|
The Way it Was Then . . . .Forty years ago, a small group of local businessmen in Pontotoc County established the First American Bank of Roff in order to meet the personal banking and business-banking needs of the citizens in Roff and surrounding areas. The mission of the bank, then and now, has been to serve its customers with personalized banking service, loans of various types, residential mortgages, small-business loans, and agricultural lending. Recognizing the growing population in the northern part of Pontotoc County, the bank established its second location in Byng in 1984. At that time the name was officially changed to the Pontotoc County Bank to reflect the wider geographic reach of the bank into all of Pontotoc County and surrounding communities. In 1984, the family of Dr. Darryl Fisher acquired the controlling interest in the bank through the purchase of the shares from the original founders of the bank. Since that time, the prevailing investment philosophy of the Fisher family has focused on consistent and conservative stewardship of the bank, striving to provide the full range of banking services to communities, the individuals, and the businesses that the bank serves. In 1997 the Pontotoc County Bank received the Seshunoff Bank Rating Service Award as “one of the best in the nation.” In 2005, the bank opened its third full-service bank location in Stratford, and once again changed its name, this time to Oklahoma Heritage Bank (“OHB”), to emphasize the bank’s expanding market area beyond Pontotoc County. In 2010, the bank doubled the size of its building in Stratford by building a companion facility of similar size adjacent to the original 2005 building. In 2014, OHB opened a fourth full-service banking location in Ada in an interim location in the North Hills Shopping Center. In January 2020, flagship headquarters in a new state-of-the-art facility on the Lonnie Abbott Boulevard frontage of the North Hills Center opened to the public. The Way it Is Now . . . .Throughout the bank’s four decades of service, the predominating objectives of managed growth, conservative and cautious banking, safety and soundness, and service commitment to its customers and communities have resulted in the growth of the OHB into a solid and reliable bank with over 100 million dollars in assets. The Way It Will Be When . . . .Looking beyond today, for another forty years and more, all of us can realize that OHB’s success will continue for another forty years and more because we are surrounded by communities of hard working and responsible citizens. Add to these, all the good people who have worked together to bring OHB to where it is today. It is this coming together of friendly and capable staff with home-town folks in our communities that has made OHB’s journey over these four decades so satisfying and interesting. Banking will undoubtedly change in coming years, as it has in these past 40 years for OHB, in ways none of us can really imagine. Certainly, OHB will continue to grow to serve the folks in its communities. Do rest assured that OHB’s commitment to excellence in banking will continue. |
|