Farmers bank expansion gets under way on green

The bank bought two buildings to make wayfor the new facility.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- "The Farmers National Bank enjoyed public confidence from the day it first threw open its doors," The Vindicator wrote March 28, 1930.
At the time, the bank had $1.3 million in assets and was celebrating the opening of a new building on the green in Canfield.
Today, the 115-year-old bank has 16 branches and a total of about $750 million in assets.
It's now preparing to build a $3 million building next to its main office on the same site of the building that opened in 1930.
Demolition work to make way for the new building began in early November. The new building is expected to be complete by July 4.
President and CEO Frank Paden said the new building is needed because the bank's "just busting at the seams here."
The bank's main office houses about 55 employees who coordinate services for the 30,000 households the bank serves.
The main office opened in 1982, the result of a complete renovation and expansion of the original building.
The 1930 edition was built with gray limestone and was known for its large limestone columns.
As part of the renovation project, the limestone was replaced with pink brick and the limestone columns were replaced with white columns.
Vice president Bradley Henderson stressed that the new building will "keep the rhythm" of the main office. The new two-story building is slated to be built of pink brick.
Building plan
The new building's main floor will include offices for the marketing and advertising departments and administration, and the second floor will have space for electronic banking and Internet staff, which are now based in another building.
"Hopefully, this will last us another 20 years," Paden said.
The bank also will create a landscaped walkway between the new building and the main office. A small park will be created behind the main office.
The new building will replace one the bank bought in the early 1990s. That building had been the site of several businesses, including a barbershop.
In 1999, the bank bought a building near Broad and Lisbon streets that had been a post office. That building also has been demolished to make way for parking.
Paden said the bank has considered buying the last two buildings it doesn't own between its main office and Lisbon Street. The Koffee Korner in one of them recently closed.
hill@vindy.com