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| Southbridge Savings Bank |
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Mission statement:
Southbridge Savings Bank is a community-oriented mutual financial institution committed to high quality, personalized service through our greatest asset, our employees. The professional staff has been empowered to provide products and services to satisfy the needs of retail customers and small business customers in order to be the premier financial institution in our marketplace.
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History:
Southbridge Savings Bank first opened its doors in 1848 to the first depositor, Ms. Fanny Richardson of Brookfield. In August of the same year the bank granted it’s first mortgage to local blacksmith Charles E. Cady in the Sandersdale section of Southbridge. The group of founders, which included prominent industrialists in town as well as civic and political leaders, decided to open a mutual savings institution that would pay depositors dividends and provide a means for individuals to own homes.
During the next century, the bank grew as the community began to grow and prosper. Many people came to the city from the country looking for employment along the banks of the Quinebaug River and Southbridge Savings Bank helped fund new businesses and homes. By the beginning of the 20th century, the inventions of electricity and automobiles brought much more growth to Southbridge bringing the total population up to 10,000. By the time World War I began, the banks assets had risen to nearly $3 million, which mimicked the growth of the times. With business booming in the 1920s, industry and businesses began expanding. The bank, however maintained its traditional policy of “merit before magnitude” and this philosophy saved many Southbridge Savings Bank customers from the disastrous events of the stock market crash in 1929.
During the next forty years, the bank continued to expand and in 1972 the Southbridge Savings Bank opened its first branch in Sturbridge, another opened soon after in Charlton in 1976.
Through the recession of the mid 1970s, the bank maintained its standard of remaining profitable even during the downturn of the economy, which affected many persons throughout the country.
In the 1980s, Southbridge Savings Bank expanded its services again after joining with the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) and opened another branch at the Fair Shopping Plaza in Southbridge. The bank began offering innovative services including home equity credit lines, debit cards, and with the opening of a new branch at the Big Y in Spencer in 1996, the convenience of in-store banking. Since that time eight more branches were added, offering convenient banking and innovative products to eleven communities from Amherst to Worcester. With the opening of the Oxford traditional branch in 2007, the bank will now offer 13 full-service locations throughout Central and Western Massachusetts, including seven in-store branches that are open extended hours and seven days a week. In addition, the West Boylston St. location in Worcester offers even more convenience with an internet café where a customer can enjoy a hot cup of coffee while viewing breaking news on a flat screen or checking their accounts online as well as an onsite financial advisor and full time commercial lender.
As Southbridge Savings Bank looks toward a new future of operation, the vision set forth by its founders carries on. By staying true to the tradition of leadership, trustworthiness and service, the bank will continue to earn the loyalty of customers while it recommits to staying a strong hometown bank. Ever since that day back in 1848, the bank has supported the local community in their personal and professional endeavors. |
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