Family banking tradition expands into the Valley

Copper France, President & CEO of the Bank of Commerce, has been part of a family banking tradition in Wyoming dating back to 1873 when his great-great-great uncle, James France, built a building in 1873 on the North East Corner of Front and 5^th Street in Rawlins.

France ran a grocery store and dry goods business out of one side of the building while the other side is where France opened the first banking house in Rawlins, the James France House of Banking. In 1884 J.W. Hugus & Co. purchased the grocery store and dry goods business from James France. Then the Hugus Co. Bank was chartered as Rawlins First National Bank.

Several years later, in 1899 that building later housed the Rawlins State Bank which later became Rawlins National Bank and is now known as RNB State Bank.

Homer France, father of the late John France, grandfather to Sherrod France and great grandfather to Copper France, started working in that bank shortly thereafter as a janitor. In 1902 he was named the cashier of the bank, and eventually worked his way up to be the President of Rawlins National Bank. Homer served as president from 1938-1944 until his passing.

Sherrod then served as president until 1984 when John France and Dr. Archie Kirsch decided to buy the remaining assets of Wyoming Bank of Rawlins. They promptly changed the name to Bank of Commerce, and almost as quickly offered stock up for sale to local residents. Sherrod France served as president of Bank of Commerce for 27 years up to his retirement in October 2011.

During the bank’s grand opening celebration, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place, and community members gave applause. For the last 30 years, the family banking tradition has continued serving the Platte Valley.

“It has been kind of a vision for the bank and the board for the last several years to bring our bank to Saratoga” France said. “We have done a lot of business with Platte Valley residents and we felt that we need to have a physical presence here in Platte Valley so that way it would be easier to do business here than in Rawlins”.

France said that it was the people of Saratoga that made him work hard to bring the Bank of Commerce to Town. He said that the Saratoga community are a special kind of people.

“I think the big thing is that Saratoga has such genuine people,” France said. “They are good people and we had a lot of success doing business with them both on the loan and deposit side. For us it’s just an opportunity to provide a better service for those folks.”

Karen Youngberg, who is the Bank of Commerce Branch Manager, said it’s great for a home bank and loves the great opportunity to work for a home own bank.

“I have been working in banking in Saratoga since 1979,” Youngberg said. “I had the opportunity to come on board with the Bank of Commerce and I was super excited to work for a hometown bank where local decisions are made. When I was given this chance I jumped at the opportunity”.

Both Youngberg and France share the same vision to serving their customers. The goal is to lead by example and set the right standards to better service the Saratoga community.

“Our motto is just to be a better bank everyday,” Youngberg said. “Our customer service is extremely important and we want to offer excellent customer service to everybody who walks through the door. We are proud to be part of the Platte Valley community and Bank of Commence can do even more for its customers now that we are here.”

The Saratoga branch of Bank of Commerce is located 105 E Saratoga Street in Saratoga.