Farmers Celebrates Centennial Bank Grows With Community through a 100 Years of History

In a time when large corporate mergers dominate the nation's economic landscape, Farmers Bank and Trust NA has succeeded by reversing that philosophy. A century ago, Farmers opened a modest bank in Albert with $10,000 of capital. Its name accurately reflected its customers who mostly carved out their rural livelihood by arduously toiling the miles of fields that stretched around the outskirts of their country town.

Then and Now - Early days of Farmers State Bank in Albert planted the initial seed that eventually became Farmers Bank and Trust NA today with banks in six communities across the state. Farmers branched into Great Bend in 1977 and relocated its home office in Great Bend with a new bank in 1987. A full-service downtown branch in Great Bend was added in 1993. Farmers has six branches within a 50-mile radius in central Kansas to meet the needs of those communies.

"Our philosophy has to do with the fact that we were once a small bank and we understand small banks," said Farmers Bank chief executive officer Bill Robbins, who purchased the Albert Bank in 1971.

Farmers Bank continues to provide small-town service within each of the six communities where it owns and operates banks. As a group, five small-town branches in central Kansas have established Farmers as one of the largest area banks. Farmers also moved into Overland Park six years ago, strengthening its position as a leading bank in the state. Today, Farmers Bank capital exceeds $52 million and its assets total $550 million.

The bank's bullish position is far removed from its start-up days when its opening was delayed a couple of months because of the money panic of 1907. Much has changed in 100 years. What began as a predominantly agriculture lending institution is now a national bank with a diverse portfolio of ag, oil, manufacturing and other commercial lending ventures.

"We're really a mirror image of the community," said Gene Dikeman, who has served as Farmers Bank president for three years.

Still, Farmers Bank holds onto the name that accurately reflects the community's Midwest values and its sweat-of-the-brow agrarian heritage.

100 Years in the Making 1907 - Early day founders establish bank in Albert, Kan. Nov. 24

1920 - Albert organized as 3rd class city.

1971 - Farmers State Bank in Albert purchased by Robbins family.

1977 - Country Teller opens in Great Bend as first loan production office.

1977 - Installation of first automatic teller machine.

Sept. 1986 - Purchase of failed Home State Bank of La Crosse, population 1,427.

December 1987 - Home office relocates to Great Bend, population 15,345.

December 1987 - Retain Albert as branch bank, Albert population 179.

April 1990 - purchase of failed Bazine State Bank, Bazine population 263.

July 1993 - Opening of full service branch bank in downtown Great Bend.

August 1996 - Purchased Kinsley Bank, population 1,875.

2000 - Farmers Bank and Trust NA named Great Bend Chamber of Commerce "Business of the Year."

November 2001 - Opening of new bank facility at Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park.

September 2004 - Purchase of CapWest Mortgage Inc., Internet mortgage company.

April 2007 - Opening of full-service branch bank on Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park., population of Johnson County 451,086.

"The roots that were started in Albert, Kansas, obviously continue to run deep for us," said Dikeman. "Those values that were started back then are still the foundation for the success not only here but in the Kansas City area and other opportunities that lay ahead for us. We have no consideration of adjusting those core values of taking care of the customer. We wake up every day with the question of how can we serve our customers better?"

Farmers Bank cultivates those values in a 50-mile radius in five regional communities. Six years after the Robbins family purchased the Albert bank, Bill and his wife, Yvonne, branched into Great Bend, installing its first automatic teller machine. In 1987, the bank relocated its home office here. Additionally, Farmers purchased banks in La Crosse, Bazine and Kinsley through a three-decade span before also branching into Overland Park in 2001. While the eastward move is an opportunity for Farmers Bank, central Kansas continues to be important to its capital strength and a major part of its future growth, said Robbins. Emphasizing that importance, Dikeman pointed to bank representative weekly meetings that keep Farmers Bank focused on projects within each of the small communities it serves.

"A bank can only grow if the community and environment it is in also grows," explained Dikeman. "It's a partnership and the bank's responsibility to be a good partner with the community because we both win. That is why we work every week on how we can help build a community. Business development and community growth are talked about every Monday morning. Often times the capital from a bank is what brings new jobs to town. We've been stepping up to the plate for a lot of years to ensure that's happened."

Farmers Bank took the lead two years ago by purchasing land on west 10th Street. As a result Farmers Bank Plaza was developed last year, extending the city's business district westward and allowing opportunities for future business owners and entrepreneurs.

Additionally, the bank encouraged new home construction by offering low-cost construction loans in the Amber Meadows area at McKinley and 24th St.

More than 100 first-time families were able to realize the dream of owning a new home when FB&T initiated a program that awarded home loan grant funds in the amount of $4,000 each. Finally, the bank partnered with the City of Great Bend, initiating a study regarding the quality of life in Great Bend.

"Farmers Bank is most proud of its efforts with community economic development over the years," said Robbins. "Two local business-owners were able to expand their businesses in Great Bend due to the bank's efforts in securing over $50,000 in grants."

One person who has been an integral part of Farmers' economic fuel, initiative and growth is Great Bend attorney Larry Keenan, who has served on the bank's Board of Directors since 1969, two years before the Robbins family purchased the bank.

"Farmers was a secure bank, but it was a small bank when I came on board," said Keenan. "Bill had the foresight to make the bank grow and it's been dynamic under his guidance. I'm pleased at the growth, of course. I'm also pleased with the board's important role in that growth. Bill and Gene have had good boards to work with and cooperative boards. We've given them counsel, but we have never held them back."

Much of the growth has little to do with bricks and mortar. Within the last few years, Farmers has improved service to customers by extensive technology upgrades and has increased staffing to expand departments and adequately meet increased banking needs. Voice and data information at Farmers now travels six times faster than before with new state-of-the-art communication systems. The new technology ensures that telephone calls go to available bank representatives, eliminating waiting for customers.

Hand-in-hand with technology advancements, extraordinary security measures have been taken to ensure customer privacy and safety, said Dikeman.

No matter advancements in technology, though, banking still revolves around relationship and rapport maintained between a bank and its customers, Robbins said.

"It's about finding new ways to improve the quality of life, through the good and bad times, in the communities we serve," said Robbins. "When you start with a tiny bank you have to be involved in every phase of the process and that includes building relationships. For 100 years the Farmers Bank operations have strengthened customer confidence and demonstrated a willingness to invest in the economic future of the communities they serve."

Page Top

---

Community Strong

Farmers Bank and Trust NA recently purchased land on west 10th Street, Great Bend, that will someday beautify the streetscape and promote economic growth in the area. The project is in line with Farmers Bank's longstanding tradition of making a difference within the communities it serves. Listed are recent Farmers Bank service projects dedicated to the area:

• Officers and employees at Farmers Bank donate hundreds of service hours each year by serving in clubs and on boards focused on community improvement.
• Bank has administered the "Light up a Child's Life" Christmas program for more than 15 years, providing Christmas gifts to underprivileged children. Project organized by bank employees providing hundreds of hours of service work together with community raising thousands of dollars each Christmas.

Loyal Employee - Don Hanhardt, an employee of Farmers Bank, Albert, for 46 years, holds a plaque showing some of the varied check designs Farmers has used through its history. Hanhardt, a lifetime resident of Albert, joined Farmers a year after graduating from high school, serving as bookkeeper for the bank. Today he's a loan officer and assistant vice president of the Albert bank with no intentions of retiring any time soon. He worked for two bank presidents in the decade before Bill Robbins purchased the bank, and now has been with Robbins for 36 years. "I've had good bosses to work for and Farmers provides excellent working conditions," said Hanhardt. Farmers Bank employs more than 100 people to serve more than 10,000 customers within the five communities it serves in central Kansas.

• For more than a decade, Farmers has donated thousands of dollars to more than 30 local charities each Holiday season.
• Farmers raised community funds for last spring's storm and tornado victims and the bank matched funds totaling thousands of dollars given for assistance.
• Farmers is a continued participant of United Way of Barton County fundraisers and employee payroll deductions, accounting for thousands of dollars raised each year.
• Bank is involved with Make a Difference Day Annual Projects whereby employees actively participate in projects assisting individuals or community improvement projects each fall.
• Farmers conducts and participates in the annual Relay for Life cancer research fundraisers and events, raising hundreds of dollars a year for the cause.
• Bank contributed thousands of dollars to assist Hoisington with rebuilding the community after the tornado of 2001.
• Farmers is a continued strong supporter of schools within communities where it has branch locations. It is a longtime supporter of Barton County Community College.

Page Top

---

After Dust Settles Farmers Still Have Their Bank

Farmers Customers - Beatrice and Arthur Sayler are pictured on their honeymoon in Wisconsin after wedding in McGregor, Iowa Aug. 28, 1932. Beatrice lived in five states with her family before moving to the farmstead in Albert where she has lived in the same house and banked with Farmers Bank for the past 75 years.

Beatrice Sayler came from the upper Midwest and weathered the dusty days of the Dirty '30s on a farmstead southeast of Albert, after marrying Arthur Sayler in the summer of 1932. She placed brown paper around the windows and tried to block the dust with wet sheets, but to no avail.

"Oh lands, that dust was terrible, terrible," said Beatrice, now more than 100 years old and Farmers Bank's oldest customer. "I said I could stand just about anything, but when I couldn't breathe I wanted to get out of there. That dust could get through anything."

Fortunately the dust on the prairie settled and life improved for the Sayler couple. Beatrice and husband, Arthur, raised three children on the farmstead, the place where she continues living today. All of them became customers of, what was then known as, Farmers State Bank.

"We always thought very well of the bank," said Beatrice. "That was Albert's bank."

Arthur, who died 10 years ago, was a lifetime resident of Albert and never banked anywhere else. He even had a hand in updating the bank in the late 1940s.

The couple opened an account for oldest daughter Marylou Turner, now living in Kansas City, when she was born in 1935. She still has the account there today. The Saylers opened an account for middle child Phyllis Schultz, now living in Overland Park, in 1936 and she closed out her account to purchase a Singer sewing machine soon after college graduation in 1958. She continues using the sewing machine today. Youngest child, Arthur III, received his Farmers State Bank account from the couple upon his birth in 1948 and the lifelong Albert resident continues banking there today.

Longtime Kinsley Bank customer Earl McBride has a similar story. He began farming near Kinsley in the mid-1930s, opened up an account at the Kinsley Bank, now Farmers Bank, in 1935 and has been with the bank ever since.

"I'm not one to change, especially when I get what I want," said McBride, who has since moved to Larned but continues to bank in Kinsley. "The Kinsley Bank stayed with me when I needed help the worst, during the Dirty '30s when I was just starting out in farming. They always did everything I asked them to do, so I never changed and I'm not anticipating I'll ever change now."

Page Top

---

Farmers Bank Board of Directors - L to R: Larry Keenan, Board Member; Don Brening, Board Member; Melvin Schartz, Board Member; Grady Bolding, Board Member; Jerry Marmie, Board Member; Roger Marshall, M.D., Board Member; Wayne Becker, Board Member; Bill Robbins, Bank CEO; Gene Dikeman, Bank President; Karesa Robbins Harrison, Bank Vice President.

"The board's responsibility is many times greater now than it was back then," said longtime board member Larry Keenan, who has been serving since 1969. "Being on the board is a job you have to give attention to and be alert because there's a huge amount of responsibility tied to the position. Yes, W.R. (Bill) and Gene make the decisions and they are quite capable of doing that, but in the end, the board is responsible for those decisions."

Page Top