Industry State Bank

Duane's take

Now, I'm gonna tell this one the way the official marker tells it, so you know exactly where these facts come from. Pull up a chair, because this is a story about money, endurance, and one family that just wouldn't quit on a little Texas town called Industry. It starts, like most good stories do, with a meeting.

February eleventh, 1911. A group of local citizens got together and decided they needed a bank. Not just any bank, mind you.

They wanted to call it the First Guaranty State Bank of Industry, which is a name that sounds like it was written by a man who had something to prove. Dr. B.E.

Knolle stepped up as the first president, and E. Lindemann came in as first vice president. By June of that same year, the doors opened for business at 1559 Main Street.

Now here's where it gets interesting. The whole operation, the whole thing, ran on one salaried employee. One.

That was H.L. Schulze, shareholder and cashier, drawing a regular paycheck. His assistant, H.H.

Boelsche, worked by the hour. You can imagine how those two felt about each other. Then, in September of 1919, Schulze's daughter Thusnelde was hired on.

And she wasn't just passin' through. Thusnelde stayed at that bank for forty-nine years, right up until her retirement in 1968. Forty-nine years.

Same institution. That is a kind of loyalty you don't manufacture. When H.L.

Schulze died in 1926, Boelsche, the hourly man, was named as his replacement. Life has a sense of humor. Boelsche managed the bank all the way until his own death in 1956, when Arno Krebs became president.

Meanwhile, back in 1927, a change in Texas banking structure caused the bank's name to be changed to Industry State Bank. Then the Depression came calling, the way it came calling on everybody. Deposits had peaked at two hundred and six thousand dollars in 1924.

By the end of 1932, they had fallen to ninety-five thousand. That is a long, quiet kind of hurt, watchin' your numbers shrink year after year. But the bank held on.

Deposits didn't climb back to their 1924 levels until 1937, and when they got there, you can bet someone in that building exhaled for the first time in a while. A new bank building went up at the Main Street location in 1957. By 1962, assets had grown to one and a half million dollars.

In 1973, the bank relocated again, this time to a new structure at the corner of Highway 159 and Highway 109. Then in 1989, Industry State Bank acquired its first additional banking facility, New Ulm State Bank, and kept right on growin'. That institution, born from one meeting on a February morning in 1911, has grown through improved banking technology and decades of change until it serves the citizens of the region in fifteen communities.

From one salaried employee on Main Street to fifteen communities across the region. Some roots, it turns out, just go too deep to pull up.

What the marker says

ON FEBRUARY 11, 1911, A GROUP OF LOCAL CITIZENS TOOK THE FIRST STEPS IN FORMING A BANK TO BE CALLED FIRST GUARANTY STATE BANK OF INDUSTRY. DR. B.E. KNOLLE SERVED AS THE BANK’S FIRST PRESIDENT AND E. LINDEMANN SERVED AS FIRST VICE PRESIDENT. BY JUNE OF THAT YEAR, THE BANK OPENED FOR BUSINESS AT 1559 MAIN STREET. SHAREHOLDER AND CASHIER H.L. SCHULZE SERVED AS THE BANK’S ONLY SALARIED EMPLOYEE, WHILE HIS ASSISTANT H.H. BOELSCHE RECEIVED HOURLY PAY. IN SEPTEMBER 1919, SCHULZE’S DAUGHTER, THUSNELDE, WAS HIRED BY THE BANK AND SHE CONTINUED AS AN EMPLOYEE FOR 49 YEARS, UNTIL HER RETIREMENT IN 1968. WHEN H.L. SCHULZE DIED IN 1926, BOELSCHE WAS NAMED AS HIS REPLACEMENT. BOELSCHE MANAGED THE BANK UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1956, WHEN ARNO KREBS BECAME THE BANK’S PRESIDENT. BECAUSE OF A CHANGE IN THE TEXAS BANKING STRUCTURE, THE BANK’S NAME WAS CHANGED TO INDUSTRY STATE BANK IN 1927. THE DEPRESSION CAUSED A DOWNTURN IN THE DEPOSITS AND INCOME OF INDUSTRY STATE BANK. WHILE DEPOSITS HAD PEAKED AT $206,000 IN 1924, THE LOW POINT FOR DEPOSITS OCCURRED AT THE END OF 1932 WHEN THEY FELL TO $95,000. DEPOSITS WOULD NOT AGAIN REACH THEIR 1924 LEVELS UNTIL 1937. A NEW BANK BUILDING WAS CONSTRUCTED AT THE MAIN STREET LOCATION IN 1957, AND BY 1962, THE BANK’S ASSETS HAD GROWN TO $1,500,000. THE BANK RELOCATED TO A NEW STRUCTURE IN 1973 AT THE CORNER OF HIGHWAY 159 AND HIGHWAY 109. INDUSTRY STATE BANK ACQUIRED ITS FIRST ADDITIONAL BANKING FACILITY, NEW ULM STATE BANK, IN 1989. THE INTEGRATION OF IMPROVED BANKING TECHNOLOGY THROUGHOUT ITS EXISTENCE HAS ENABLED INDUSTRY STATE BANK TO CONTINUE TO SERVE THE CITIZENS OF THE REGION WITH BANKING FACILITIES IN FIFTEEN COMMUNITIES.