| Summary: | The bank on the west side of main street, The First State Bank, was organized in 1902 by a group from Casselton, ND. It was later sold to L. P. Larson and Olaf Burseth. Mr. Burseth sold his interest a few years later and moved from our community. In 1922 another group took over with Mr. Larson as cashier. Because of the depression years the bank, as so many other banks of that time, closed its doors in 1931. The building was sold to A. J. Anderson who operated a drug store there until he moved to the west coast in 1947. Alfred and Leila Holland bought the building and ran a lunch room and ice cream parlor but later sold it to Sam Storkson and Donald Wold. LeRoy Anderson, Kenneth Olson, and Ray Boisjolie were also in business there for periods of time. Orville Stalvik was the last owner, and for a time used it as a youth recreation room. He had it demolished in 1980. On May 8, 1906, ten stockholders subscribed to 250 shares of stock and organized an association to be called The First National Bank of Binford. The five directors selected were Lewis Berg, H. P. Hammer, J. H. Sinclair, all of Cooperstown, and Joseph Bucheit and Oscar Greenland of Binford. Other stockholders besides the directors were Ivar Almklov, John Mustad, Joseph Eventier, all of Binford and Robert Bailey and George H. Condy, both of Cooperstown. At a meeting of the directors on May 26, 1906, Lewis Berg was elected president, Joseph Bucheit, vice-president; J. H. Sinclair, cashier; and Oscar Greenland, assistant cashier. Margaret Ristad was hired as a bookkeeper in 1920. Irwin Sharp was hired as bookkeeper in 1924. George Quanbeck was elected assistdant cashier in 1926. In April 1932, Ole Lysne was elected director to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Joseph Bucheit, who had served as president of the board from Jan. 8, 1918, until his death. Otto Pritz was elected president of the board June 6, 1932, and served in that position until his death in 1947. The First National Bank of Binford had the distinction of being the only bank of thirteen banks in Griggs County that remained solvent through the farm crisis of the 1920's, the crash of 1929, and the drought of the 1930's. The First National Bank of Binford did not receive the Notice of President Roosevelt's proclamation of a Bank Holiday on March 6, 1933, and conducted business as usual, even holding a directors' meeting on that day. The bank did close on the following days in compliance with the president's proclamation but some banking business was conducted on those days in the hardware store of Greenland-Pritz &Co. Andor Peterson was hired as bookkeeper in 1934. Kenneth Nielson was hired as bookkeeper and later became assistant cashier, a position he held until February 1943. In January of 1954 Emil Olson retired from the banking business of which he had been a part since 1916 when he first came to Binford, first being employed as bookkeeper then assistant cashier. In 1926 Emil Olson was elected a director and cashier. L. A. Sayer, Sr. and Mark Sayer purchased the First National Bank from Emil Olson in January 1954. Emil Olson informed Mr. Sayer that he had opportunities to sell the bank to a chain for a higher price, but would rather sell to someone who would continue to provide banking service to the community even if it meant taking a lower price. In May of 1954, the bank was converted to the Binford State Bank. Officers were as follows: President L. A. Sayer, Sr. Vice President LA. Sayer, Jr. Managing officer and cashier M. E. Sayer Marjorie King and Janice Miller were elected tellers. Janice Miller quit in August of 1954 and Ruth Fredrickson took over her job. Majorie King left in February of 1956 and Inez Asmus was hired as bookkeeper. When Ruth Fredrickson left Binford to get married, Nancy Maurer worked for awhile - then Nancy left to accept a position in Denver, Colorado. Madelyn Halvorson started working in 1960 and Ruth Moe also worked for a short period of time. Roy Solberg purchased stock in the Binford State Bank in 1957 and was elected as a director of the bank at that time. In September 1966, the Binford State Bank merged with the Security Trust Company of Cooperstown under the charter of the Binford State Bank with the name and location changed to the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Cooperstown, ND. The Binford Office was maintained as a paying and receiving station. Wallice Sundquist was named Cashier and Manager of the station and Inez Asmus was named Assistant Cashier. Madelyn Halvorson was the bookkeeper. Inez worked in Cooperstown at the F & M Bank for 15 months and returned to Binford when Madelyn Halvorson left to work in Fargo. In 1971, Wallace Sundquist quit at the bank to go farming and Inez Asmus was namedManager of the station and Assistant Cashier of the F & M Bank. Carol Griffey joined the bank in 1971 and was appointed Assistant Cashier and took over the Insurance Department of the F & M Insurance Company. As of this writing, Inez Asmus has complete twenty-five years of service for the Farmers and Merchants Bank. Binford's first and only doctor arrived in 1902. He built his office and home in 1906. His was a life of dedicated service to the community. There was no such thing as office hours for theidoctor. Page 3 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.
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