Lauritzen Corporation

John Lauritzen was born on March 28, 1917, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his diploma from Blake County Day School in Hopkins, Minnesota, where he was captain of both the hockey and golf teams. After John graduated from high school in 1936, he attended Princeton University. He left the university after his sophomore year.

In 1949, after three years of correspondence courses and six weeks of classroom work on campus, he received his diploma from the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Graduate School of Banking.

Ten years earlier, he married T.L. Davis' daughter, Elizabeth Ann. T.L. Davis had a large part in the history of First National of Nebraska.

In 1943, he began working for the Davis family banks, first at the North Side Bank in North Omaha and later at the Washington County Bank in Blair.[5]

Bruce Lauritzen was born on June 21, 1943. After his freshman year at Westside High School, he transferred to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. This was the same Episcopal college preparatory institute from which his grandfather, T.L. Davis, had graduated 60 years earlier.

In 1965, Bruce received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University, and then his master's in business administration from the University of Virginia in 1967. He met his wife, Kimball Bowles, during his junior year at Princeton, and they were married in November 1965.

Bruce seriously considered a job with the North Carolina National Bank in Charlotte. He and his father discussed his future career options, and John felt that it was the right time for Bruce to begin working at First National and that if he did not like it there, he could go somewhere else later.

Bruce began working at First National on August 14, 1967. He became president of Farmers Savings Bank in Shelby, Iowa, at the age of 26. In 1971, he personally purchased Sibley State Bank and made himself president, and in the following year, he purchased Landmands National Bank and negotiated for the family the acquisition of Harlan County Bank and became president. At the age of 29, he was the president of four banks.

By this time, he had two daughters, Margaret and Blair. In 1976, his son, Clarkson, was born and Bruce also purchased the Crawford County Bank.[6]

A subsidiary of The Viking Corporation

Branch in Iowa: Denison

Crawford County Bank started operations in 1927, and has maintained the same name since.[12]

Branches in Nebraska: Bloomfield, Crofton, Center, Hartington, and Niobrara

Branch in South Dakota: Yankton

Farmers and Merchants State Bank was chartered in 1890. As it has grown over the years, it has taken pride in being a family owned and orientated bank.[13]

A subsidiary of the Loomis Company, Inc.

Branches in Nebraska: Loomis and Alma

First State Bank opened for business in 1886. Its first office was located in a hardware store office. In 1938, First State Bank's assets were the largest of any town in Nebraska with a population of 1,000 or less. The Lauritzen family purchased First State Bank in 1952. First State Bank added a branch in Alma by purchasing the Harlan County Bank in 2006.[14]

Branches in Iowa: Red Oak, Cumberland, Elliott and Emerson

A subsidiary of Viking Corporation

Branches in Iowa: Audubon and Kimballton

Landmands Bank has a mission "to be the premier financial institution in its trade area, committed to long-term growth and profitability, while taking the lead in the area's economic vitality." [15]

Branches in Iowa: Harlan, Elk Horn, Panama, Portsmouth, Irwin and Shelby

Shelby County State Bank[16] was first organized as a state bank in 1880 under the name of the Shelby County Bank. BL Harding was the first bank President and the bank began with $50,000 in assets. The Shelby County Bank was officially incorporated in 1894.

In 1906, the Shelby County Bank and First National Bank were consolidated under the name of the Shelby County State Bank. In May 1911, H.P. Dowling presided as bank President and by 1913 the deposits of the bank had reached a total of $780,000.

In 1933, The Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank of Harlan merged with The Shelby County State Bank. For the convenience of its customers, a branch bank was established in Elk Horn, Iowa that same year.

By the time H. Rand Petersen became SCSB President in 1957, SCSB had $5 million in assets. In 1972, Rand helped SCSB construct the first drive-in bank in Harlan located on the corner of 5th and Court St. In 1975, the SCSB main office changed locations from 1012 6th St. and built a new bank which joined the established Drive-in Bank at 508 Court St.

Within nine years SCSB merged with four other banks including Panama and Portsmouth in 1986, Irwin in 1992 and Shelby in 1995. In 1993 the bank converted the former ‘Lil Duffer restaurant into what’s now the Harlan West Branch on Highway 59.

Soon after the bank’s merger with the State Bank of Portsmouth, Jerry Lapke became President of SCSB. Current SCSB President Roger Claypool has assumed those same duties since 1996. Today, SCSB has total assets of over $210 million.

A subsidiary of KBJ Enterprises, Inc.

Branch in Iowa: Sibley

Branches in Nebraska: Blair and Tekamah

Washington County Bank first opened for business on April 5, 1904, in the town of Washington, Nebraska, as Washington State Bank. The bank merged with the Kennard State Bank of Kennard in May 1930. On July 1, 1933, Kennard State Bank moved to Blair and opened as Washington County Bank. John R. Lauritzen acquired control of Washington County Bank in 1955, three years before forming the Lauritzen Corporation. In 2004, the bank completed a merger with its sister bank, Burt County State Bank, in Tekamah.[17] In 2007, Washington County Bank opened their third branch in Omaha.

Branches in Nebraska: York, Geneva, and Gresham

Dean Sack obtained a charter for a new bank in 1943, and opened on July 13. Just after the opening of York State Bank, Sack charted the Henderson State Bank in October 1944, and another bank in Benedict, Nebraska, the same year. York State Bank was sold to the Lauritzen Corporation in 1995, and continues to support the education, industrial and agricultural aspects of York County today.