The Monitor Bank in Big Prairie - with a loan production office on Eagle Pass in Wooster - is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The bank has a rich heritage in the community, being chartered Oct. 7, 1911 as a partnership between John C. Lake and B.A. Lake, father and son. History says that John Lake, a wealthy local industrialist and entrepreneur, traveled to his bank in Shreve to withdraw a large amount of cash for the purchase of some machinery. However, he was told by the cashier that the bank did not have that much cash on hand. Upset that the bank at which he was dealing wasn’t able to dispense to him his own cash, he gave them 24 hours to come up with the cash and traveled back home. On his return trip to Big Prairie, he decided that he would open his own bank. He drafted a partnership agreement with his son, forming The Monitor Bank – named in honor of the old Civil War battleship, The Monitor – and capitalized it with $2,000. Monitor was also the name of the main product manufactured at his local factory, the Monitor Sad Iron - the first self-heating clothing iron manufactured.

The Monitor Bank has continued through the decades, per the Lake family’s wishes, to remain an independent community bank, serving the needs of clients in Holmes, Wayne and Ashland counties with a full array of personal, small business and farm banking services.