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First Farmers Bank & Trust to celebrate 125th anniversary Oct. 4-8

First Farmers Bank & Trust will celebrate its 125th anniversary at all bank locations during the week of Oct. 4-8.

Branch office events include customer gifts, giveaways, themed contests and refreshments.

First Farmers was originally founded in 1885 by Mark E. Tully as Mark Tully's Exchange Bank, in what was then Xenia but later became Converse. In those days anyone could open a bank, and that is what Tully, a clock salesman by trade and farmland investor, did, according information released by First Farmers. He remained president until the bank, due to new laws prohibiting private banks, added other investors to become Farmers State Bank in 1907.

The bank merged with local competitor First National Bank of Converse in 1945, creating First Farmers National Bank of Converse. The next generation saw a merger with the State Bank of Amboy in 1975, and the bank changed to its current moniker in 1995 when it merged several operations into its state charter.

Edward Powell served as president of Farmers State Bank for 10 years, starting in 1936, and headed First Farmers National Bank until 1964 for the longest tenure as president of the organization, a total of 28 years.
Hardy F. Dice succeeded Powell as president, and while he served in the top spot for only three years, he served as a bank officer for a total of 53 years.
According to First Farmers history, he was often known to travel the rural roads of the area, interviewing both peers and casual acquaintances on the virtues and strengths of prospective borrowers.

Cross county banking deregulation allowed First Farmers to expand to Howard County with a new branch operation in Greentown in 1988.

By the 1995 merging, it was operating eight locations in Miami, Howard, Madison and Tipton counties, and was continuing to invest in operational staff and technology by adding departments in marketing, information technology, human resources and wealth management services.

Branch operations were purchased in the towns of Sheridan and Galveston, and new facilities were begun in Peru, Tipton, Elwood and Kokomo to accommodate a growing customer base.

In 2001 alone, the bank purchased branches in Peru, Logansport and Wabash, and in 2006 the bank purchased branches in Culver, Knox and North Judson.

The Huntington office was added in 2007, and in 2009 the bank established a full-service office in Marion and merged with Central Bank in Howard County, giving it offices in Russiaville and Kokomo and making it the largest privately-held holder of deposits in the Howard County area.

First Farmers now serves over 40,000 clients from 20 offices. It has 220 full-time employees and more than $775 million in assets, officials report. It is now the largest agricultural bank east of the Mississippi River, according to the FDIC in its published reports.

Gene Miles, of Greentown, is the current president and chief executive officer. Among the bank's senior management team is Huntington County resident Mark Wolf, senior vice president, who is based out of the Huntington office.

The local branch will be relocating to a new facility to be constructed in the near future in the 200 block of Hauenstein Avenue.