New Bank Building for Culver  

The State Sxchange Bank Will Completely ReBuild

President W. O. Osborn Also Announces Amazing Instituition's Improvements At Agros and LaPaz

Great vision, sound judgement, and complete faith in the future groweth and development of Culver and he surrounding Indiana area are forcefully and courageously demonstrated again this week by a highly significant announcement made by the board of directors of the State Exchange Bank under the inspiring and aggressive leadership of President W. O. Osborn.

As the result of their important and farsighted action, Main Street in this community will, within the coming year, take on a "New Look" which will compare faorable with the principal business thoroughfares of cities of 100,000 population.

Resources Exceed $29 Million

The State Exchange Bank of Culver and Argos and its Marshall County affiliate, the Farmers State Bank of LaPaz, are under the management concentrated in Culver. Their combined resources are in excess of $29 million making it one of the most potent and most discussed country banks in the entire United States.

An official statement relative to the bank's huge expansion program contains these highlights:

To completely rebuild our building at Culver, by taking over for our use the offices heretofore used by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company and by t taking the entire east one-half of the upstairs of our building to be used by our bookkeepers.

To completely reface the entire outside of our Culver building by the use of Roman brick, granite and stone and to add a modern drive-in window at the west end of our present bank building which will be kept open continually from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. including the noon hour.

Purchase Twp Properties

In order to accomplish and to carry our our improvements, we have heretofore purchased the Bess Easterday and the Lottie Marshall-Duddleson properties so that we now own all of the property in the block bounded by Jefferson Street on the south, Ohio Street on the west, Washington street on the north and Main Street on the east, except the Culver-union Township Public Lbrary building.

New Public Auditorium

We are completing the construction of a modern brick, fireproof, and air conditioned building on the west portion of the property heretofore know as the Methdoist church property which will be occupied by the Northern Public Service Company and Dr. Norman S. Norris on the main floor, and we are giving serious thought to completing the basement of this new brick building we have constructed which will be strickly modern in every way to be used by the public to hold meetings.

Alley Becomes A Street

To widen the alley immediately west of the bank so as to make a stree of the same in order to make the west side of our bank as well as the office of Dr. Norman S. Norris and the Northern Indiana Public Serivce Company as accessible to the public as possible.

We will remove the two houses located on the real estate which we have pruchased immediately west of the bank and the old Methodist church property so that we can convert the same into a 50-car, modern parking space to be used by the genral pubic.

Nine Customer Windows

To install a completely new lighting and air conditioning sysem and to provide additional offices for the officals of the bank and to install nin customers' windows along the north portion of our bank building.

Finance Company Segregated

To segrate the State Exchange Finance Company from our banking quarters by providing space for out FInance Company in the southeast corner of the main floor of our bank building.

To privide an additional entrance to the bank from the south side of our bank building so that persons can enter the bank from the south side as well as from the east side of out bank building.

To provide a separate vault for filing purposes, including the filing of all mortages and supporting papers.

To complete the east one-half of the second floor for the use of our bookkeeprs and to provide an open stairway leading from the northwest corner of our lobby to the bookkepping and transiet department.

To provide additional telephone, not only for inner communication, but also ourside service as well.

To provide additonal space taking over that portion of the basement now used by our bookkeepers which will be used by State Exchange Finance Company and by the general publice at time when our present auditorium might be in use.

Beautiful New Fixtures

To replace all or present fixtures with new modern fixtures to be constructed of either mahogany or walnut and to be trimmed in with white marble.

Argos-LaPaz Improvements

We are also happy to announce that the directors of our banks have approved of the following inprovements:

1. Addition of two lots adojoing our peoperty at Lapaz, to be used for additional parking space.

2. To remodel the interior of our bank at Argos, Indiana, by eliminating the two offices in the front protion of our bank and using the space to enlarge our lobby which will make it possible for us to have either five or six customers' windows, and at the same time to remodel the rear of our banking quarters to be occupied by our officals and at the same time to install a modern night depository, which improvements will include a completely new lighting system in the banking quarters with all of our present fixtures to be replaced by modern equipment. - - Nov. 28, 1956 Citizen