By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

LITCHFIELD, Ill. — This year, Ken Elmore, president of the First National Bank of Litchfield, has been busy celebrating a big anniversary – the bank’s 150th. All summer, bank staff reached out to their customers and the first full week of September the celebration culminated with a cookout and prizes.

“The First National Bank of Litchfield has been in continuous operation for 150 years,” Elmore said. “This is a milestone in the world of banking and has only been achieved by a handful of banks in Illinois.”

Besides being president of the bank, Elmore – like many of its customers – is a farmer. Litchfield is both a metropolitan and rural area; located in the center of some of the Midwest’s finest soil, it is also along Interstate 55 and historic Route 66.

The city was settled by a railroad man by the name of Electus Bachus Litchfield. While it was once called Huntsville, after Litchfield donated land for the railroad terminal, the town took on his name.

Growing with the town, the First National Bank of Litchfield was established in 1860 as the Brewer, Seymour and Co. Bank. Through the years there were a few more name and location changes, but the bank was established with its current name in 1889.

It was in 1884 that it moved a few blocks to its present location at 324 North State Street. In 1923, the current structure was built when the old one was replaced, to offer a better and more secure vault system.

In 1964, the booming bank expanded; in 1973, it added a drive-up window. According to its own information, it has grown from a $7 million bank to one of $75 million in assets over the past 30 years.

The bank has one full-service branch on the expanding west side of Litchfield.