E.L. Bacon
E.L. Bacon was born in 1892 in Bourbon, MO. He was a one-room schoolteacher for 9 years in Gage, OK, was then appointed Assistant County Treasurer of Ellis County, OK, and then elected County Treasurer in Arnett, OK.
E.L. was hired by Mr. Hamre in the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Arnett, OK in 1920. In his early banking career, E.L. became a good friend of Crosly Kemper of the City National Bank, Kansas City, MO. Crosly encouraged E.L. to organize The Security State Bank in Bird City in 1929 and provided counsel and financial assistance.
In 1922, Oma Dean married E.L. in Woodward, OK. Oma worked with E.L. as assistant cashier of the Peoples State Bank in Baldwin and The Security State Bank in Bird City.
Three banks had failed in Bird City before E.L. organized The Security State Bank. One of the three had built the present bank building and the fixtures were still in crates when the bank went broke before it could open. E.L. bought the building and the crated fixtures and opened the new bank.
Other family ties to The Security State Bank include E.L.’s sister, Mae, and her husband Art Hanley, who moved to Bird City in 1930 and worked at the bank. E.L.’s cousin, Edgar Robertson, arrived with the opening of the bank in 1929 from Missouri.
E.L. purchased the U.S. Bank in Grand Junction, CO in 1948, and the family moved to the People’s Republic of Colorado. E.L. and his two sons, LeRoy and Herb, worked together in the U.S. Bank for about 25 years.
