The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1941-11-21
TO YEARS OLD
IS WYANDOTTE
SAVINGS BANK

Seventy years old. with only two
presidents, and these two presidents
father and son. That i the unique/re-
cord Of the Wyandotte SavingS~bank
The anniversary will he observed at Il
dinner in honor of Fred f. Van Al
>tync. president of the bank since 1910
when he assam, q that office which had
been held 10y his father from tie or
SaniZ;ItiUn of the bank in 1871 when il
occupied one room of the office of the
old Eureka Iron and Steel Works Of
flee.
The bank has seen and helped Wy
andOtte grow from village into Il city
of homes. great Industries. and small
sound businesses. 1t has wcatht red
depreSSilOnS and crises. local. state
and national. and has always emerged
stronger to take an even greater part
in the solid growth of the community.
The last great crisis WAS the banking
holiday of 1893. But even then their
depO>iIOr> could have had every cent
of their deposits had they asked for
them. They knew the bank. however.
50 well, they would not ask and. ex
tending the helping hand further. the
WyandUtte Savings bank made lpoS
sRle hundred per cent payoff 10 the
dcpOSitUrS of another bank Often
tempted To become part of mergers
and CONSULTATIONS, ii resisted that
trend and has maintained the person
ality of its founder to the present day.
Today its deposits are at high of
all time. exceeding $1OOOO.OOO. and its
f..ll1 Al nj h.1 hisrla
its history. 1t has expanded its offices.
added two branches. and trust de-
partmeni.
But Fred Van AlStynt, the son of
John =. says: 1t is the same sort of
institution my father founded, but Il
great deal larger in keeping with the
growth Of the community of which il
is part. We are relatively small
community bank and have never at
tempted 10, be otherwise. We know ev-
erybOdy and everybody knows us
Again the country is in Il period of
emergency, this time To defend our
freedom and way of life. And Wyan-
dOtte is mt citing its responsibility just
Is it did in my fathers day and we
will help WyandOtte. That is about
OH WyandOtte'S upward march. He
was part of the community. He made
the bank part of the community We
have just carried on, for basic bank
ing principles do not change much and
We are more grateful for the UppOr-
tunity here every year.
The books of the bank are parade
of progress, scattered with names of
men and industry that are part of the
tradition of the down river area and
IF Michigan.
John ). Van AlStyne. first president,
came 10 Detroit at the age of IL, be-
came student i'll Il law Office and
was admitted To the bar in 1850. He
was never to practice his profession.
however, fur about that time the Eur
eka Iron and Steel Works was organ
lied and he became manager of the
cOmpany'S real estate holdings and lat
or on i'm charge of the works. That
was his start i'll WyandOtte In 1867
he was member of the committee
which secured the city charter for
WyandOtte and served year as may
or. declining reelection. but remain
ing strong force i'll practically every
civic activity. In 1900. at the request
Of the Reverend Mr.. Humfreys. he
reminiSted for the church society
Among these "reminiscences is IA histOr-
ic reference TO the finding of salt in
WyandOtte. Up until 1871, the furnace
and rolling mill were the only depend
ence of the people since they employed
the greater part Of the population. but
civic leaders realized that diversifi-
cation was necessary aud among the
enterprises started was the iron ship
yard the Silver Smelling Works -
later thu ]. II. Bishop rug and mat
:aCtory.-the Burrell and boyle hoop
factories. the Beal & Selkirk Trunk