FARMERS NATIONAL BANK - About Us

Community Involvement

History

Farmers National Bank opened its doors for business on September 1, 1931 as The Farmers Bank. This was just two years after the stock market's "Black Tuesday" and the start of the Great Depression, and less than two years before the bank holidays in 1933.

The founding directors were: H.E. Ducker, President; Rudolph Fryer, Vice President; H.H. Yelton, Secretary; J.H. Brownfield; William Campbell; L.P. Vastine; and Samuel Sprague. C.G. Flairty was appointed as Cashier and Miss Mae Stith as bookkeeper.

The new bank was housed in the former Butler Deposit Bank building. In many ways the new bank was a continuation of the Butler Deposit Bank which had closed during the first week of August of that same year.

As described in the May 1898 edition of "The Headlight" from the website "Memory Lane" hosted by Bonnie Snow, the Butler Deposit Bank opened on October 3, 1892 with J.M. Thomasson as the president and T.H. Talbott as the cashier. The institution had survived for almost 39 years and had built their new bank building in 1922. The building still stands in Butler and is now the Butler city building. "Butler Deposit Bank" is still on the façade of the building.

The Butler Deposit Bank was a victim of the bond market during the 1930's. As reported in the August 7, 1931 edition of The Falmouth Outlook, the bank was temporarily closed due to depreciation in the bond account. The closing was expected to be temporary and the "bank reorganized and opened for business in the near future." However, The Falmouth Outlook reported on August 14 that "The enterprising citizens at Butler are now soliciting for stock to organize a new bank in that city" and "the new bank to be organized is sure to be the liquidating agent of the Butler Deposit Bank." There are 90 names listed in the Articles of Incorporation who purchased the original 300 shares of The Farmers Bank.

The Butler Deposit Bank became just one of the almost 10,000 banks that closed across the country during the years 1930 through 1933. In 1929, the country had just over 25,000 banks. By the end of 1933 there were fewer than 15,000. Compare this with approximately 8,000 banking organizations in 2003.

The Farmers Bank not only started its life in the Butler Deposit Bank's building, it also started with many common directors and officers. Rudolph Fryer, H.E. Ducker and H.H. Yelton served as directors on Butler Deposit Bank's board and also served as directors of The Farmers Bank.

H.E. Ducker served as president of the new bank and Rudolph Fryer was Vice President of both banks. C.G. Flairty who had been assistant cashier for the old bank became the cashier for the new bank. According to the September 4, 1931 edition of The Falmouth Outlook, "Cashier C.G. Flairty has been appointed liquidating agent of the old bank by the State Banking Commission and has agreed to do this work without charge."

Mae Stith was bookkeeper at Butler Deposit for five years before becoming the bookkeeper at The Farmers Bank when it opened. Miss Stith helped guide the bank for over forty years, retiring as assistant cashier in the early 1970's. She married Chester Campbell in 1933. Mr. Campbell was an original shareholder of The Farmers Bank and served as a director for many years.

C.G. Flairty served as Cashier of The Farmers Bank for 37 years, retiring on October 1, 1968. During the first 30 years of the bank's life, Mr. Flairty and Miss Stith were the only two employees. Although the bank had a President and Vice President since its inception, these were board positions. The Cashier was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the bank.

Upon Mr. Flairty's retirement, he was replaced as Cashier by Ralph Bowling. Mr. Bowling served as cashier until his retirement in 1980. Mark Yelton served as the bank's chief executive from 1980 until 1986. Wanda Vater served as chief executive from 1986 until 1989. Phillip Turner was named President/CEO in 1989 and served until October 2002. Mark Aulick, the current President/CEO, was hired in December 2002.

As previously mentioned, there were 90 original shareholders with no individual shareholder owning more than 10%. The bank continued with this ownership structure until 1977, when Charles H. Deters acquired a controlling interest of the stock. In approximately 1980, the former Commonwealth Trust Bancorp (which owned Covington Trust and Peoples Deposit Bank of Burlington) acquired control of Farmers Bank.

In 1986, Commonwealth Trust Bancorp was purchased by Huntington Bancshares of Kentucky. Commonwealth Trust Bancorp was dissolved, however, The Farmers Bank was maintained as a separate bank, and the charter was never merged with Huntington Bancshares. In 1989 Charles Deters formed a new Commonwealth Trust Bancorp and repurchased The Farmers Bank from Huntington Bancshares of Kentucky. The current Farmers National Bank is the only bank owned by Commonwealth Trust Bancorp.

The opportunity for expansion came in 1980 when The Farmers Bank built its first branch office at the corner of U.S. 27 and Lock Road just outside of Butler. The Farmers Bank continued with the main office in Butler and the branch on U.S. 27 until November of 1995.

In 1995, the board of The Farmers Bank recognized the advantages of expanding into southern Kenton County with the purchase of a Huntington Bank branch office just south of Walton. Due to the banking laws at the time, in order to accomplish this cross-county purchase, the Farmers Bank changed its charter from a state bank to a national bank and was renamed Farmers National Bank. The bank moved its main office to Walton and kept the former main office building in Butler as an operations/processing center.

In 1997, the bank completed its renovation of the Walton office and moved the operations/processing center to Walton. The Lock Road location remained to serve the customers of the Butler area, and the former main office in Butler was sold to the City of Butler.

In December 1998, the bank opened a new office in Independence at the Independence Town Center. In September 2004, a new office was opened in downtown Falmouth on Shelby Street. A branch was added in Alexandria, Ky. in October 2009.

Dr. J.C. Crowley retired as director and chairman of the board on December 31, 2005 after 32 years of distinguished service.

Mr. Louis McClanahan, Director retired from the Board effective July 1, 2007.

Farmers National Bank currently operates two offices in Pendleton County in Butler and Falmouth, two offices in Kenton County in Walton and Independence, and one office in Alexandria. The President/CEO is Mark Aulick. The directors are Mark Aulick, Joseph Bergman, Charles Deters, Jed Deters, George Hoffman, Neil Stiegelmeyer, and Donna Yeager.
 
 
January 2011