First Federal Savings Bank, Evansville, celebrated its 120th anniversary in October. Originally established as the West Side Building Loan and Savings Association on Oct. 20, 1904, by a group of prominent businessmen, the bank’s first branch is still in operation as a banking center today. Its name changed to the First Federal Savings and Loan Association when, amid the Great Depression in 1934, the bank became the first Evansville thrift association to apply for and receive protection under the newly created Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. Leadership adopted the bank’s current name in 1988. The bank’s current leader, Michael H. Head, became the institution’s 9th president in 2000 and CEO in 2004.
Construction workers build what will become the bank’s first branch in 1904, which still operates as a banking center today.