On July 5th, 1898, S.J. Rasmussen chartered the Bank of Starbuck. The bank building was similar in design to the present card room and was located on a lot that is now part of the Starbuck Telephone Compnay offices.

In 1904 the bank was sold to Andrew Kopperud and George Washington Hughes, who became the controlling stockholders. The bank was converted to the Farmers State Bank on June 1, 1904. It was the county's first chartered state bank and had capital stock of $12,500. Hughes held the office of president.

A new brick building, constructed in 1905, housed the bank's offices for nearly five decades. The building still stands and until recently served as the Starbuck Creamery office. It was the site of a bank robbery in August, 1933 that resulted in one of the robbers being shot and killed and another being captured and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Harold Thorson from Northfield, Minnesota owned a number of banks and purchased controlling interest of the Farmers State Bank, becoming president on December 5, 1905.

The Gold Standard Act of March 14, 1900, contained a provision which permitted the organization of national banks with capital of $25,000 in towns with a population of 3,000 or less. The act fostered the organization of many small-town banks. In the five years before the act, only 257 national banks were organized. During the five years following the act, 2,300 national banks were organized. Thus emerged "The Golden Age of Main Street Banking."

The Farmers State Bank was converted to a national bank on December 1, 1909 and was given the name that it proudly displays today First National Bank of Starbuck.

George Hughes purchased Thorson's stock and began his second term as president on May 17, 1915. Within several years he sold his stock to Gustav I. Engebretson.

In 1904 the bank was sold to Andrew Kopperud and George Washington Hughes, who became the controlling stockholders. The bank was converted to the Farmers State Bank on June 1, 1904. It was the county's first chartered state bank and had capital stock of $12,500. Hughes held the office of president.

A new brick building, constructed in 1905, housed the bank's offices for nearly five decades. The building still stands and until recently served as the Starbuck Creamery office. It was the site of a bank robbery in August, 1933 that resulted in one of the robbers being shot and killed and another being captured and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Harold Thorson from Northfield, Minnesota owned a number of banks and purchased controlling interest of the Farmers State Bank, becoming president on December 5, 1905.

Engebretson remained the president for 25 years until his death in 1943, and Edward S. Olson was employed as cashier during this time. Under their guidance the First National Bank of Starbuck remained open throughout the Great Depression and the drought when a number of other banks failed, including a competing bank in Starbuck.

Edward S. Olson had been with the bank for over 25 years when he attained controlling interest and the presidency on January 11, 1944. Like his predecessor, Olson was at the helm for 20 plus years. He combined his love of music and the circus into the purchase of a band wagon which was renovated in time to become an award winner in the 1950 Aquatennial Parade.

The present banking facility was constructed in 1954 by local contractors, Landaas and Pederson.

Thomas E. Olson, director of the bank since 1948, became president on December 8, 1966. The bank purchased and renovated the buildings to the north formerly occupied by Starbuck Electric and Blok's Barbershop. LuVerne Flaten Construction was the general contractor for a significant project in 1986 as the building was expanded to the west and the interior was remodeled. Stephen Hippe constructed the beautiful oak teller line and cabinets.

Mark T. Olson was named president of the First National Bank of Starbuck on December 19, 1995, becoming the third generation of the Olson family to hold this position. Ed, Tommy, and Mark have been a part of the bank for more than 80 of its 100 years.

This article was printed in the July 15, 1898 edition of the Glenwood Herald announcing the new Bank of Starbuck.

S J. Rasmussen, a former banker of River Falls, F.M. White, an experienced attorney of that place, and 0. J. Johnson, well and favorably known as an enterprising business man of Starbuck, have owned the Bank of Starbuck in our neighboring town. We understand that the capital invested is amply sufficient to place it on a substantial basis and it will prove a great accommodation to the business men of that community. Starbuck is to be congratulated on this valuable acquisition to its business interests, and The Herald gladly welcomes the advent of these gentlemen into the business circles of Pope County. The new bank will occupy the neat and commodious building erected on the south side of Main Street by H. L. Larson.

The local paper at River Falls, thus speaks of Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Rasmussen: Mr. Rasmussen has been connected with the bank here for ten years and has won the confidence of his employers and the public. He is a man of good business qualities and will make a success of whatever he undertakes. Both Mr. Rasmussen and his estimable wife have held high places in society and in leaving River Falls they leave hosts of friends.

United States paper currency dates back to 1861. The need for paper money was hastened by the Civil War as coinage was in short supply

National Bank Notes were issued between 1863 and 1935. More then 14,000 banks issued notes, including the First National Bank of Starbuck. Chartered banks could issue currency based on 90% of the government bonds they deposited. Until 1929, large-sized notes were issued.

They were printed at the U. S. Government Printing Office and then shipped to the banks where the officers signed or stamped their names on the currency.

Throughout its currency issuing period, the First National Bank of Starbuck issued 35,686 National Bank Notes totaling $282,740.

The large notes were printed with four notes per sheet consisting of either 4-fives or 3-tens and 1-twenty dollar note. There were six notes per sheet for the modern-sized currency in the Series of 1929. The sheets were cut by hand at the bank to make them ready for circulation.

The First National Bank of Starbuck maintains a permanant collection of these original bank notes.

"Stick 'em up." Those dreaded words were uttered by armed robbers to employees and customers of the First National Bank of Starbuck on Thursday morning, August 17, 1933. The two masked men did not get the opportunity to spend any of the loot. However, one of them spent his last breath after being shot upon exiting the bank.

The two perpetrators were Clifford Anderson, age 22, of Gilchrist and 61-year-old John Kjornes who lived near Lake Moore in Swift County. Kjornes had previously spent 10 years on the Benson police force. On the other hand, Anderson had served 10 months in prison for robbing a filling station. The duo had known each other for about a year when they got together and hatched a plan to rob the Oscar Erickson store at Scandinavian Lake. They pulled off the heist on a Sunday evening. The next day they discussed robbing a bank. Anderson and Kjornes then stole a car from the Murdock vicinity. They made some alterations to the vehicle, a 1928 DeSoto, and also placed a set of stolen license plates on it.

Both men were carrying hand guns when they left for Starbuck at 8:30 A. M. in their stolen car. Their attire included overalls and straw hats taken in the Erickson store robbery. Old stockings were to be used as masks. Less than an hour later, Anderson and Kjornes entered the First National Bank of Starbuck. The first person they encountered was a customer named Otto Olson. Despite having a gun leveled at him, Olson exited the bank. Employees Edward Olson and Borghild Brenden were forced to put up their hands. Two customers, Henry Nodland and Chester Peterson, complied with the gunmen's order to lie on the floor. Another customer, Florence Bulman, then entered the bank, and upon hearing "stick 'em up", she screamed and ran outside.

Kjornes motioned cashier Edward Olson to the vault. While there, Olson explained to the crook that the safe was under time lock and couldn't be opened for four hours. Ed called the bandit's attention to some silver, which Kjornes instructed him to put in a bag. Some teller cash was also taken before Brenden, Nodland, and Peterson were ordered into the vault with Olson.

The word spread quickly that the bank was being robbed. Selmer Larson ran into the Cabin Inn Cafe located across the street to the north. Rudolph Hansen, proprietor of the cafe, had let it be known that he was prepared if the bank was ever held up. Larson knew this and notified Hansen. Hansen grabbed his shotgun, ran across the street, and waited for the robbers from between Johnson's barber shop and Aaberg's meat market.

Clifford Anderson left the bank first, but he did not appear, to Hansen's eyes, to be a bandit. Anderson went to the street corner and then about a block south to the elevator,, which is where they had left their getaway car. John Kjornes exited the bank carrying the canvas sack in his left hand and 32 caliber automatic pistol in his right hand. Rudolph Hansen emerged behind Kjornes and yelled "halt, stop." Kjornes didn't stop but rather he moved his right arm toward a firing position at which time Hansen pulled the trigger. A fatal round of birdshot struck Kjornes in the left shoulder. Anderson heard the gunshot and decided to leave the scene. After concealing the vehicle, he hid in cornfields and swamps for more than a day. He slept in his parent's barn Friday night. At daylight Saturday, he was awakened and captured by Glenwood Police Chief George Bogie and Bogie's son Robert.

Anderson confessed his part in the failed robbery but offered an insanity defense at his trial in December. Nonetheless, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Anderson served just over eight years at Stillwater Penitentiary before being paroled in 1942.

The sack of money that had fallen to the ground with Kjornes contained a mere $1,020.

• Edward S. Olson made the motion to organize the Independent Bankers Association of America in 1930. The First National Bank of Starbuck is a charter member of the IBAA. Olson was the organization's first secretary (pro-tem).

• In 1915, the total annual salaries for 4 bank employees (Thorson, Hughes, Bergerson, Engebretson) was $3,700.
• On October 12, 1948, Edward Olson addressed the third annual Federal Reserve Forum. His topic was "Bank Collection Policy 1948 Style".
• The approximate weight of the vault door is 9,200 lbs.
• The model of the band wagon that is displayed in the bank lobby was made by J. W. Defatte, Sr. of Lake George, MN.
• Edward Olson's artwork has adorned bank calendars for over 30 years. His drawing of Abraham Lincoln appeared on the cover of "Commercial West" magazine.