12 – Buffalo Bulletin, Heritage 2019
Bulletin photo
In 1883, the private bank organized by Stebbins, Conrad & Co. had starting capital of $50,000. More than a century later, First Northern
Bank has assets of $340 million and deposits of $309 million.
First Northern Bank:
Serving the banking needs of Johnson County for 134 years
By Jen Sieve-Hicks
jen@buffalobulletin.com
Buffalo’s early days were as
rough and tumble as any Western
movie.
By the late 1870s cattle ranchers
had begun scouting Johnson County
for suitable grazing locations, and
the military had established Fort
McKinney along Clear Creek.
Soon, a village to provide sup-
plies and service to the fort sprang
up downstream. Merchants, traders,
lawyers, teachers, miners, preachers
and their families filtered in, and the
trappings of a town that could meet
the soldiers’ needs took shape.
In 1883, a private bank was orga-
nized by Stebbins, Conrad & Co.
with starting capital of $50,000. It
was housed in a simple, wood frame
building and was designed to meet
the basic banking needs of the pio-
neer population.
Buffalo was incorporated as a
town in 1884 – six years before
statehood. And on Feb. 2, 1885, that
private bank was granted a federal
charter under the original name First
National Bank of Buffalo. It was
the third such bank in the Territory
of Wyoming (and now the oldest)
and the first bank north of the Platte
River.
The first board of directors
included many names that will be “I am optimistic
familiar as they are immortalized
in Buffalo street names, and some
about this area. We’re
of the family names still persist in
Buffalo. The first directors were J.
fortunate in this area
W. Collins and W. P. Stebbins, (both that our economy is
of New York), J. H. Conrad, J. M.
Lobban, H. A. Bennett, C. M. White diversified – we’ve got
and George L. Holt. W.J. Thom
joined the board in 1888.
agriculture and energy
“It was my good fortune to and tourism.”
receive my early bank training under
him,” Wilbur Holt wrote of Thom in — Tom Holt
1969. “He was an able banker, and
we worked together in perfect har-
mony for many years.”
In 1888, the bank built a two-sto-
ry brick building, which it occupied
until June 1907. The bank then
moved to the Jensen Building on the
banks of Clear Creek. That move