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| Cass Commercial Bank |
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History:
Cass Commercial Bank was founded as Cass Avenue Bank in 1906 by a group of businessmen. These businessmen represented a wide variety of industries:
Bowe-Perry Pie Company
Tebelmann Baking Company
Leroi Furniture Manufacturing Company
H. Pauk & Sons Manufacturing Company
J. C. Roever Feed & Milling Company
Hellrung & Grimm House Furnishing Company
Briner Electric Company
Stickney-Hoelscher Cigar Company
Lueking Teaming Company
William L. Protzmann Realtor
William M. Schumacher, Mortician
Cass Bank’s first location was a rented storefront at 1462 Cass Avenue. The surrounding neighborhood was primarily residential, comprised of two- and four-family flats.
By the end of the day, May 15, 1906 – the first day doors were open to the public – deposits at the new bank totaled $51,100. The balance of the original capital stock was paid in by June, 1906.
On March 20, 1906, the first loan had been granted to Mr. George Hohman. The $16,000 real estate loan was for two buildings and a stable on the northeast corner of Newstead and Natural Bridge.
In 1915, after just nine years in business, the bank was ready to expand and constructed its own new building just across the street on the northwest corner of Fifteenth and Cass. Cass purchased this prime location for $13,500. Later the Cass building would be leased to the Post Office when Cass expanded and moved yet again.
At the Stockholders Meeting in 1929, it was proposed to transform Cass Avenue Bank into a trust company, and thus the name was changed to Cass Bank & Trust Company.
Cass Avenue Bank moved into its newly constructed building at 13th and Cass Avenue in May, 1927, where it continued operations until 1974. In 1990 this building was donated to the City of St. Louis and is now the Bus Terminal.
In 1941, Cass Bank advertising included the promise: “Park Free While You Bank”…one of the first St. Louis area banks to offer this modern amenity. By 1957, Cass also offered walk-up and drive-up windows for its customers’ convenience.
Although Cass started as a neighborhood bank, as residents moved other parts of the city and county, the area changed from primarily residential to commercial. Consequently, the bank began to orient itself more and more towards serving businesses.
Cass Bank was one of the first banks in the nation to begin utilizing electronic computer to process payroll checks. On March 3, 1967, Cass processed its one millionth payroll check for an employee of Central Hardware Company, one of more than 350 companies in the St. Louis area using Cass’ “Automated Payroll Plan.”
Cass continued to focus on meeting the banking needs of business customers, using the slogan: “Regardless of your needs, come to Cass when you want to talk business.”
By the mid to late 1950’s, Cass Bank’s location was nearly surrounded by truck terminals, service garages and transfer points, so Cass developed a service to simplify the payment of freight bills. Beginning in 1967, the services of what was then called the “Freight Payment Plan” were marketed to companies throughout the United States, and in 1975, a completely new computer-based system was designed and implemented. Later these freight payment services expanded, and a division of Cass Bank called Cass Transportation Services was started.
To keep up with the changes in the business environment and to more accurately reflect the widening scope of services offered, in 1984, Cass Transportation Services incorporated as Cass Information Systems (CIS). By 1993, CIS had grown out of its downtown St Louis offices and built a new building at 13001 Hollenberg Drive, Bridgeton, Missouri.
In 1988, Cass Bank opened a branch facility in the Westport area of St. Louis County, a prime location for serving many of our business customers.
After 84 years in the City of St. Louis, Cass Bank headquarters moved west to St. Louis County in 1990. In 1997, Cass consolidated by expanding the facility at 13001 Hollenberg Drive to accommodate Cass Bank.
Cass continues to maintain a branch presence in north St. Louis just south of the original bank at 1420 N. 13th Street, thus sustaining our 100-year tenure in the City of St. Louis.
In 1998, Cass Bank & Trust Company formally changed its name to Cass Commercial Bank, reflecting its on-going commitment to businesses in the St. Louis area. At the same time, a church division was started with personnel and resources dedicated to serving the banking needs of churches and ministries nationwide.
In November 2004, Cass purchased Franklin Bank of California, located in Orange County. Franklin Bank was a small single-branch bank operating near Anaheim, California. Immediately upon completing the acquisition, Franklin Bank was fully merged and integrated into Cass Commercial Bank and now represents one of six Cass branches - and the first branch located outside the St. Louis metropolitan area.
Cass' national church lending program, started in 1999, made the California acquisition possible. The Southern California area represented a strong market for Cass with church loan customers. With a physical presence in the region, Cass now has the opportunity to cross-sell deposits and other commercial banking services to this customer base.
From a strategic perspective, the national church lending program together with an emerging California presence, provided Cass with geographical diversification and reduced the risk of having its banking financial fortunes tied exclusively to the health of one local or regional economy. At the same time, Cass has long believed that the best way to manage all types of risk - geographical economy risk, credit risk, interest rate risk and various operational risks - is to stay narrowly focused on those customer segments in which Cass has demonstrated expertise.
Cass Commercial Bank celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2006 with a very strong year and $522 million in average loan balances.
The Bank's core objectives remain unchanged. We are committed to providing a relationship form of banking to our customers. We want to know our customers well in order to better serve them. We will continue to focus on two primary niches - privately-held businesses, and churches and related ministries.
In 2006, the Bank introduced Cass Deposit Connection which allows customers to convert the checks that they receive to electronic images which are sent electronically to the bank for clearing. The Bank also upgraded its primary account systems to a new and better platform, and enhanced its image processing services. As technology continues to offer new advances in the way banking is conducted and information is exchanged, Cass is committed to staying on the leading edge and offer products and services which best meet the needs of its customer base. |
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