The new settlement of Brooten looked very inviting as a place to open a new bank in 1894. Trips were made by
John
Bohmer to various small communities looking for a suitable location. The people, the soil, and the lay of
the
land, were factors that determined that it was economically feasible to start a bank here. The choice was
Brooten.
One very cold February morning in 1894 he started for Brooten with his horse and sleigh. After an overnight
stop
in a haystack, he made it to Brooten armed with cash and the necessary formalities. He opened the “Bank of
Brooten” on February 23rd, 1894.
There was a financial recession at the time, one of many to plague the banking industry and the country over
the
years. Renegade banks opened, took the customer’s money and left. Many banks were in trouble, and going
broke.
When the Minnesota Banking Commission was established about 1910, it helped stabilize the banking industry
and we
became the “State Bank of Brooten”.
The drought of the 1930’s began after WWI, in 1920, and plagued the country for about 15 years. The 1929
economic
depression forced many banks to close their doors. President Roosevelt’s “bank holiday” in 1933 closed all
banks
for 2 weeks for evaluation, forcing bad banks out and leaving good banks in business.
Customer’s money was in jeopardy. We were one of only three banks in this area to re-open our doors,
assuring our
customers that 100% of their money would be available, an enviable record. At that time, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Company began guaranteeing depositor money, helping to stabilize all remaining banks.
WWII changed our poor economy to boom times and our bank grew and helped promote our community to new
prosperity.
The government “Soil Bank” farm program of 1956 coaxed 3000 people in our community off their farms. The
remaining
farms were consolidated and were encouraged by our promotion of irrigation to bigger and better farming, but
we
lost many smaller customers. We are gradually overcoming the loss of all those people and are now furnishing
non-farm job opportunities to the current population.
Our bank has been an active and successful promoter of business and industry for Brooten for many years. As
a
result, we have helped develop industry and business that now provides 500 jobs for our people.
Bonanza Valley State Bank and three generations of the Bohmer family stand tall and proud of our community.