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Legends Bank -
History
What today
is Legends Bank was established in 1913 in the community of Rich
Fountain, Missouri, as the Rich Fountain Bank. It was one of the few
banks in Osage County to survive the Great Depression. In fact, its
move to Linn in 1936 was the result of the failure of all of the banks
which had been operating in Linn, and the Missouri bank commissioner's
subsequent request to the Board of the Rich Fountain Bank to move
the bank so that the county seat of Osage County would have a financial
institution. Operations being a little simpler then than they are
now, it is said that the move was accomplished by loading everything
that was needed in the trunk of a car, with the bank reopening the
next business day in its new town and under a new name.
As Legends Bank
approaches its 95th anniversary, it continues to look
for better ways to serve its expanding list of customers. It has
seen substantial physical growth in the last 30 years, opening new
facilities in Westphalia in 1973 and in Belle in 1992, and adding
a drive through branch in East Linn in 1983. Locations in Loose
Creek and Taos were added by virtue of the bank's merger in 1997
with the former Heritage Bank. Expansion continued into
Owensville, Bland and Union with the 2003 merger with the former
Charter 1 Bank, bringing to nine the total number
of facilities operated by the bank. Twenty-four hour banking is
offered by a growing number of ATMs operated by the bank, with machines
now at the bank's Westphalia, East Linn, Belle, Loose Creek, Taos, Owensville
and Union branches, with
additional ATMs located in the Linn Thriftway Supermarket, Linn
State Technical College Technology Center, the Owensville Break Time
Convenience Store and the Bland Corner Market.
The bank also offers a very popular automated telephone banking
service, TeleBank, and of course offers a fully interactive internet
banking service.
Stability
in management has been a keystone of the bank's success. Since its
inception, the bank's president has been a member of one of the
bank's two primary founding families, the Ficks and the Klebbas.
John A. Klebba, the current President & Board Chairman, has
been with the Bank since 1991, and Clarence Fick, who joined the
bank in 1968, currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of
Directors.
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