Independence Bank history

In 1896, relinquished its national charter and obtained a state charter, reorganized as State Savings Bank of Ionia.

The official beginning of our present bank was in January 1903 as the First State Bank of Russell.

Shortly after the fire in 1922, First State Bank purchased Farmers State Bank of Russell and changed the name from First State Bank of Russell to Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Russell.

During the height of the Big Depression in the Fall of 1930, the Russell Bank closed its doors, along with many other banks.

The doors remained closed until March 23, 1931, and when it reopened, the new name was New Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Russell, and William Palmer was President.

Over the next several years, the bank changed hands many times, and on February 1, 1947, the name was changed to Farmers State Bank.

in 1952, changed name to First Security Band.

Our bank soon advanced from a state-chartered bank to a national bank in 1967 to become First Colbert National Bank after moving our headquarters from Leighton to Sheffield, Alabama.

First Independence Bank opened its doors on May 11, 1970.

Independence Bank, formerly known as First Security Bank, was founded in 1972 by a group of Havre business owners who saw a need for a community bank.

The headquarters opened at its present Fifth Avenue location in March 1973.

In 1974, Independent Bank Corporation was established as the bank holding company.

In 1975, Board Chairperson Edward Fennel Mauldin organized a group of investors, including some directors of First Colbert National Bank, to charter The Bank of Florence in Lauderdale County, Alabama.

Fast-forwarding to 1982, the bank was sold to the current owners with Duke Pogatchnik as President and his father, Lowell Pogatchnik, as Chairman of the Board.

According to a February 1983 article in the Times Daily newspaper, the formation of Bank Independent “began a new era in banking for the citizens of Colbert and Lauderdale counties.”

First Independence Bank is one of only 144 minority depository institutions in the country, as defined in Section 308 of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), and the only minority depository institution headquartered in the State of Michigan.

Shortly after appointing the Bank’s current CEO in 1991, Independence Bank arrived at a flashpoint in this mission.

In December of 1994, Farmers State Bank of Russell changed its company name to First Independent Bank.

Not long after the name change, the bank expanded by opening a branch in Marshall in January of 1995.

Since officially becoming known as Independence Bank in 1997, our Bank family has grown from 22 to over 400 employees and total assets have expanded from $40 million to $3 billion.

Bank Independent continued to build its branch network by opening new offices in Colbert and Lauderdale counties.; In 2002, the bank expanded into Morgan County by opening a loan production office in Decatur, Alabama.

In 2003, the company acquired Mepco Insurance Premium Finance.

In November 2005, the bank purchased 17 offices of Colonial Bank in locations throughout north Alabama, resulting in 25 offices of Bank Independent operating in 15 communities and six counties.

In March 2007, the bank acquired 10 branches from TCF Financial Corporation.

Bank Independent continued to grow with the acquisition of The Citizens Bank of Moulton in December 2008.

Kelly was selected to become a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation‘s Advisory Committee on Community Banking, which has been providing advice and recommendations to the FDIC on a broad range of community bank policy and regulatory matters since it was established in 2009.

In December 2012, the bank sold 21 branches to Chemical (now TCF Financial Corporation).

The investment was returned in 2013.

The Bank expanded into a new and exciting area in July 2014 with the opening of a loan production office in historic downtown Huntsville.

Mepco was sold in 2017.

A second full-service office was opened in Madison in 2018.Today, Bank Independent employs over 600 local team members who are deeply involved in the areas served by the bank.