Ladysmith Federal celebrates 90 years in business

Chris Rugowski

Contributor

December 23, 2024

LADYSMITH – Ladysmith Federal (119 W. 4th St. N.) is celebrating 90 years in business, and President/CEO Bill Dyson said the future is looking bright.

Dyson said anyone who banks with Ladysmith Federal knows it’s more than just a transactional relationship – a characteristic he credits for the bank’s nine decades of existence.

“Ladysmith Federal has a proud history of serving Rusk County,” he said. “Celebrating 90 years is testimony to our loyal customers, who are also our owners.”

History of bank

Dyson said the bank was started in 1934 by a group of local businessmen who wanted to provide affordable housing options.

Operations, he said, started with a staff of only one and a main purpose of providing mortgages, savings accounts, certificates of deposit and share loans.

Dyson said his predecessor, Scott Von Haden, drew comparisons of the bank’s story to the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” – noting the bank started during the Great Depression when home ownership was difficult and loans were even more difficult to come by, similar to themes found in the movie.

Today, he said Ladysmith Federal is a thriving, full-service financial institution with a staff of 13 (as well as two part-time students), an active board of directors, 5,400 deposit accounts and 1,400 loans amounting to about $90 million in assets.

Dyson said when you consider Rusk County has only 15,000 or so residents, that’s pretty good.

Ladysmith Federal, Dyson said, has evolved over the years, now meeting the financial needs of customers with a wide variety of services – including checking, saving and loan accounts, debit cards, credit cards, free online bill pay and mobile banking.

He said the Ladysmith Federal team takes great pride in being the only locally owned bank in Rusk County.

“It’s really helped us sustain our business, because a lot of people want that connection,” he said. “Especially with difficult financial transactions like home or business loans and retirement planning.”

Dyson said the bank is also the only bank in the county with loan officers for all types of loans, as most of the other financial institutions in Ladysmith are satellite-type offices offering limited transactions and services.

“If you go to another bank in Ladysmith looking for a loan officer, you’re asked to call someone in Superior or Eau Claire or to visit them in person, which are one to two-and-a-half hours away,” he said. “Having loan officers (in Ladysmith) has been really key to our growth and ability to continue a healthy local presence.”

Community impact of the bank

Dyson said a bank doesn’t get to 90 years in business without a dedication to the community.

Some of the programs Ladysmith Federal participates in, he said, include yearly small business grants, volunteer activities, charitable causes and giving scholarships at all the local schools.

The bank, Dyson said, has even been recognized by Gov. Tony Evers for its legacy contributions to financial literacy in the community.

This, he said, was the result of years of efforts in the local schools with all age groups, elementary through high school.

The bank’s involvement in financial literacy, Dyson said, doesn’t stop at the schools – noting it emphasizes supporting the elderly community as well.

“There are millions of elderly adults that are being defrauded for billions of dollars,” he said. “It’s gotten worse since COVID-19. Whether it’s family members or complete strangers, we see it happen, too, even in Rusk County.”

Dyson said the bank works to remain active where it can and where it makes sense – noting that keeping it local isn’t just a catchphrase, “it truly helps everyone.”

The reputation Ladysmith Federal has been able to create and maintain over the past 90 years, Dyson said, has allowed it to remain local while being able to branch out a little bit.

“We haven’t grown as fast as a lot of banks, and, yes, it took us 90 years to get to this point with a relatively conservative growth plan, but it’s sustainable growth,” he said. “And that’s not something you see at a lot of small banks.”

A mutual bank

One of the unique aspects of Ladysmith Federal, Dyson said, is that it is a mutual bank, which means depositors are the owners.

The bank, he said, has no shareholders, investors and pays no dividends.

What Ladysmith Federal offers in return, Dyson said, is lower fees and higher interest rates on accounts and lower interest rates on loans.

He said this system allows the bank to remain competitive with larger financial institutions because they don’t need the rate of return that larger banks need in order to pay out dividends.

As a federally regulated bank, Dyson said Ladysmith Federal is required to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which gives banks a public rating.

He said Ladysmith Federal has been rated outstanding for the last 15 years.

Dyson said this means it has exceeded expectations in terms of low-to-moderate income housing, lending to women and minorities and having a diverse population of loans on its books.

“We’re proud of that rating,” he said. “Only about 15-20% of banks are given an outstanding rating. It’s not something we talk about much, but it’s important to know.”

The place to be

Rusk County, Dyson said, is rich with natural resources, tourism and recreation – which has equated to an uptick in second homes and vacation homes.

“(People are) particularly looking at work-from-home situations,” he said. “The county has done a better job of getting rural broadband here. Because of that, we’ve had a number of people move out here, and that’s been great for the economy.”

In addition to the county’s solid agricultural presence, Dyson said Rusk County is also well known for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and a fair amount of recreation.

With that, he said a lot of transplants from Milwaukee, Madison and the Twin Cities who want a place in the woods or on a lake at a reasonable price, have made their way to the area.

Putting this in perspective, Dyson said a lakefront home in Hayward, located just one county north, can cost 60-80% more than what it would cost in Ladysmith.

Big plans for 2025

Dyson said Ladysmith Federal’s focus in the coming year will center around the business and commercial sector.

With that focus in mind, he said the bank is looking to create a merchant service program, giving businesses one place and platform where they can go and see all their banking.

Dyson said he knows a lot of businesses piecemeal their financials – i.e., getting a loan from bank A, depositing in bank B and purchasing their payment processing services at bank C.

Ladysmith Federal, he said, is looking to cut down the excess time businesses spend on this whole process.

“Though we’re a savings and loan bank at the core, we do have a good-sized commercial loan (sector),” he said. “We have a lot of commercial deposit accounts here, so we’re really bringing everything together rather than offering just a single product to them.”

As the bank continues to grow, Dyson said “our bank is as financially strong as ever, and we look forward to the next decade and beyond serving our communities.”

To learn more about Ladysmith Federal, head to ladysmithfederal.com.