The History of Legacy Bank

In 1904, many banks were springing up in Iowa. Very few of those locally owned institutions exist today, but travel through Altoona, Bondurant, and Mitchellville you will see a familiar red brick building topped with a cupola. This is the building design that has helped to identify Legacy Bank since 1904.

The original bank, formally known as Farmers Savings Bank, opened in the dot on a map town of Ira, Iowa with an initial capital stock of $10,000.00. B.F. Baker was the first President until his death in 1927. F.W. Trammel took over in 1928 until sometime in the 1930’s when Russell and Iona Blake gained ownership interest in the bank. In 1936 the bank moved to Mitchellville. Mr. Blake ran the bank until 1963 when he was stricken with cancer.

In 1968 A. Emsley Chittenden bought the bank from the Blake’s and ran the operated branches in Mitchellville and Bondurant. The bank continued to grow as the communities continued to prosper. In 1985 Emsley sold majority interest in the bank over to his son Robert Chittenden and soon passed away. Robert Chittenden still serves as President and Chairman of Legacy Bank to this day.

In 1995 the bank built the Altoona branch and moved the charter in an effort to better serve existing customers and bring locally owned community-banking back to the city of Altoona. The move has been a great success and we have helped many businesses and individuals realize they’re financial needs. Since our inception many changes have occurred in the banking industry. With the changes in the bank and its customer base we found that the name Farmers Savings Bank did not accurately represent our customers and we looked for a name that would better identify not only the bank but also the values that we have tried maintain since 1904. In October of 2001, we changed our name to Legacy Bank. The most recent change to the bank has been the completion of our new Bondurant facility that occurred in 2005. We hope to better serve the area growth and potential that exists within this community.

In 2007, Legacy constructed the Clive branch located in the Commerce Park Development. This location features a synergy of bank partners such as investment services, legal and accounting practices. Our goal is to provide customers with the finest available resources and services to fulfill the high demand of their financial needs. The communication between these entities creates a powerful tool for our customers to have a synergistic view of their entire financial portfolio.

We feel our name accurately represents whom we are and where we are going. In this time of uncertainty and change we believe long term relationships with customers and having a staff that is trained to help meet the customers needs is vital to maintaining a level of service that is unsurpassed. Financial Institutions are truly all marketing the same products, but a bank professional that can help negotiate the options and help the long term goals of our customers is what we value from our people. Our funds stay local and so does our commitment. That is why Local ownership is so important not only to the areas we serve but to our customers as well.