FARM & HOME BECOMES CENTURY BUSINESS

The financial industry has experienced its share of turbulent times banknote shortages during the late 1800s and early 1900s before the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s.

In all instances, many financial institutions failed in Missouri and the nation.

Some survived.

One of the venerable few to have weathered the years is Farm & Home Savings, which started in 1893 with mortgage and savings services. Today, it provides a number of services, including many full-service banking products. The firm is still a conservative, financial services company with 43 branch offices and nine agency offices in Missouri -- including Cape Girardeau, Texas and Kansas.

Farm & Home historians say it all started when 16 men from the communities of Nevada, Clinton, Sedalia and St. Louis, gathered in the old three-story, red brick, Duck Block Building in Nevada to plan a savings and loan organization.

Settlers were moving west through Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas during the late 1800s. Many were enroute to California, seeking their fortunes. Others settled in Missouri, developing homesteads and towns.

Farm & Home wanted to serve those settlers, providing loans and a safe depository for the hard-earned savings.

"For 100 years Farm & Home has helped citizens of communities enjoy the benefits of their hard work by providing a safe and sound depository," said John Morton, president and chief executive officer for the company, which is still headquartered on Duck Block in Nevada. "Strength, security and service -- the traditional values that guided the company through its first 100 years -- will continue to guide us as we go into our second century of service."

Since Morton became president in 1992, Farm & Home has rapidly expanded its community bank positioning by offering new services such as home equity loans, auto loans, money market accounts, packaged checking accounts and other services.

A Farm & Home time chart chronicles the company's growth, from the time it received its charter Oct. 30, 1893, to the present.

Eight days after receiving the charter, the new savings and loan firm made its first loan, $400 to A.L. Preston, circulation manager for the Nevada Post, to build a new house in Nevada.

That house still stands.

Farm & Home started expanding before the turn of the century, following the path of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (the KATY) into Oklahoma territory in 1899 and Texas in 1919. Settlers relied on Farm & Home for mortgages to develop their holdings.

By 1922, the company's network of agencies included 88 in Missouri 43 in Oklahoma and Texas, and isolated agencies in three other states. During the Great Depression, the firm decided to concentrate its services in Missouri and Texas. After surviving the storm of the depression, the firm had 28 branches and 15 agencies.

Farm & Home's reputation for security and safety was strengthened when it escaped unscathed from the savings and loan crises of the 1980s that forced more than 1,000 institutions out of business.

The company remained strong by "sticking to its knitting," providing basic consumer services it had provided all along and avoiding speculative "for thrift" real estate deals.

Joe F. Lynch, vice chairman of the board and chief lending officer for the firm, visited the Cape Girardeau branch when it moved to new quarters in 1991 at 211 Silver Springs Road near West Park Mall. He said that thrifts which had heavy assets in traditional housing-related investments, had better chances of survival during the 1980s debacle.

"Some people veered away from the original intent of savings and loans," said Lynch. "They got in trouble. Farm & Home stuck to business. That business was making residential mortgage loans."

Lynch said that 97 percent of Farm & Home loans were for residential dwellings.

"That's well above the average," he said. "Most thrifts now average about 70 percent in traditional housing investments. That's where a lot of thrifts failed. They got involved with some non-traditional areas such as commercial loans or some risky securities. All through this we were sticking to the home-loan business."

"We're proud of our new location," said branch manager Karen Rigdon. "Farm & Home has been around 100 years, and it's unique that we have managed to improve our financial strength, even during difficult economic times. We're proud to be unique."

The Cape Girardeau branch of Farm & Home has maintained an office in Cape Girardeau 20 years, noted Rigdon, who has been with the firm since 1977, and has served as branch manager since 1982. "Before 1973, Farm & Home had agents in the area," said Rigdon.