday,” or “Bank Moratorium,” closing every bank nationwide for evaluation and classification. Yet due to the strength of Farmers State Bank, its moratorium lasted only one week, and the bank was permitted to reopen without major reorganization. Not only had Farmers State Bank survived the worst of the Depression, but it could take pride that not one of its depositors lost a cent of their assets. In fact public confidence in FSB was so high, that a group of citizens asked to bring the bank headquarters to LaGrange and maintain the Stroh office as a branch. To do so, the bank first complied with a capital-raising requirement of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions by selling 100 shares of stock at $100 each. Then, on Nov. 7, 1934, the bank established its LaGrange office at the intersection of Detroit and Spring streets. Today headquarters remain in LaGrange, although in a different location. Through the ensuing years, the bank has opened additional offices and has reached ever higher asset milestones, with current assets exceeding $570 million. A beacon of stability, the bank has been under the leadership of only a handful of presidents. Current President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph G. Pierce was named to his position in 2000. A member of the IBA Forty Year Club, Pierce is the only person in IBA history to have served as chairman of both the Indiana Bankers Association and of the Community Bankers Association of Indiana. t Indiana’s Centennial Banks: A Proud History Joseph G. Pierce Farmers State Bank, LaGrange, was established in 1915.
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