President “Buddy” Heard and the officers and staff at Bank of Winnfield invite you, the community this financial institution has served since 1901, to an Open House on Wednesday, October 30, to celebrate the completion of the renovation of their main branch on the corner of Main and North Jones streets, their home since 1961.

“Our Open House will be from 2 until 3:30 p.m.,” said Heard. “We want our customers and non-customers alike to come see the improvements we’ve made to the look of our bank. We’ll have refreshments and door prizes that our visitors will enjoy.”

He noted that while work on the “facelift” at Bank of Winnfield has been “nearly complete” for some time, they wanted to ensure that everything was “just right” before holding their Open House.

The background of the renovation began even earlier than the visible construction work, he indicated. Plans were to get started in 2020 but COVID shut down the country. Then hurricanes Laura and Delta hit Louisiana and repairs across the state created a shortage of building supplies. The project here finally got back on track in March 2023 under general contractor Heard Construction (no relation) with architect Yeager, Watson & Associates.

“Our goal was to modernize and create more privacy for our customers,” Heard said. “The open floor concept that we had before was inviting but not so private for financial discussion. Everything looks fresh. A good aspect is that this is still the same building. We didn’t have to add any outside construction, just made better use of our existing space.”

By way of growth, the bank was launched with $50,000 in capital stock a century and a quarter ago. That’s about $1.8 million in today’s dollars. Now the bank has total assets of around $160 million. Started at a time when horses and buggies were the norm and hay “recharged” the horses, today electric cars can be plugged into the garage wall to recharge. Pen and ink accounting has been replaced by computers.

Winn’s oldest continuously running business has seen this community through the Great Depression and two World Wars. Despite the many other changes, Bank of Winnfield still provides trusted checking, savings and loan services for both businesses and individuals.

“Come by Bank of Winnfield for our October 30 Open House to view our new look, enjoy some refreshments and visit with your longtime banking friends and neighbors.”