For the Historian …
History of the Bank
Just before the end of WWII, a group of forward-thinking
farmers and ranchers in eastern Oregon saw a need for banking
services in their region. Banding together with others,
they formed the Gilliam County Bank
in Arlington, Oregon, in February of 1945.
From left: Arthur A. Allen, Chairman; John W. Krebs; D. L. Lemon; Howard Bryant; Gene Pierce, President; Earl Hoag, Vice Chairman; Garland Swanson; A. David Childs; R. B. Ferguson. Circa 1966.
Since its inception, the focus of the bank has been to provide
quality banking services to rural communities of eastern Oregon
at a competitive price and to provide great customer service in
that delivery.
In the late 1950’s the bank expanded, opening branches in
Heppner and Ione. Shortly after that, the bank changed its
name to Bank of Eastern Oregon and
headquarters moved to Heppner, Oregon.
Branches were opened in Condon in 1995; Irrigon in 1998; and
Boardman in 2000, as the bank positioned itself to remain an
independent community bank entering the 21st Century.
In 2003, the bank took a giant leap forward with the purchase
of branches from Klamath First in Burns, John Day, Prairie
City, Fossil, Moro, Condon, and Heppner. This move
solidified Bank of Eastern Oregon’s footprint in eastern
Oregon with 11 branches in six counties. In 2004,
the bank opened its first Loan Production Office in Ontario,
Oregon. In 2005, a Loan Production Office was opened in
Hermiston, Oregon; in October 2008, the Enterprise Loan
Production office converted to a full service
branch. Bank of Eastern Oregon is a full service
community bank featuring local decision making and offering
loans for commercial, agricultural, and consumer
purposes. We have a state of the art Mortgage Division and
an Investment Division for alternative investments. We
offer a full array of business products and business cash
management services, personal checking and savings products,
debit and credit cards, merchant services, and wire services.
We are proud to be a full service community bank with
excellent customer service! Thanks for visiting our
website today!
