Pub. 5 2017 Issue 4

8 The Community Banker www.mibonline.org T he First State Bank of Shelby was founded in 1910. The Kluth family has owned the bank since 1947 when the late Herbert Kluth, a local businessman involved in farming, oil and gas and movie theaters, acquired the remaining stock of the bank. Herb Kluth passed in 1950 and his wife, Theo F. Kluth Bartschi suddenly found herself im- mersed in the ownership of the family business interests. She remained Chairman of the Board of the bank through the early 90’s. Today the bank is managed by President Byron H. Kluth and Vice President Brice C. Kluth. There are a total of six family shareholders com- prising of Karla K. Love and her daughter Lisette Pickens and son J.B. Love; and Byron Kluth and his sons Brice Kluth and Coby Kluth. The town of Shelby is most known for the infamous 1923 world title fight between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons, which ended up knocking out at least three local banks. James A. Johnson, the President of the bank and Mayor of Shel- by, was also the promoter for the fight. The bank was closed for a short time by state regula- tors but later opened. Johnson was quoted as saying, “Here I started this whole damned thing for no other reason but to sell real estate…and by the end of this ordeal we didn’t sell one damn dollar worth of real estate.” The bank recently obtained an original affidavit of a lost cashier’s check dated in 1923 from the eventual loser Tommy Gibbons for $1000, and will be donating it to the Marias Museum in Shelby. There have been four loca- tions of the bank in the town of Shelby. The third location was in a building adjoining the Roxy Theater. With assets of approxi- mately 7 million in 1966, Byron Kluth came back from college and a four-year commitment to the Navy. Plans began for a new bank to be constructed across Main Street by Swank Construc- tion. Construction was complet- ed in 1968, and within twenty years the bank grew to nearly 70 million. Today, the bank has over $130 million in assets. The bank remains the only locally-owned community bank in a 60-mile radius and is committed to serve its custom- ers much as it did back in 1923, though with the addition of today’s technological advan- tages. Although the banking regulatory landscape has changed immensely in the past ten years, the Kluth family will remain dedicated to serving the community that has supported them throughout the good and bad years. Over the years the bank has been recognized as an ICBA 400 Top Performer for top earnings of member community banks in the nation. In 2015 the bank was recognized by Deposi- tAccounts.com as one of the 200 healthiest banks out of the nation’s 6,998 federally insured banks and is the second rated bank in the state for capital to assets. The First State Bank of Shelby has long had significant ties to the Montana Independent Bankers Association. Three members of the Kluth family have been Presidents of MIB: Theo F Kluth Bartschi in 1977 as the first woman President of MIB, Byron H Kluth in 1979 and Brice Kluth in 2012. Editor’s Note: My great-grandfa- ther, John Welker, came to Shelby from Oklahoma in 1914 and homesteaded on a barren alkali flat just outside town. While archiving his early, crum- bling documents a few years back, I came across a loan receipt from around 1917 from First State Bank of Shelby, enabling him to hold onto the struggling farm. Three generations and a century later, Welker Farms, Inc. is strong and healthy thanks to its continued relationship with First State Bank. My family has always banked there, my grandma lives next door to Brice Kluth, my mom worked there when she was pregnant with me, many of my 4-H friends had their pigs and cows purchased by the bank, and it seems every notepad in our house is stamped with First State Bank’s logo. This is the excellent legacy, spirit and heart of community banking that my family and I are honored to be a part of. – Laura Welker MIB FEATUREDMEMBER BANK—THE FIRST STATE BANKOF SHELBY Featured Member Bank