Celebrating 90 years of being 'People You Can Bank On'!

NBC Oklahoma was founded as a community bank in August 1931, and we spent the month of August 2021 celebrating our 90th birthday in style. Read a little bit more about us, and check out our 90th anniversary music playlist on Spotify.

NBC 90 for 90 Music Playlists

Featuring 90-plus songs in honor of NBC's anniversary for you to enjoy and sing to

  • Playlist No. 1: This Is Us

Celebrating 90 years as a community bank with Playlist #1 of 4 -- A love letter to our customers, employees and friends

  • Playlist No. 2: Fun Tunes

Celebrating 90 years as a community bank with Playlist #2 of 4 -- Fun jams, old and new

  • Playlist No. 3: The Test of Time

Celebrating 90 years as a community bank with Playlist #3 of 4 -- Timeless

  • Playlist No. 4: Happy Trails

Celebrating 90 years as a community bank with Playlist #4 of 4 -- From the Heartland

  • All the 90-for-90 songs in one playlist!

Celebrating 90 years as a community bank with 90+ songs we love. We added some extra for our future -- songs to grow on. Enjoy!

Our History

In 1931, W.B. Gover started the National Bank of Commerce in Altus, OK, in the middle of the Great Depression. Ninety years later, the bank now known as NBC Oklahoma has weathered other economic downturns by making sound financial decisions, helping build its communities and meeting its customers’ needs. From one location in Altus, NBC now includes seven locations in four cities -- Oklahoma City, Altus, Enid and Kingfisher. Like we have for 90 years, we hold to the highest standards of business and banking ethics. We also remain committed to improving the quality of life in the communities we serve and responding to the financial and civic needs of the people we serve. Also, check out our blog for more.

See photos, then and now, in each of our communities

 

90th Altus7

NBC Oklahoma -- which was known as National Bank of Commerce when it started -- has been in downtown Altus since its founding in 1931. Next door, you can see the old Wigwam Movie Theater, which NBC rebuilt and turned into Wigwam Gallery a few years ago. 

 

90th Altus building

NA view of the modern-day exterior of NBC Oklahoma in Altus at 123 W Commerce. Even though this is the main NBC location in Altus, there are two others -- one on the Altus Air Force Base and one at 101 Sequoyah. 

 

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The home that once belonged to OKC developer R.D. Cravens that now is NBC once looked out over vacant fields at N Pennsylvania Avenue south of Memorial as late as the mid-1980s, when it became a bank.

 

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This historic home at Memorial and Penn was built in the 1960s and has been known as NBC Oklahoma since 1995. 

 

90th Enid

Although NBC Oklahoma entered the Enid community in 1989, NBC Oklahoma built the building where it is currently in 1999.

 

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NBC Oklahoma in Enid is located at 3202 W Owen K Garriott. 

 

90th Kingfisher

NBC Oklahoma became part of the Kingfisher community at 801 S Main in 1992.

 

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NBC moved into its flagship location at NW 63rd and Western Avenue in Oklahoma City in 2020. The historic building, completed in the late 1920s, used to be University Heights School.

Read more, see photos, from our 90 years of being 'People You Can Bank On'

August 1, 2021

NBCWestern modern building_verticalWe're celebrating our 90th birthday throughout August 2021. For a list of all the events, go to nbc.bank/90years

In 1931, W.B. Gover started the National Bank of Commerce in Altus, OK, in the middle of the Great Depression. Ninety years later, the bank now known as NBC Oklahoma has weathered other economic downturns by making sound financial decisions, helping build its communities and meeting its customers’ needs.

Boxes of photos depicting decades of happy employees and bank remodeling projects through the years only tell part of NBC’s story, but they do reflect the bank’s 90 years of community involvement and taking care of customers. The handwritten bank ledgers and typewritten letters from the bank’s early days have given way to modern banking using the latest technology, but NBC has never wavered in its commitment to its motto of being “People You Can Bank On,” said Chairman Ken Fergeson.

“Helping others – that’s exactly what we do. We help them start a business. We help them buy a home. We help them plant a crop,” Fergeson said. “It’s like the heartbeat of the town. If you don’t have a bank in your town that is local that is willing to pitch in, then your town is not going to prosper.”

NBC is a nearly $800-million bank that has offices in Oklahoma City, Enid, Kingfisher and Altus. It is a member of FDIC. Fergeson acquired the bank in Altus in 1985 and continued to expand it while keeping its focus on developing personal relationships with its customers.

“We are a community bank that knows our customers, that knows their needs and wants and are willing to work with them to give them a fast answer and we have done that for years and will continue. To me that’s important. People don’t want to be left hanging,” he said.

As the bank has grown, so has its ongoing support of its communities. In 2019 the bank matched employees fundraising efforts to donate more than $104,000 to The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethany. In 2019 and 2020, NBC gave each employee $100 to give away to help someone else during the holidays. Employees give their time as individuals to nonprofits and often play key roles as volunteers for community events, such as Main Street Altus’ Rock-N-Rumble Car Show; the Cork and Canvas auction in Oklahoma City for Positive Tomorrows, a school for homeless children; an Enid Chili Cook-Off benefiting the United Way; or Kingfisher’s Winter Nights light display. The bank also provides ongoing support for the Center of Family Love in Okarche, among others.

The bank also has an art gallery, the Wigwam Gallery in Altus, which demonstrates the bank’s and Fergeson’s longtime support of the arts in Oklahoma and improving people’s quality of life through art. The bank each year commissions an artist to do an original work as part of its NBC Artist Series, handing out prints, posters and postcards of it. NBC also has commissioned large-scale public works of art.

“I’ve always loved public art, which is free for anyone to enjoy and serves as a landmark for a community,” Fergeson has said. “Such art gives a place an identity and residents a sense of pride.”

The longevity of NBC employees reflect a strong workplace culture that serves its customers well. In addition to Fergeson’s tenure, CEO H.K. Hatcher and Chief Operating Officer Leigh-Anne Taylor have been with the bank, then known as Capital National Bank in Oklahoma City, since 1990, and Jerry Krittenbrink, chief financial officer, since 1988. Many others have been with the bank 10, 15, 20 years or longer.

Hatcher said the bank has always fostered a strong and positive culture that prioritizes doing the right thing over making a profit, taking care of customers and making sound financial decisions.

“At NBC we genuinely strive to live our values in the way we treat our employees and customers and put others’ needs ahead of our own. We have been a strong bank in good times and bad, and we will continue to be here for our people long into the future,” Hatcher said.

KEY DATES

  • August 1931: W.B. Gover started the National Bank of Commerce in Altus. The bank's name later became NBC Oklahoma.
  • Sept. 1, 1985: Chairman Ken Fergeson purchased NBC Oklahoma in Altus from the Gover family, which had started the bank in 1931.
  • Jan. 31, 1989: NBC Oklahoma acquired a bank in Enid.
  • March 26, 1992: NBC Oklahoma acquired a bank in Kingfisher.
  • Jan. 4, 1995: NBC purchased Capital National Bank in Oklahoma City, expanding the bank's presence into the metropolitan area. The bank was located in the home that once belonged to R.D. and Ida Mae “Mollie” Cravens near Memorial Road and North Pennsylvania Avenue. 
  • May 2020: NBC celebrated the opening of its flagship location at NW 63rd and Western Avenue in a historic building once known as University Heights School. Although NBC had a second location in Oklahoma City for many years, this new location is much more visible and accessible to many of our customers. 
 

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This photo from 1973 shows NBC Oklahoma in downtown Altus; the bank is still there, with the Wigwam Gallery next to it. Photo from NBC's archives. 

 

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A historic photo of the lobby inside NBC Oklahoma in downtown Altus. Photo from NBC's archives.

 

90th anniversary history 2

NBC looked like this in the 1980s, when Chairman Ken Fergeson purchased the Altus bank. He said the gold screens that stretched from the second floor to the top floor of the building obscured giant air-conditioning units. Photo from the NBC archives.

 

90th anniversary history 4

This scene shows NBC's lobby and customers in the bank's early days. Photo from NBC's archives.

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