Old-Time Bank Is a Small Success

The narrow two-story Bank of Lowes looks like a place Jesse James would go out of his way to visit.

Little has changed in the 85 years of Kentucky’s smallest bank. The teller cage is a genuine antique. Accounts are kept in a ledger book, and the closest thing to a computer is an adding machine on a desktop.

“A lot of people like small banks and don’t like computers,” says Dorothy McClellan, cashier and chairwoman of the board.

Founded in 1903 by a group of local businessmen with a pool of $15,000, the bank remains in the hands of local residents. It pays depositors no interest, but it thrives in an isolated corner of Graves County, serving about 500 customers with checking accounts and loans.

The bank charges no fees, except for returned checks. Bank officers help customers with bookkeeping chores and will type important papers and provide notary services, all without charge.

Flexible Hours

Customers who can’t make the 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. banking hours make appointments--sometimes as early as 7 a.m. weekdays--or give their deposits to McClellan at church on Sunday.

McClellan’s father, Col. Paul Wilkerson, ran the bank for more than 40 years. He used to write loans on the kitchen table at his home for those who couldn’t do their banking during regular hours.

“Most of what we handle is checks and paper work,” McClellan says. “We barely have enough cash on hand to operate.”

She says about two-thirds of the bank’s assets are invested in government securities and in certificates of deposit at other banks. The remaining third is on loan to customers.

The Bank of Lowes is regarded as one of the state’s healthiest institutions. Its cash reserve, surplus and undivided profits are enough to cover all its loans. Earnings as a percentage of assets have in the past topped the state’s more than 300 banks.

Besides McClellan, who has been at the bank for 29 years, there are two other full-time employees. Frank Wilkerson, her brother, is president and has worked at the bank for 18 years. Gladys Sullivan is assistant cashier and has worked for the bank for 27 years.

Staying small is one of the bank’s goals, McClellan says.

“We’re just trying to help other people,” she says. “Everybody knows everybody. The larger you get, the more headaches you have.”