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Additional information |
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First State Bank of Kensington |
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History:
Back in the 1890’s the Village of Kensington had many businesses including 4 general stores, 2 hardware stores, 2 blacksmith shops, a photographer, drug store, butcher shop, shoe shop, machine shop, jewelry store, lumber yard, saloon and a fine new city hall, all they needed was a bank and a flour mill.
-- The Alexandria Post News | 1894
In 1898, Mr. C.H. Raiter of Kensington and Harold Thorson of Elbow Lake established a private bank on the same corner where the bank stands today. They each invested $5,000 capital at that time and owned 50 shares of stock each in their new venture. This was the bank building where the Runestone, discovered that same year, (1898), was first displayed.
In 1909 the bank was incorporated as a state bank. Four more stockholders were added: Henry Sampson, J.A. Wedum, George Maxfield, and Riley Rasmussen.
The building has undergone several renovations, the last in 1986 when the building occupied by “Myrtle’s Beauty Shop” was purchased and demolished to make room for doubling the size of the bank. In 1998 a new brick veneer was added. The size of the bank has also grown in terms of assets.
The early 30’s were lean years for the bank and its customers. There were times when charged-off loans were repaid by the directors themselves. In 1934 the bank also issued $10,000 of Capital Debentures to keep the bank stable. The transactions of each person’s account were recorded by hand in large journals through the late 1930’s. The early posting machines were hand operated and very cumbersome. S.A. Bye, John Score and Palmer Score came to the bank in 1946. Together they built a strong, profitable bank in the post WWII years. Mr. Bye passed away in 1960 and Palmer Score became President at that time. He held this position until his death in 1993 at which time Palmer’s wife, Lou became President.
In 1995 Pryce Score became the President of the First State Bank of Kensington. Pryce started working in the Bank in 1975 part-time. He started working full-time in 1976 when he was hired to be an Assistant Cashier. He became the Cashier in 1980 and in 1993, the year Palmer died, he became the Vice President/Cashier. In 2007 the Score family, after many years of dedication to the First State Bank of Kensington, made the decision to sell the Bank.
The First State Bank of Kensington was sold to William Sexton, Kevin Noble, Jason Noble, and Brian Schoenborn. The new owners all come from small town backgrounds and share the commitment of maintaining the “small town community bank”. Jon Hall is currently the President of the Bank. Jon has been in banking for many years and also shares the commitment to small town community banks.
For years we have served the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and even 4th generations of some of our customers which we enjoy and appreciate. Here’s to many more years of service to our community! |
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