It has survived the Great Depression, two major floods, economic downturns and even a robbery that saw the bank president being taken hostage.

A lot has happened to Buffalo Savings Bank in its first 100 years.

The financial institution hangs its hat on two key premises: Treating the customers like friends, and having employees who take pride in their work.

The sign in front of the cashiers’ area sets the tone: “Quality products and services from employees who care.”

“We have to give them a customer account number,” said Jim Matthys, president and chief executive officer. “But when they walk through the door, they know we have a relationship they cannot get from the larger institutions. I think that sets us apart from the bigger banks.”

He said that in an era when mergers are consolidating the banking industry, Buffalo Savings Bank remains proud of its small size.

Matthys said that despite overtures from prospective buyers, family members never have considered selling.

Today, the bank has $39 million in assets and

$34.5 million in deposits. It employs 12 people.

Buffalo Mayor Jack Carson said the bank is a community mainstay.

“They have been very good to the town,” he said. “When I was a little kid, I remember my folks dealing with them. It has been a family tradition.

“I just never thought of them not being here. Every time you need something, we hit them up for something and they always respond.”

Buffalo Savings Bank opened its doors on April 9, 1909. The original building, located down the street from the current location, now houses the post office. Matthys said an addition was constructed onto the original building in 1959. The new bank building was completed in 1975.

For most of the century in this Scott County community of about 1,500, the bank has been owned and operated by members of the Matthys family.

Jim Matthys has worked at the bank for 36 years. His father, A.J. Matthys, spent 52 years in the business, including many years as president. 

“Prior to that, there were some members of the family in the bank since 1937,” Jim Matthys said.

Among them were two great-uncles on his mother’s side — Rupert Kautz, who was chairman and president, and his brother, Ed Kautz, who also served as president for a time.

Matthys said his father joined the bank after he returned from World War II in 1946. He worked there until 1997. 

Jim’s sister, Helen Paul, and brother, Mike Matthys, also work at the bank.

Paul is a co-owner, vice president and cashier. “I started working for my father when I was 15, working Saturdays rolling quarters,” she said.

She taught 33 years at Buffalo Elementary School but continued to work part-time at the bank. Three years ago, she retired from teaching and now works at the bank full time. “Almost everyone worked here at one time or another,” Paul said of her siblings.

Mike Matthys is vice president, chief financial officer and another co-owner, and has worked at the bank for more than 20 years. He credited the employees and customers for their success.

“The way we get to be 100 years old is because of the customers that we have had and grown with over the 100 years,” he said.

Jim Matthys remembered the Mississippi River flood of 1965 when the basement of the original bank building was filled with water. “My father had all the duties of having to decide what to do to take care of that,” Jim Matthys said.

Twenty-eight years later, Jim was at the helm of the bank when the Great Flood of 1993 overran Buffalo. He said he was “running around in my hip boots” making the same types of decisions his father had to make.

The new building was constructed two feet above the 1965 flood level and no water was supposed to reach that structure, but it did.

In fact, he said the bank’s staff came to realize how important the community viewed their bank. “We had to leave the bank for three weeks and operated in a local school, but we never closed the bank,” he said. “We feel that was a great accomplishment for us in a time when things weren’t looking that good.”

Customers, friends, bank directors, employees and their families came to the bank’s rescue, helping to check water pumps around the clock. The floodwaters did enter the building’s duct work, but volunteers kept most of the water out.

Centennial celebration

Buffalo Savings Bank will celebrate 100 years of banking from 1-4 p.m. April 26 at the Buffalo (Iowa) Community Center, 426 Clark St.

“Our customers, our community and our staff have made us successful for a century,” Jim Matthys, president and chief executive officer, said. “We want to say ‘thank you’ to our community for helping to keep our bank and Buffalo strong for 100 years.”