First State Bank Southwest Celebrates 20 Years in Edgerton
Pictured: Brad Bruxvoort, Lisa Pfeifle, Lori Van Essen, and Trista Fraser ready to greet their customers on Monday morning.
By Jill Fennema –
On July 3, 2002, the building permit for a proposed new bank on Main Street in Edgerton was approved by the Edgerton City Council. Alvin Kooiman, president of First State Bank Southwest, came to the council with blueprints for the proposed new branch in Edgerton. The new bank was built on the empty lot at the corner of Maple and Main streets, where the former Bouma’s Meat Market had stood.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 16. Community members came out to see the special event.
Prior to building, banking was done from a 12×44-foot mobile unit that served as a temporary office, which opened on September 3, 2002. The tellers were Judy Brummel and Lori Van Essen. Scott Kooiman was the branch manager. Greg Raymo was the commercial loan officer.
In mid-September of that year, a crew from Fullerton Building Systems of Worthington came to Edgerton to put together the pre-assembled structure for the new bank building. With nothing standing on the spot other than the sidewalks and cement floors and the vault when the day began, the end of the day on Thursday was a dramatic change with all four walls in place. On Friday the rafters and the rest of the roof were put together. It turned out to be quite a show for passersby as the structure went up so quickly.
On Monday, Dec. 23, the new bank building opened in Edgerton. New features for customers were a 24-hour ATM machine located just inside the front entrance, a drive-through on the east side of the bank, and a walk-up window on the south side.
On February 10, 2003, Bremer Bank, which had purchased the State Bank of Edgerton in 1999, announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its Edgerton and Leota branches to First State Bank Southwest.
On June 25, 2003, the Bremer Bank at the corner of Howard and Main Streets closed its doors. A police officer provided security escort while the contents of the safe were transferred to the First State Bank Southwest location one block north.
