• FARMERS STATE BANK HISTORY January - History of banks in Yale – Part 1 In 1881, Charles and Bruce Yale, the sons of Milo Yale the founder of the city, started a private bank, The Citizens’ Bank of Yale. In 1889 this bank became the Yale Savings Bank and operated until it closed on June 6, 1926. It was located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Main Street and Bell Street where the Yale Post Office was located for many years. The Yale Fire Department building is currently in this location. Although the Yale Saving Bank was the first bank to serve Yale, it had no affiliation with Farmers State Bank. Look for Part 2 of FSB History with a continued look at history of banks in Yale. February - History of banks in Yale – Part 2 In 1914 a second bank opened in Yale. It was the Citizens Bank of Jamaica (a private bank) that was owned by the Heater family. The bank was located in a building where Farmers State Bank is currently located. On August 29, 1914 the entire west side of Yale’s Main Street was destroyed by a fire, including the bank building. In 1915, following the fire, George W. Heater and his son Guy E. Heater formed a new private bank called The Citizens Bank of Yale replacing the branch of The Citizens Bank of Jamaica. Next month in Part 3 we will explore the beginning of Farmers State Bank
  • March – The Beginning of Farmers State Bank – Part 3 On February 19, 1921 the Articles of Incorporation for Farmers State Bank were filed with the Iowa Secretary of State to convert the private Citizens Bank of Yale to a state charted bank – Farmers State Bank. On March 21, 1921, Farmers State Bank was approved to begin operation. The initial bank capital of $30,000 was provided by 34 stockholders: H. T. Blackburn, F. J. Biedermann, W. H. Burchfield, H. E. Culver, David Cox, Harry E. Culver, M. C. Culver, Charles Chaloupka, Wm. Cordis, Phillip Clouse, J. C. Danner, C. H. Erb, W. R. Hitchins, C. R. Hemphill, Jay W. Hemphill, Guy E. Heater, Audra Heater, Lougene Heater, J. T. Johnson, Charles Krauthoff, Wm. Leonard, H. B. Lyons, J. S. Latimer, Frank Macek, F. McClatchey, F. K. Nelson, T. E. Roberts, Charles & Joseph Small, E. L. Sheehy, S. M. Thompson, John W. Truax, Josef Tasler, A. L. Wiedman and E. M. Wernli The initial Board of Directors consisted of: W. H. Burchfield, Wm. Cordis, H. E. Culver, C. H. Erb, C. R. Hemphill, F. McClatchey and S. M. Thompson. The bank officers were Wm. Cordis, President, W. H. Burchfield, Vice President, Guy E. Heater, Cashier and W. R. Hitchens, Asst. Cashier. Next month another chapter of the history of FSB. April - Another Fire in Yale – Part 4 On January 16, 1928 the bank building and the neighboring building, Wiedman’s General store, were both destroyed by an early morning fire that originated in the store. The bank reopened for business at 8:00 A. M. the next day in the north room of the W. T. Strock building, a hardware store that was four doors south of the bank building. Construction of the building in which the bank currently operates began as soon as the weather permitted in the spring of 1928. The total cost of this new building was $15,000.00. Watch for Part 5 next month for an exciting day in Farmers State Bank’s history.
  • May - Excitement in Yale – Part 5 Overnight on October 21, 1931, two men broke into the bank and hid. When bank bookkeeper Jay W Hemphill arrived around 8 AM the men forced Hemphill into the vault and tied him up. They proceeded to rob the bank of $4,585.82 which was all of the cash that was in the bank’s safe. Ray Hitchens, the Assistant Cashier, arrived as the robbers were leaving the bank. They forced Hitchens into the vault with Hemphill. When the thieves left the bank they were unable to find their getaway car. Yale Mayor Fred Brechbiel, the town mechanic, had noticed an unfamiliar car early that morning while the robbers were still inside of the bank. Brechbiel towed the car to his garage and locked it inside until he could sort out the matter. The robbers then proceeded to steal a car from in front of a home a block north and a block west of the bank to make their getaway in. It turned out this car belonged to Guy Heater, the bank’s Cashier. Both men were later apprehended and arrested for the robbery. June - The Great Bank Holiday – Part 6 During the Great Depression thousands of banks failed across the US. In early 1933, people were losing confidence in banks and a panic ensued with many people withdrawing their money from banks. In many situations the banks did not have the cash to cover the withdrawals and the customers were turned away. This became especially bad for large banks in New York City who loaned money to smaller banks throughout the country. The day after his inauguration, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed a Bank Holiday to stabilize the US Banking System. On March 6, 1933 Farmers State Bank closed for the Bank Holiday, as did all banks across the county. When the bank reopened on March 13, 1933, they were required to make 50% of the deposits available to each customer at once with the remaining 50% to be held in trust for a period not to exceed three years. At the end of the day on March 13th, deposits exceeded withdrawals by more than $500, evidence that the public had not lost confidence in FSB. July - A New Look for Farmers State Bank - Part 7 With the current bank building being built in 1928, the bank was extensively remodeled for the first time in 1968. Two private offices and a drive-up teller window were added. The city made Hill Street along the North side of the bank one way for that block, to accommodate the drive-up window. In 2008, the bank's interior was again remodeled. In addition to modernizing the interior, a portion of the lobby was converted to an employee workspace. An ATM was also installed. An additional private office was added in 2017 in an area of the bank that had previously housed bookkeeping equipment and was no longer being utilized as computers had modernized data collection and storage. Next month we will look at how technology has changed FSB.
  • August - Technology Changes FSB – Part 8 In 1975 FSB began to convert from manual booking of records to a computerized system. The transactions were sent to Des Moines by courier each night where the accounts were updated and updated reports were received at the bank by courier the next morning. An in-house computer system was purchased in 1980 and all account processing was again done onsite with FSB employees operating the computer equipment. In 2011 FSB moved its computer server to the “cloud”. FSB staff still process the transactions onsite but the computer hardware is located offsite. FSB began issuing ATM cards in 1988. FSB’s first website was published in 2000. In 2004 the website became transactional which allowed customers to view their account balance and transaction history, transfer funds between accounts and make loan payments. A cellphone app, which included mobile deposit capabilities, was made available to our customers in 2011. FSB’s technology allows customers to bank from anywhere in the world on our website or mobile device application.
  • September - Changing of the Guard – Part 9 Yale Bancorporation (YBC), a holding company, was formed in 1990 to purchase the controlling interest in Farmers State Bank from the Guy Heater family. FSB had 50 stockholders at the time, 28 of those individuals traded their FSB shares for YBC shares, 19 sold their stock to the holding company and 3 individuals retained their FSB stock. In 2003 the final 20 shares of FSB stock were purchased by YBC, which now owns 100% of FSB. There are currently 27 stockholders in Yale Bancorporation, all of whom have local ties and many of whom are descendants of the original investors of the bank. Look for next month’s history where we look at the leadership of Farmers State Bank. October - Farmers State Bank Leadership History - Part 10 Guy Heater served as Cashier of FSB continuously from the bank's beginning until his death on November 19, 1948. In that era, the Cashier managed the day-to-day operations of the bank and had more power than the President, which is why Heater was not the President of the bank even though he owned 38% of the bank's stock. Jay W Hemphill, who had been employed at the bank for over 25 years was named Cashier in 1948, succeeding Guy Heater. Bess Heater, Guy's wife, was elected to the Board of Directors in 1950 and served until her death in 1966. The Heater family had an ownership interest in Farmers State Bank for 69 years, from its beginning until 1990 when they sold their interest to Yale Bancorporation. Presidents: 1921 to 1951 William cordis 1952 to 1964 Francis E Culver 1965 to 1972 Jay W Hemphill 1973 to 1976 C V Lyons 1977 to 1993 Jay C Hemphill 1994 to 2021 Douglas J Hemphill 2021 Scott C Stanley
  • CUSTOMER’S MEMORIES OF FSB Since its beginning in 1921, Farmers State Bank has been a cornerstone of the community. Longtime customers, former local residents, and retired employees have shared some of their memories of FSB. If you have a memory to share let us know, we would love to hear it! January Remembers Bess Heater telling her that a friend of Bess’s had been to the bank to do some business but there was no one at the bank except the person who was sweeping the floor but the sweeper was her husband, Guy the bank Cashier, who not only ran the bank but did the janitor work as well. Remembers the large desks for the ledger books where the records were kept and the only equipment being a typewriter and an adding machine. February Our family would ride the train from Linden to Yale to do our banking business Jay W Hemphill’s desk was his filing cabinet. He had stacks of paper and files on it but he knew exactly where everything was and could pull it out of the stack when it was needed. March “Our family moved northeast of Yale in 1936 and started banking at FSB, we have maintained a banking relationship since that time. My brother and I would come into the bank with our dad to talk to Jay W (Jimmie) Hemphill. Jimmie would give us a nickel so we could go to the store to buy gum. I remember the tall iron frame work that surrounded the teller line at that time. I asked Jimmie for a recommendation in 1963, Jimmie said “sure, what would you like me to say about you!” When my wife and I came to the bank to get a loan, Jimmie gave us the loan form and told us to “fill in how much you want because the bank has more than that!” April Our family moved northeast of Yale in 1936 and started banking at FSB, we have maintained a banking relationship since that time. My brother and I would come into the bank with our dad to talk to Jay W (Jimmie) Hemphill. Jimmie would give us a nickel so we could go to the store to buy gum. I remember the tall iron frame work that surrounded the teller line at that time. I asked Jimmie for a recommendation in 1963, Jimmie said “sure, what would you like me to say about you!” When my wife and I came to the bank to get a loan, Jimmie gave us the loan form and told us to “fill in how much you want because the bank has more than that! May I remember how nice all of the employees were to me and my siblings when we came into the bank. I especially remember Frances Chaloupka. I would wait for Frances to be free so she could take my deposit because she was so nice.
  • June: We didn’t have much back when I was small but the bank would always find a way to loan my dad the money that he needed to keep us going. Guy Heater would be sitting on a stool behind the west end of the teller counter pecking with one finger on the typewriter. He would always have time for the kids and invite them back behind the counter to take care of their business. When the kids were leaving Guy would give them a few cents to buy candy at the store before they left town. July: My mother in law, Margaret Ross Moore, worked at Farmers State Bank in the early years. She would ride the train from Jamaica to Yale to work. She really enjoyed her work at the bank, taking care of people’s money! August: My husband and I, his parents and grandparents all did business with FSB. The bank was a “life saver for all of us, helping us out when we really needed it during some very difficult times. September: Jay W hired me when I moved to Yale in the early 1960s to clean the clinkers out of the coal furnace that was the heat source for the bank until the mid-1960s. My pay was one silver dollar coin. October: Frances Renfrow Chaloupka I started to work at the bank when I graduated from high school in 1948. I got my job after Guy Heater drove out to my parent's farm northeast of Yale and asked my dad if I would like to work in the bank. I started working as a teller and doing other clerical work. I worked at the bank for 2 years before staying at home to raise a family. I returned to work at FSB in 1961 until retiring in 1994 as Assistant Cashier. ” /></li> </ul> </div></div></div></div> </td></tr></table> <span id=