Shelby County State Bank, based in Harlan, Iowa, was first organized as a state bank in 1880 under the name of the Shelby County Bank. BL Harding was the first bank President and the bank began with $50,000 in assets. Shelby County Bank was officially incorporated in 1894.
In 1906 the Shelby County Bank and First National Bank were consolidated under the name of Shelby County State Bank. In May 1911, H.P. Dowling presided as bank President and by 1913 the deposits of the bank had reached a total of $780,000.
In 1933 The Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank of Harlan merged with The Shelby County State Bank. For the convenience of its customers, a branch bank was established in Elk Horn, Iowa that same year.
By the time H. Rand Petersen became SCSB President in 1957, SCSB had $5 million in assets. In 1972, Rand helped SCSB construct the first drive-in bank in Harlan located on the corner of 5th and Court St. In 1975, the SCSB main office changed locations from 1012 6th St. and built a new bank which joined the established Drive-in Bank at 508 Court St.
Within nine years SCSB merged with four other banks including Panama and Portsmouth in 1986, Irwin in 1992 and Shelby in 1995. In 1993 the bank converted the former ‘Lil Duffer restaurant into what’s now the Harlan West Branch on Highway 59.
Soon after the bank’s merger with the State Bank of Portsmouth, Jerry Lapke became President of SCSB. Roger Claypool assumed those same duties from 1996-2008 and current President, Kevin Campbell, took on the role in 2009. Today, SCSB has total assets of over $210 million.
