Community First Bank History
Community First Bank is Central Oregon's premier local community bank with branches in Terrebonne, Redmond, Prineville, Madras, LaPine and three branches in Bend. For 28 years we have been developing solid relationships with our customers, been active in the communities of Central Oregon, and strived to provide a superior level of customer service to both businesses and individuals.
In 1978 a group of Prineville business people noted that many in the community had become dissatisfied with the level of service being offered by the large regional banks in Prineville. This caused several of them to wonder why Prineville couldn't have its own bank - one that would offer the service and products that the local community needed. It was in one of these conversations that the official organization of Community First Bank (then known as The Prineville Bank) began. In 1980 the flagship branch of Community First was built.
In 1982, Community First Bank ventured outside of Prineville and through the purchase of High Lakes Bank, opened up a second branch in LaPine on Highway 97. The mill town gone resort destination of Bend is home to Community First Bank's third branch, opened on Greenwood Avenue in the fall of 1991.
Community First continued to grow as the Terrebonne location opened in the fall of 1997. Terrebonne is about three miles north of Redmond and home to the world class climbing destination Smith Rock State Park. Community First Bank's growth continued northward as it opened the Madras branch in 2000.
In response to the rapid growth in Bend and the growing need for commercial lenders, a loan office doing business as Community First Capital Group was opened on the west side of Bend in September of 2002.
2007 was a busy year as we opened three new branches in Central Oregon. After thoroughly remodeling our building that used to function solely as a loan center, we opened our full service branch in Redmond. In November of 2007 we opened our Franklin Crossing Branch in downtown Bend. The Mill Quarter drive-up building opened in December and the main building at the Mill Quarter branch is slated to open June of 2008. We also remodeled our existing Bend and Terrebonne branches in 2007.
Community First Bank is the region's only financial institution that is big enough to handle business, real estate and construction loans, yet small enough to honestly care about an individual's personal checking account. And as one call tell from our history, we are a company whose sole focus remains right here in Central Oregon.
"We don't have branches in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco or New York like other banks in the area. For 25 years we have been all about re-investing 100% of our local deposits right back here in Central Oregon," says Robin Freeman, President and CEO of Community First.
At Community First Bank our name says it all. Our Board of Directors members are local business people and are accessible to our customers. The deposits we receive from customers are 100% re-invested back in the local community. And for 28 years our team members have been putting this community first.
