About 1st Alliance / History

1st Alliance is a locally owned and operated community bank with seven locations throughout Central Iowa.

1st Alliance was organized in 1935, and opened in what was previously the First National Bank of Webster City. Edward P. Prince, veteran Webster City attorney, served as president. Other officers included J.J. McGuire as vice-president and B.P. St. John, cashier.

When 1st Alliance first opened its doors in 1935 its resources consisted of $62,500 in capital stock. Assets have grown to over $500 million with capital in excess of $65 million. 1st Alliance currently employs one hundred twenty two full and/or part-time employees between all locations.

1st Alliance officials decided to erect a new home located just west of the original building at the corner of Second and Seneca Street. Construction of the new banking facility got underway with ground-breaking ceremonies at the site on October 30, 1969. 1st Alliance held an open house of its new modern bank building on Saturday, October 17, 1970.

February 1976, Russell Johnson and Robert Van Diest jointly announced the pending sale of controlling interest in the 1st Alliance. March of that same year it was announced that the final approval of the sale of the controlling interest in the 1st Alliance had been received by the Federal Banking authorities and that the purchase had been completed.

1st Alliance has been instrumental in bringing financial products and services to its customers. Among those significant additions:

July 1979 – Opened 1st Alliance Motor Bank at 1919 Superior, Webster City, with an automatic teller machine (ATM) installed. This was the first ATM in Webster City. A second ATM was installed at the main office in 1984. The Motor Bank office was closed in May of 1996. However, in August of 1997, a Drive-Up ATM was installed which allows the customer to use this ATM from the comforts of one’s vehicle.

1983 - Discount brokerage services were offered to bank customers through Bankers Systems Brokerage Service. In August of 1989, 1st Alliance began offering full brokerage service and that continues today under the name of 1st Alliance Investment Services, 1st Alliance offers these services through Cetera Advisor Networks LLC.

1984 – 1st Alliance purchased Stanhope Insurance Agency and Farmers State Bank in Stanhope. Complete insurance services were offered to customers through this location. 1988 - First Insurance Services opened in Webster City, now known as Town and Country Insurance. There have been a total of 21 acquisitions since 1984, including the Stanhope Insurance Agency. The following is a listing of the agencies that have been acquired, the date and the location of those agencies:

1985 - 1st Alliance established the Prestige Club for customers age 55 or better.

Year	Agency	Location
1984	Stanhope Insurance Agency	Stanhope, IA
1992	Meade Insurance Services	Webster City, IA
1995	Town & Country Insurance, Inc.	Webster City, IA
1996	Bibler Insurance	Stanhope, IA
1998	Sweedler Insurance	Williams, IA
1999	Insurance Center, Inc.	Webster City, IA
2001	Nicklaus Insurance Center	Eagle Grove, IA
2001	Roger Schultz Crop Insurance	Eagle Grove, IA
2002	Nicholson Insurance	Williams, IA
2003	Mechaelsen-Harrenstein Crop, Inc.	Webster City, IA
2004	Nelsen-Nicklaus Insurance Services	Clarion, IA
2004	T&C Insurance Services	Clarion, IA
2004	Arthur-Meinders Insurance	Clarion, IA
2007	Norsemen Insurance	Story City, IA
2009	Keane Insurance	Webster City, IA
2009	Bailey Financial Services	Webster City, IA
2009	Anchor Insurance	Fort Dodge, IA
2009	O'Connor Insurance	Fort Dodge, IA
2011	Steve Opheim Insurance Agency	Fort Dodge, IA
2013	Worthington Insurance Agency	Humboldt, IA
2014	Sterling Dahl Medical Insurance	Story City, IA

 

Town and Country Insurance is a professional independent agency that specializes in multiple lines of insurance including Home Insurance, Car Insurance, Business Insurance, Group and Individual Health, Senior Products, Farm & Ranch Insurance and Crop Insurance. With close to 50 insurance professionals providing coverage and expertise from locations in Webster City, Eagle Grove, Clarion, Story City, Fort Dodge and Humboldt.

January 1987 – Farmers State Bank, Stanhope merged with 1st Alliance. Robert Van Diest had purchased Farmers State Bank of Stanhope from John Walker in 1984, but it wasn’t until 1987 that the merger with 1st Alliance took place and the Stanhope bank was officially a branch of 1st Alliance. Since that time 1st Alliance has acquired Liberty Savings Bank in Webster City and Farmers Savings Bank in Vincent and Badger.

In 2001 a branch office was opened in Eagle Grove, operating out of a mobile bank until December of 2002, when the new branch office opened. 323 S Commercial Ave, Eagle Grove, Iowa, is home to the both the bank and Town & Country Insurance.

In May of 2007, 1st Alliance opened a branch office in Fort Dodge, moving into existing office space at that time. A new facility was built at 3031 5th Ave S. Fort Dodge, Ia., August of 2009 that is shared with Town & Country Insurance.

During this time period it was determined that the Vincent and Badger offices could be better served between the Eagle Grove and Fort Dodge offices and therefore closed.

2011 brought about many changes in the appearances of both 1st Alliance and Town & Country Insurance at their Webster City locations. Town & Country Insurance had an open house celebrating not only remodeling but a complete new addition to the existing office at 409 Second Street. The new and renovated office spaces at the main bank, 505 Second Street were completed in December of 2011. The Loan Department is now all located in the new east wing of the bank.

March of 2012, a new office constructed and opened in Clarion, Iowa. The 3200 square foot building houses a new full service bank including drive-up lanes and an ATM inside as well as a Town & Country Insurance office.

June 4, 2012, 1st Alliance opened a 6th branch office in Humboldt, Iowa and operated out of a temporary location in the USDA building until construction on the new building was completed in September of 2013 at 605 13th Street North, Humboldt.

November of 2013, the 6th Town & Country Insurance branch office joined 1st Alliance in the newly constructed building at 605 13th Street North in Humboldt, IA. With the new Town & Country Insurance branch came the acquisition of Worthington Insurance making this Town & County Insurance’s 20th agency acquisition.

March 2017 - it is with great anticipation and excitement that we announce the opening of our seventh bank office location in Jewell, Iowa. The bank will operate out of a temporary location, 717 Main Street, Jewell, until the new bank facility is completed. It is scheduled to open in early 2018.

June 4, 2018, 1st Alliance’s Jewell office, still located in a great community moved to a brand new office with a brand new address. You can now find our staff located at 548 Main Street, Jewell, Iowa. The office also houses our 7th Town & Country Insurance location.

In 2018 1st Alliance announced that the company had purchased some business buildings adjacent to the bank in order to provide additional work space for the bank’s continued growth. May of 2018 demolition began, followed by construction. The new addition opened October 28, 2019. It has three levels, with the main level now serving retail services. The upper level is a large meeting room for training and customer events, and the lower level is partially finished and available for future growth.

Over the years additional products and services have been added; debit cards, Christmas Club Saving Accounts, imaging of statements, a Kids Club for those 12 and under, telephone and on line banking, online teller, remote capture, mobile banking and fraud monitoring for debit card customers, just to name a few.

Current Board of Directors are; Robert Van Diest, Chairman, David Taylor, President and CEO of 1st Alliance, Douglas Follmann, Executive Vice-President and Agency Manager, Brian McLoughlin, CFO, John Van Diest, Jake Van Diest, Rob Dickey, Alyssa Schwering, Scott Taylor.