By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
For 150 years there has been a constant in Trinidad, a bank that has been family owned and operated that still maintains the small town bank feeling that has been lost in so many small towns across the country.
Christine Egland is one of the board members of the bank and she noted unlike so many banks we still have a teller line to meet our customers face to face. She added that the bank has kept up with technology but still maintains the small town bank feeling to meet the needs of the customers in the area. The focus of the bank is community and to keep things local. Unlike many banks that have been bought and sold several times the First National Bank in Trinidad has remained a locally owned small town bank. Egland says there are no plans to sell the bank and they are looking forward to a 200th anniversary.
In the 1930s over 10,000 banks failed nationwide yet the First National Bank in Trinidad managed to weather the storm. The bank was owned by Hal Lebrecht and Frank Graham who bought the bank in 1934 from the Thatcher family who bought the controlling shares in 1887. Lebrecht later bought out Graham and then in 1955 sold the bank to Sol and Willa Schiffman. The Schiffmans owned the bank for five years and in 1960 sold the controlling interest to the Republic Corporation, a corporation originally chartered by J. Ed Eisemann III. In 1961 Eisemann III purchased the remaining shares thus becoming the full owner of the bank.
For the past 65 years the Eisemann family has over seen the operations of the bank from J. Ed Eisemann III who became Chairmen of the Board in 1960 till his passing in 1981. His wife Catherine G. Eisemann was elected as the president of the holding company in 1981 and served for 43 years before she passed in 2007. J. Ed Eisemann IV took over the office of Chairman of the Board and CEO of the bank and under his leadership the bank has grown to include ATMs across the area with expanded locations in Walsenburg and the Trinidad Walmart super center.
While technology has moved the bank into online services and mobile banking the institution continues to champion the importance of knowing its community and customers. The bank has remodeled and expanded into the Galleria addition which houses a coffee shop, office spaces and training rooms and a multi-purpose community room.
Assets have grown from $10 million in 1960 to over $250 million in 2025. The bank employs 68 people, many who have worked there for over 20 years which serves as testimony to the pleasant work environment created by the Eisemann family. Eiseman IV has worked for the bank for over 50 years. He has been the chairman of the board of directors for 44 years and been CEO for 18 years. To his credit the First National Bank in Trinidad is one of the oldest remaining banks under private ownership in the State Of Colorado. (History of the bank Courtesy of the 150 Year Anniversary publication)
