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CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
In 2006
The year was fair and the grass was green when fourteen ambitious
men gathered together time and time again to see if they could scrap
up enough money to raise $25,000 to form the capital for a bank in
Wellington. The year of the beginning was 1906. The County of
Collingsworth was growing in one of its most accelerating periods.
In 1900 the population of the county was 1233 and by 1910 the
population was 5224.
With the vision of forming a bank to serve this farming and ranching
area, these fourteen men applied for a charter as a state bank with
a capital stock of $25,000. The original list of shareholders read
as follows: R. L. Ellison, H. C. Wells, E. A. Wells, C. A. Gray, L.
H. Stall, J. W. Wells, A. W. Blain, L. W. Gribble, J. B. Burtner, K.
M. Godfrey, John Williamson, Chas. Drake, S. A. Street and Ed R.
Wallace.
These original stockholders represented many callings. All were
landowners. Among them were farmers, ranchers, general merchants,
grocers, hardware men, a druggist, a real estate agent, a doctor, a
preacher, a ginner, and their number also included a former teacher
and a former sheriff.
The first change of importance in the bank’s history came on
December 18, 1909, when the stockholders voted to increase the
capital stock from $25,000 to $50,000. L. W. Gribble was president.
Directors were H. C. Wells, E. A. Wells, Alice Henard, L. W.
Gribble, and W. Y. Seale.
At this time, M. W. Deavenport, grocer, ginner and financier, bought
controlling interest in the bank with the purchase of 150 of the 250
shares of stock. With his purchase of stock, the number of
stockholders had declined to nine and the names of D. D. McDowell,
C. C. Terry, J. S. Richards, and Carrie Henard appear as
stockholders for the first time.
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The Wellington State Bank was
first located in a stone building on the west side of the square. It
was moved to the northeast corner of the square where a new
two-story hotel building had been completed with the bank quarters
being located in the same building. This continued to be the home of
the bank for 47 years until it was merged with the First National
Bank of Wellington. Major Deavenport was president of the bank when
it moved to the new quarters. Other officers listed on the old
cornerstone, which is still preserved in the drive-in part of the
building, were L. W. Gribble, vice president; E. A. Wells, vice
president; and HJ. C. Wells, cashier. Major Deavenport died in 1911
and his stock went to his daughter Mrs. J. M. Strong.
Following the death of H. G. Wells in 1918, A. W. Blain was elected
president and the name of P. E. Starr appeared as a director.
A.W. Blain was still the president when A. Y. Bell became the
executive officer in the early twenties. Directors listed at this
time were A. W. Blain, F. H. Royal, D. D. McDowell, L. E. Gribble,
C. C. Terry, and E. W. Blain. In the main these continued to be the
directors for two decades with occasional changes such as Pink
Sullivan, John Henard and D’Arcy (Dee) McDowell.
The administrative history of the Wellington State Bank may be
divided roughly into about eight administrative periods. The first
of these was that of H. C. Wells who was the executive officer of
the bank from the time of its founding in 1906 until his death in
1918.
The second was that of A. Y. Bell who was active vice president
through the prosperous twenties and kept the bank strong and
functioning at full service during the depression and the dust bowl
days of the thirties.
The third administrative cycle was that of L. A. Manzer, under the
presidency of D. D. McDowell. During World War II, the bank not only
financed the farmers and stockmen of the area, but also the
institution underwrote huge caravans of combines and trucks that
traveled from central Texas in June into the Dakotas and Canada in
the late summer. The large loans on land and cattle were subject to
the approval of D. D. McDowell. Records reflect that L. A. Manzer
also served the bank as president and resigned that position in
November 1951.
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When Mr. Manzer left the
bank, A. Y. Bell was elected president and he was serving when C. T.
Hubbard came to Wellington in August of 1954 as executive vice
president. Mr. Bell resigned in September 1954 and E. W. Blain was
elected president.
The fourth administrative period was that of C. T. Hubbard. Two
major advancements were made under his leadership. The first of
these was then Wellington State Bank bought the building equipment
and assets of the First National Bank. The two oldest banks in the
county were merged on May 16, 1958 and the bank was moved to the
First National building on the southeast corner of the square.
Directors at this time were James Sullivan, C. T. Hubbard, John
Henard, J. M. Orr, E. W. Blain, Dee McDowell and Lewis Morris.
Following the death of E. W. Blain in 1960, Luther Gribble was
placed on the board and elected president. John Holton was approved
as a director in October 1960 when a vacancy occurred by John
Henard’s resignation, Mr. Hubbard continued as executive officer.
Mr. Gribble died in 1964 and C. T. Hubbard was elected president.
The second important step forward under the direction of C. T.
Hubbard was the decision to build a larger and more modern bank
building. The building of the Hotel Wellington which was also the
bank site at the time of the merger was purchased and razed. A
magnificent building of Spanish design was erected and the
Wellington State Bank moved to its new headquarters on April 17,
1971. This marked one of the major steps forward in the history of
the Collingsworth area. Directors were James Sullivan, Dee McDowell,
John Holton, J. M. Orr, Lewis Morris, E. M. Hunter and C. T.
Hubbard. The vacancies which were created by the death of Lewis
Morris and Dee McDowell were filled by Fred Cox and John McDowell.
The fifth administrative period began in the mid-seventies when
financial institutions were being flooded with changes. Regulations
from the Federal Reserve and banking department created change after
change in every department of the bank. It became apparent that it
was necessary to begin the ground work for converting the bank’s
manual operation to a computer system. Customers became numbers!
Every bank account had to have a different number. There would be no
more free counter checks. Customers would purchase their own
personalized checks bearing their account number. Banks were buying
their deposits by issuing Certificates of Deposit to their
customers. The eighties brought interest to checking accounts.
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Interest on notes climbed as
the bank was forced to pay higher interest on certificates. Service
charges which the bank had never imposed on its customers were now
being applied.
Mr. Hubbard was looking forward to retirement. Bill Beall of
Duncanville joined the Wellington State in 1976 as a director and
vice president. He was elected president in 1977 and Mr. Hubbard
remained as President Emeritus until he retired in August 1978 after
24 years of service to the bank and community.
Bill Beall resigned in October 1981 and accepted a position with
Western National Bank in Amarillo. Billy F. Moseley, who had been
with the Wellington State as executive vice president and director
since March 1978, was elected president in November 1981.
Negotiations were being made by the directors to sell the bank and
it was on February 15, 1983 when 90% of the outstanding stock was
sold to Mike Stinson of Ft. Worth and O. L. Cooper. This was the
sixth period of administration. Mr. Cooper, who moved to Wellington
from Memphis, had been named president when Billy Moseley resigned
in November 1982. The existing board of directors resigned and the
new directors elected were O. L. Cooper, chairman; Mike Stinson,
Jack Neeley, Walter Clements III, and Jimmy Parker of Stamford. The
sale of the bank reduced the shareholders from 60 to 13.
In June 1983 the sixth phase began when an agreement was signed to
merge with Independent Bank Shares, Inc., of Abilene. Sydney E.
Niblo and Brad Stephens of Abilene were elected to the board when
Jimmy Parker resigned in February 1984.
Upon meeting all requirements, approval was given by the Federal
Reserve Board and the banking department on June 29, 1984, the
Wellington State Bank became the eighth bank in the holding company
with First State Bank of Abilene as the lead bank.
During IBSI ownership, O. L. Cooper (November, 1982-September,
1985), Ted Jordan (September, 1985-February, 1987) served as
presidents. Mark Keys became president in March, 1987.
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In December, 1990, the seventh administrative phase began. A group
of 25 local shareholders purchased Wellington State Bank from IBSI.
Mr. Keys remained as president and Richard Sims was made chairman of
the board. The shareholders objectives were to get the bank back
into small hometown banking philosophies. Their desired blossomed
with Mr. Keys, Mr. Sims, Jack Neeley, Cashier, John Holton, Sr.,
John Holton, Jr., Dannie Morris and Carl Wischkaemper serving as
directors. At the time of acquisition, the bank had $3,023,000 in
capital and total assets of $38,968,882.83.
With the vision for diversity and growth during this continual
changing banking climate, the bank sought out potential
acquisitions. On September 29, 1994, Wellington State Bank ventured into
new ground by acquiring First National Bank of Wheeler.
The eighth administrative phase started in January, 1996, with the
election of Richard Sims as president and John Holton, Jr. as
chairman. The other three directors serving were Mr. Holton, Sr.,
Mr. Neeley, and Mr. Morris. The diversity by expansion philosophy
started under Mr. Sims as chairman continued under his presidency. January also saw the acquisition of Bank
of America’s Childress and Memphis branches.
December 2, 1996, the bank opened a Loan Production Office in
Canadian. On February 24, 1997, Wellington State Bank converted the LPO to a full-service branch named Canadian Banking Center.
March of 1999 saw the addition of Mr. Forrest Lloyd, Mr. Danny Martin, and Mr. Richard Fourmentin to the Board of Directors.
The 21st Century brought new technology to the institution with
new banking medians such as phone banking, debit cards, internet
banking, and imaged bank
statements. The Canadian Banking Center Branch has just moved
into a new facility with all the latest in modern technology.
One hundred years ago a bank was formed by the vision of fourteen
men wanting to serve the people of this farming and ranching area.
Today, those same visions are the backbone of our institution with
50 employees serving you, our customers, at convenient locations in
Wellington, Wheeler, Canadian, Memphis, and Childress. The
board, officers, and employees thank the citizens of this area for
their business and if you are not a customer, what are you waiting
for, come meet the friendly people at WSB and let our service win
you over. AS of December 31, 2005, WSB had $110,000,000 in
assets, loans of $61,000,000, deposits of $100,000,000 and capital
of $7,988,000. Looking toward the future, Wellington State
Bank will continue working as our founders did....serving our
customers and communities while making a good bank better.
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