American State Bank celebrates its 40th anniversary
Tue, 08/09/2016 - 10:09am
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By:
Carlye Kiesow, Eagle Intern
The American State Bank of Grygla has recently just celebrated its 40th anniversary! The bank first opened its door in the summer of 1976. The very first president of the bank was Fred Sorenson. He first conceived the idea of a bank in 1973. At that time a group of people went down to St. Paul and discussed with banking commissioner, Robert Manpel. Shortly after this meeting the application was submitted for a bank charter. A hearing was held on July 23 in St. Paul.
On October 30th, 1974, Fred Sorenson was notified by the commerce commission that the bank charter had been approved. In August of 1975 an application was submitted to the Minneapolis office of the Federal Reserve Bank. On April 1st, Robert Sorenson received official notice that the application for membership in the Federal Reserve System had been approved.
Some other of the first staff at the bank also included Jim Haug, Vice President and cashier. Ruth Haug as a full-time secretary. Judy Irlbeck as a full-time teller. The Directors of the bank included Richard Engelstad, Arnold Stanley, Delmar Hagen, Henry Holte, Victor Schmidt, and Fred Sorenson.
Shortly after opening, the bank hired their first full-time insurance agent Lynn Anderson. Before the bank first opened, the Grygla Co-op was serving as a makeshift bank for the town of Grygla, cashing a large amount of checks for the area. The manager of the Grygla Co-op, Donald Verbout, was the very first customer to open a new account at the bank.
When the bank first opened the hours were only 9-3 Monday through Friday and from 5-7 on Monday night. The banking hours as of today are 8:30-3 Monday through Friday and from 4-6 Wednesday night.
The Grygla bank has flourished while continuing to grow in the services they offer and branching out to other places. On September 8, 201,4 they merged with the Erskine bank to serve a whole new market and build on traditions established by both organizations.
Besides acquiring new branches the bank is kept quite busy not only with day to day business but many community activities. They have given away many local scholarships and given donations to programs they chose to. The ASB of Grygla has also participated in the centennial basketball fundraiser winning the best dressed team award from their costumes of Gru and his Minions. They also have in the bank competitions like their pumpkin carving contest, in which they display submitted pumpkins in the bank for people to see. Every year near Christmas they also give away a wagon of toys for a child. It is a random drawing and gets the kids very excited.
The bank also offers many services including Safety deposit boxes, Cashiers Checks, U.S. Savings bonds, and many more services. So stop by the American State Bank of Grygla and let them help you with your every banking need.