1. History
     Timeline  

2. Services

3. References

History

On January 25, 1912, the doors opened for the first bank in the new town of Ralls under the name of W.E. McLaughlin, Banker, Unincorporated, with a capitalization of $11,000. It was an unincorporated private bank. In 1914, McLaughlin opened another bank with the same name in Lorenzo. McLaughlin put up the capital, but his sons ran the banks under his supervision. They installed cutting-edge technology – a private telephone connection between the banks. When World War I broke out and one son went off to war McLaughlin sold the Lorenzo bank.

In 1918, because of concerns about a run on deposits, McLaughlin obtained a state charter for the bank, joined the Texas Guaranty Fund and changed its name to Guaranty State Bank in Ralls. The guaranty fund was a state-supported version of today’s federal deposit insurance system, but McLaughlin’s bank only stayed in the fund until 1921 when the rising cost of assessments made participating in the fund too expensive. The bank’s name changed again to Security State Bank & Trust.

In 1933, a national banking crisis prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to declare a nationwide bank holiday and to order examinations of every bank in the nation. Only banks found to be solvent were allowed to reopen under their previous owners. The rest were either liquidated or opened under new owners and new capital — a process Kirk McLaughlin said is similar to the way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. handles bank failures today. Security State Bank was one of the few in the region to reopen without reorganizing.

The business continued until 1984 when the family formed the McLaughlin Bancshares holding company and began purchasing other banks, according to a history provided by the bank. McLaughlin Bancshares bought the Idalou State Bank in 1984. When the state dropped its prohibition on branch banking in 1987, the bank opened a branch in Lorenzo — where McLaughlin had briefly operated a branch two years after operating in Ralls. Five years later, the family opened branches in Crosbyton and Abernathy.

Since then, McLaughlin Bancshares has acquired the First State Bank in Petersburg, FNB West Texas in Plainview and Hale Center, and opened two branches in Lubbock. The bank has prided itself on being on the leading edge of technology, starting with setting up a private telephone line between the original Ralls and Lorenzo banks in the early years.

The name change, to Vista Bank, occurred with entering the Lubbock market.^[1]

In 2009, Vista Bank started Vista Outreach, a community outreach program within the bank operated by employees as well as friends and family. In 2015, 77 percent of Vista Bank employees donated 408 hours of their time to benefit our communities. In 2015, Vista Bank employees raised $1,615 for the Salvation Army by paying $5.00 to wear jeans throughout the year. Vista Bank employees also gave back to their communities by volunteering and supporting Meals on Wheels, Loaves and Fishes, Adopt a Highway, Boys Ranch, YWCA, Children’s Miracle Network, Buckners Children’s Home, Ralls City Wide Cleanup, Communities in School, American Diabetes Association, and many more.^[2]

Timeline

• 1912: Vista Bank opened in Ralls, Texas, as W.E. McLaughlin, Banker, Unincorporated.
• 1914: McLaughlin opened another bank with the same name in Lorenzo, Texas.
• 1918: McLaughlin obtained a state charter for the bank, joined the Texas Guaranty Fund, and changed its name to Guaranty State Bank in Ralls.
• 1933: President Roosevelt ordered all banks in the United States to be closed and examined. McLaughlin’s bank was one of the few in West Texas that was allowed to re-open.
• 1984: The family formed the McLaughlin Bancshares holding company and began purchasing other banks.
• 1987: The Ralls bank opened a branch in Lorenzo.
• 1992: The Ralls bank opened a branch in Crosbyton and the Idalou bank opened a branch in Abernathy. At this same time the names of both banks were changed to Security Bank.
• 1998: The First State Bank in Petersburg was purchased and merged into the Ralls bank.
• 2000: The Idalou and Ralls banks merged into one bank with six locations.2002: FNB West Texas, with locations in Hale Center and Plainview, was purchased and merged into Security Bank.
• 2008: The McLaughlin family decided to expand the bank outside of agricultural lending, and to begin with two new branches in Lubbock. A new name, Vista Bank, was chosen to facilitate marketing a new and appropriate brand and image.
• 2009: Two new branches in Lubbock were opened, resulting in a total of 10 branches.
• 2012: Vista Bank turned 100 years old on January 25, 2012.
• 2016: Vista Bank expanded into the Fort Worth market in February 2016 by opening a Loan Production Office in the center of Fort Worth.
• 2017: A full-service Vista Bank branch was opened in Fort Worth. Vista Bank also acquired Hamlin National Bank which included two new full-service branch locations in Hamlin and Rule.
• 2018: Vista Bank opened two new locations in Dallas, including a motor bank on Preston Rd. ^[3]

Services

Vista Bank provides personal and business banking services such as checking, lending, CDs and savings, retirement services, and online services. They specialize in agriculture, commercial and real estate lending.^[4][5]

References

• Lyn (disambiguation)
• Lyn discography
• Lyndley Alan Craven
• Lyn Dobson
• Lyndoch railway station
• Lyndona (1920)
• Lyndon A. Johnson
• Lyndon, Alberta
• Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation
• Lyndon basis
• Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital
• Lyndon B. Johnson High School
• Lyndon B. Johnson High School (disambiguation)
• Lyndon B. Johnson High School (Johnson City, Texas)
• Lyndon B. Johnson in popular cultural
• Lyndon B. Johnson in popular culture
• Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove
• Lyndon B. Johnson Space Flight Center
• Lyndon Bolton
• Lyndon Dale, Wisconsin
• Lyndon Evans
• Lyndon Farnham
• Lyndon Fire and Rescue
• Lyndon Hall
• Lyndon Hall, Kentucky