"The people of West Central Ohio have been very loyal to our bank through the years. As we have grown and added services, more individuals and businesses have also come to appreciate the advantages our personal attention provides. I continue to believe that we are on the leading edge of banking technology in our region, and that means better service and greater access for our customers."
-J. Michael Romey, President/CEO
History
On January 31, 1920, the Citizens National Bank opened its doors for the first time in Bluffton, Ohio, and offered all new customers an apple in appreciation for stopping by. A review of the books from 1920 indicates that the bank began with $50,000 in capital and approximately four employees. Now, 93 years later, we have expanded our offices to Lima, Elida, Van Wert, Celina, Findlay, Springfield and Defiance. We currently employ about 160 people and serve customers in ten primary counties: Allen, Hancock, Putnam, Hardin, Auglaize, Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Clark and Defiance.
Growth
Citizens continues to experience consistent growth. Our newest location, Defiance, has been approved for a full branch license and can now take deposits. We plan to break ground on a full-service branch there this year. Additionally, we have added on to our Operations Center, located in Bluffton, in order to provide support for our growing sales staff. In the last 7 years our total assets have grown from $400 million to more than $600 million. This success is due to the confidence our customers have in our ability to provide them innovative products and solid performance.
We continue to focus on our website and social media, providing more content and frequent updates about our services through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. We also maintain a blog which allows for comments from our customers. We encourage our customers to also subscribe to our quarterly email newsletters and web video series.
Ratings
Citizens National Bank is consistently rated high for performance and stability. We are currently rated a 5 Star Bank by Bauer Financial and a 4 Star Bank by Bankrate.com. Additionally we've been named one of the top 400 community banks in the nation by the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA) for three years in a row. We were also named by SNL Financial as one of the top 100 community banks in the nation.
Special History:
Citizens has a unique notoriety as being one of the banks John Dillinger robbed in 1933. History has it that on August 14, 1933, John Dillinger and his gang came to Bluffton, stole $6,000 from The Citizens National Bank, and exited the bank, guns blazing (amazingly no one was injured) as they made their escape to the north.
In October of that year, John Dillinger was brought back to Ohio and held in the Lima jail (12 miles south of Bluffton) to stand trial for the Bluffton bank robbery. On October 12, Dillinger's "gang" came into the jail claiming they were officers from Indiana and they were taking Dillinger back to stand trial there. When Sheriff Jesse Sarber asked for their credentials, they opened fire on Sarber, killing him and breaking Dillinger out of jail.
Dillinger was one of the most publicized criminals of the 20th Century. On July 22, 1934, however, Dillinger was brought down by "The Lady in Red" when he was killed by federal agents and police as he left a Chicago movie house.