UNION TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK

Union Trust and Savings Bank

UNION TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK. '"The Bank that Boosts Dubuque." Opened on January 20, 1887, Union Trust was originally known as the GERMAN TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK. The bank changed its name in 1918 in response to the anti-German feelings caused by the First World War.

One of the 22-ton vault doors for Union Trust and Savings Bank is shown before it is unloaded from a horse-drawn wagon. Photo courtesy: Dubuque Bank and Trust Company

Once unloaded, the vault door had to be lowered through a hole in the sidewalk before it could be inched into place on the basement vault of Union Trust and Savings Bank. Photo courtesy: Dubuque Bank and Trust Company.

Among those who organized the bank were John BELL, Peter KLAUER, and Nicholas GLAB.

Union Trust recorded tremendous growth in its deposits. After three months of operation, the bank showed deposits in excess of $66,000. This more than doubled by the end of the first year. By 1923 bank deposits totaled over three million dollars. Union Trust was the first bank in Iowa to use the Bank Insured Savings System. Under the plan, depositors were given insurance and credit on the rest of their payments to be payable in full face value in the event of death.

Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Deposit bag from Union Trust and Savings Bank. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

In 1932 during the Great Depression Union Trust was declared insolvent, and the Federal Discount Corporation purchased the building. Eventually this building became the home of DUBUQUE BANK AND TRUST COMPANY. (Photo Courtesy: http://www.dubuquepostcards.com)