Our annual Customer Appreciation Day is catered by Cotton-Eyed Joe’s, who will be serving BBQ brisket sandwiches, chips, and beverages [while they last], Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 11:30am - 1:00pm. This is an annual event to express our appreciation for our customers, providing a free lunch with no strings attached.
The Bank of Gravett was proud to see dedicated cyclists cross our hometown community in the 2006 ‘Tour de Cure’ for the diabetes foundation. Approximately 400 bikers rode in from Bentonville on either 50 or 100 mile round trips across the beautiful countryside of Northwest Arkansas.
The oldest bank in Benton County would like to thank each participant for making a difference in the lives of others, and look forward to seeing many of you at our locations in Centerton, Hiwasse/Bella Vista, and Gravette, Arkansas.
view Tour de cure video footage
Bank of Gravett was proud to support the ninth annual Rally for a Cure Golf tournament. Through Bank of Gravett sponsorship of a hole, Rally for a Cure was able to raise $13,600 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to use in their breast cancer awareness, support, education and research programs. 75% of this amount will be returned to the Ozark Chapter to help breast cancer patients in our six-county area.
You will not want to miss this action-packed event in celebration of our Centerton Branch’s third anniversary! We invite you to join us Friday, July 21, 2006, where you will enjoy a variety of fun-filled events, including:
♦ Live Remote Broadcast, featuring KIX 104’s Jake McBride
♦ Free chopped BBQ brisket sandwhich, chips, and a coke. Starting at 11.00am until they are gone!
♦ Special prizes to be given away every 20 minutes.
Spirit Squad members (left to right) Megan Mills, Brittany Hammers, Kala Kinyon, Ashley Morris, Jessica Murray, and (name not available).
Bank of Gravett was proud to support the Fourth Annual Gravette ‘Lions’ Golf Classic as a Platinum Sponsor again this year in May.
A total of 156 golfers (men, women and Gravette students) participated in the competition. The Classic raised $9,500 that will be available to support School District activities including athletics, cheerleading, dance team, vocal and instrumental music programs, and academic awards.
Members of the Gravette Spirit Squad are shown displaying the Bank of Gravett Sponsorship sign.
Once a month at Bank of Gravett, employees enjoy a ‘Bucks for Blue Jeans’ day where they dress more casually. In exchange for wearing blue jeans, each employee contributes $2 to be given to a designated local charity or organization.
So while employees enjoy a casual day, they’re helping a worthy cause in our community. Now that’s teamwork!
The Bank of Gravett is ‘the oldest bank in Benton County’ having been chartered on March 1, 1898. It opened its doors for business on March 21, 1898. J. Manwaring, E.T. Gravett, W.C. Sellers, J.T. Edmondson, A. E. Kindley, J.A. Ragsdale and G.L. Bates were elected its first board of directors. The original bank charter and the minutes of the first board of directors meeting are on display in the bank lobby.
J. Manwaring was elected president; E.T. Gravett, vice-president; and A.E. Kindley, cashier. W.C. Sellers served as president from 1902 to 1912; James ‘Turner’ Edmondson from 1912 to 1957; Tom Cawood for 1957 and 1958; James T. ‘Jim’ Edmondson from 1958 to 1983; and John R. Meade from 1983 to 2004, where he still serves as president of our Board of Directors. Other leading officials of the bank over these years were Uther Kindley, Frank Hidy, Stokes Ballard, Vernon Austin, David Wills, and William R. ‘Bill’ Meade.
The Bank of Gravett has been in continuous operation over all the intervening years except when all banks were ordered closed by the Federal Government in the 1933 banking crisis.
One question often asked is why the Bank of Gravett is spelled without the ‘e’ while the town is spelled Gravette. The trust is that originally both the bank and the town were spelled Gravett. But around 1920 the town was requested to add the ‘e’ to its spelling to avoid confusion with another Arkansas town whose name started with ‘G’ and ended in ‘ett.’ The town agreed to officially change its name to Gravette, but the bank retained the original spelling. The bank was advised it would have to officially amend its state charter to make the change, but the bank decided not to do so (perhaps due to a $10.00 filing fee).
The Bank of Gravett opened in 1898 with $25,000 in capital stock and as of December 31, 2004 the bank had total resources of $223 million.
view BoG Slideshow 2005
Our annual Customer Appreciation Day is catered by Cotton-Eyed Joe's, who will be serving BBQ sandwiches while they last, from 11:30am - 1:00pm. This is an annual event to express our appreciation for our customers, providing a free lunch with no strings attached.
If you’ve driven by the Bank of Gravett and seen (or smelled) us cooking on our outdoor cooker, we’re having a Cook Day to raise money for a local charity! This year on April 7th, we cooked in Gravette for our local Habitat for Humanity and presented them with proceeds of $500. On May 12, we fired up the cooker at our Centerton branch location, and thanks to the support of many businesses placing lunch orders in bulk, we proudly presented a $1,000 check to Relay for Life!
If you’ve yet to enjoy one of our flavorful steak sandwich dinners, complete with chips and a coke, you won’t want to miss the next Cook Day! We’ll keep you posted on the web for upcoming Cook Day events!
