STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Zions Bank celebrated its 150th anniversary this past week with sock giveaways and chocolate cake from Mary Jones’ Chocolate Moose.
The birthday parties in the Ketchum and Hailey branches were two of 121 being held at Zions Bank branches in Idaho, Utah and Jackson, Wyo.
Zions was organized at the instructions of Brigham Young in the Utah Territory in 1873 after the Mormon Church leader became concerned about a financial panic that was sweeping the nation. Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company opened with $6,000 of deposits from 46 depositors on Oct. 1, 1873. Five women and a woman’s organization were among the first 15 signatures.
That was unusual because at the time few people in the United States could open their own accounts without their husbands, said Jackie Cole, manager of the Ketchum branch.
“Zions Bank promises to be one of the most important and beneficial institutions ever established in the Territory or this part of the Union,” reported the Deseret News.
Today Zions Banks has $19.2 billion in average deposits and has grown to $14.3 billion in average loans. It’s a division of Zions Bancorporation, a $90-billion-in-assets bank that operates in 11 Western States. Nearly 1,500 of its 9,000 employees are Zions Bank employees.
The Ketchum branch opened on Feb. 16, 2005.
“What amazes me is how Zions Bank was the first bank in Utah and the Intermountain West and that it’s still operating 150 years later,” said Cole.