Eagle Bank is the recipient of the 2024 Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber Salute to Business and Industry award. Each year, the Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes a business or industry that has made a significant impact on the community. 

“This year, we are pleased to announce that Eagle Bank will be honored for its dedication to serving our community,” according to the Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce. “As a local, community-focused bank, Eagle Bank has consistently given back through sponsorships, involvement in local projects, and exceptional service.”

The recognition event will be held this Thursday, Oct. 24, at Lakeside Ball Room at 11:30 a.m. The chamber encourages local businesses and community members to join in celebrating Eagle Bank. “This Chamber event is a great opportunity to show support for local businesses, build connections, and contribute to a stronger business community, it was stated. A meal will be served along with a presentation.  Register by going to the chamber website at glenwoodlakesarea.org. Or call the chamber at 320-334-3095.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EAGLE BANK

The real origin of the present bank was the old Fremad Association, which was organized in 1874 by C.T. Wollan, M.A. Wollan, Ben Wollan, Jorgen Aal and Benjamin Troen.

The Fremad Association was a general store in Glenwood selling groceries and general merchandise.  At that time, the town really had no financial service, and as patrons of the Fremad Association accumulated more cash than they wished to keep at home, they asked the people at the Fremad store to keep their money for them.  The store had a large safe, and they trusted the storekeepers.  What then evolved from there was something like this:  Tim, who lived on the farm five miles south of town, owed his neighbor, Matt, five dollars. So, when Matt was going to town, Tim gave him a little note instructing the Wollans at the store to transfer five dollars from his envelope in the safe to Matt’s envelope.  Thus, a form of checking accounts evolved. That practice grew, and soon the amount of money in the safe was a cause for concern.  

To add to that concern of the Fremad Association, the James’ Brothers Gang attempted the well-known robbery in Northfield, Minn. So, M.A. Wollan gathered up all the cash in a bag and took it to the Scandinavian American bank in Minneapolis for safekeeping.  

After some discussion the Minneapolis bankers, to Wollan’s great surprise, told him that he was in the banking business.  The Fremad people then decided they should organize an informal bank, which started as the Fremad Association Bank, in the 1890’s.

Since the banking business continued to grow, they formally organized the Pope County Bank in December 1901 as a private bank and continued to operate in the Fremad building.

In 1906 they built a new separate building next to the Fremad building.  The account in the local newspaper at the time stated, “It will be a full two stories and basement, of solid brick, with a handsome cut stone front, and will cost close to $10,000.”  That building, recently occupied by attorney’s Jeff Kuhn and Brianna Zuber-Beckwith, was demolished last fall, along with the Fremad Building.

In 1908, they decided to change from a private bank to a state-chartered bank, so it then became the Pope County State Bank.

The Pope County State Bank remained in that building for over 60 years until October 11, 1971 when it moved into its new building at the present location on the corner of Franklin and Minnesota Avenue. 

In1982, Pope County Bank opened a branch Villard.

On January 5, 1995 the Pope County State Bank completed an acquisition of the Bank of Elbow Lake and the State Bank of Wendell.  These banks were merged into, and now operate as branches of the Pope County State Bank.  This expansion provided excellent geographic diversification and added solid strength to the organization.

Because of this, on October 20, 1995 the name was changed to Eagle Bank to better reflect the bank’s enlarged geographic area.

In the summer of 2014, Eagle Bank acquired the bank in Starbuck, which for many years had operated as the 1st National Bank of Starbuck – a natural fit for the Eagle Bank system.

Today – Eagle Bank is a family owned, family operated company. The Gandrud family’s involvement began in 1926, when Oluf Gandrud invested in the PCSB and was its cashier until 1931, when he stepped in and filled the presidency. Succeeding Olaf in 1932, Elvin A. Gandrud became president of the PCSB. At that time, the total assets of the PCSB were $350,000.00, compared to the over $220 million today. In 1957, Elvin’s son, Richard, returned to Glenwood and began his career at the PCSB. Today, Richard’s son Erick Gandrud is president of Eagle Bank and, along with his brother John as VP, represent the third generation of the Gandrud family to operate the bank. And almost 9 years ago, the fourth generation of the family, Ryan Gandrud, moved back to town to join the family banking business. 

The operation today consists of a true community bank with a physical presence in five communities: Glenwood, Villard, Elbow Lake, Wendell, and the most recent acquisition, Starbuck. The bank offers a number of deposit products for both personal and business needs, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, safe-deposit boxes, among number of other products and services. Eagle Bank takes the deposits on hand and uses them to reinvest into the community in the form of loans. “We have a wide array of loan products that consists of personal/consumer loans for cars, trucks, atvs, etc., home loans, Helocs, as well as a commercial/business loans such as commercial equipment loans, operating lines of credit, and commercial RE loans, according to Ryan Gandrud. “We are also heavily invested in the AG community with equipment loans, operating lines of credit, and AG RE loans. We also have a full suite of online and mobile banking products and services for both personal and business use as well.”

Additionally, the bank offers financial services in the areas of insurance and investments. Eagle Insurance Agency has a wide array of insurance products including Home, Auto, Business, Life, and Health. Eagle Financial Services specializes in retirement planning, investment options ranging from stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, as well as life insurance options.

Eagle Bank is very much committed to the community, outside of the bank. It conducts a number of planned bank volunteering opportunities such as hosting United Way’s backpack attack, cleaning ditches in the adopt-a-highway program, and its employee lunch program (where employees take turns preparing lunches on Fridays, and the donations raised are allocated to a quarterly charity). Aside from the planned volunteering events, Eagle Bank has a number of employees who volunteer their time or participate in communities’ activities on their own with organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center’s BOD, volunteer fire department members, wildlife organization committee members, Lions clubs, the humane society, Rotary club, and Waterama, just to name a few.