The Park National Bank of Newark, Ohio, is granted a national banking charter on July 6 after raising $100,000 in capital. Alvin R. Lindorf, owner of a dry goods store on the Courthouse Square, became frustrated by a local bank – the rumor is he was turned down for a loan – and created The Guardian Savings and Trust Company in 1907 with the help of Augustus G. Wyeth and William W. Gard. The next year Lindorf finances the purchase of a location at 32 North Park Place on the Courthouse Square and constructs a new building for the newly chartered and renamed Park National Bank. Wyeth serves as the first president, Lindorf is vice president and Gard is cashier.

Everett D. Reese, an Ohio State University graduate who was hired June 1921 as an assistant cashier, is named president of Park National Bank in January by the board of directors and Alvin R. Lindorf becomes chairman of the board. Reese served as president until 1956, chief executive officer until 1960 and as chairman of Park’s board until 1979. Reese remained affiliated with Park as a board member until his death in 1995, completing 74 years of service.

John W. Alford, a Baltimore, Ohio native and graduate of Indiana’s DePauw University, joined the bank as a bookkeeper. Alford would later become Park’s president, CEO and chairman. Because banking jobs were hard to get during the Great Depression and Alford was quite happy to land at Park, he didn’t ask how much the job paid. Reese, who personally hired Alford the same day after meeting him, finally told him three weeks later it was $65 a week, after realizing Alford had never asked.

Park expands outside of Newark for the first time, opening banking offices in Kirkersville on April 15 and Hebron on April 16. At the 44th annual stockholders’ meeting, $300,000 of new capital stock is approved to open the Kirkersville and Hebron branches. Park acquires Kirkersville Savings Bank to serve as its second location, and a former Union Township trustees building was remodeled for the Hebron office.

In January, John W. Alford is named the fourth president of Park National Bank and Everett Reese becomes chairman and continued as a trust officer and CEO. Alford was a World War II Navy veteran and rejoined Park after the war. He truly believed in giving back to the community. He infused Park culture with that mindset and led by example, serving as president for the Newark Area Chamber of Commerce, director for the Licking County Industrial Growth Corp. and trustee for Denison University and the Thomas J. Evans Foundation among many other charitable and community endeavors.

Park celebrates the grand opening of its new headquarters at 50 N. Third St. in Newark, Ohio, on May 19. The president’s and chairman’s offices in the southwest corner of the building are designed with sliding glass doors instead of walls to show clients and associates they are always accessible. 10,000 collectible “Parky Pig” banks are first issued to mark the grand opening. Everett Reese and John Alford stated that assets of the bank were approximately $27 million when the new building opened and the facility was expected to support growth to $100 million in bank assets. The same office building continues to serve as the main office with total assets exceeding $7.7 billion on December 31, 2017. The original offices occupied by Reese and Alford continue to be occupied by the top two officers of the bank.

“The floor plan of the main banking area emphasizes the bank’s guiding principle of staying close to the people it serves.” – The Newark Advocate, 1958

William T. “Bill” McConnell, a graduate of Denison University, veteran of the United States Air Force and a recent graduate of Northwestern University with a master’s degree in business administration, joined Park National Bank as the first management associate.

Park opens the Southgate office at the newly built Southgate Shopping Center on June 28 with assistant trust officer William T. McConnell as its manager. One year after its opening, the office was handling 1,500 customers per week and had brought in more than 500 new accounts. By 1963, more than 2,200 people were doing business there weekly.

Geraldine Marston, who joined Park in 1951 in the Proof Department and later became a vice president, wins the Jean Arnot Reid Award from the prestigious National Association of Bank Women as “the most outstanding young bank woman in the country.” In 1965, after a ruling by the Comptroller of the Currency, she became the first female bank officer.

Park introduces a new product, the BankAmericard, which was the earliest development of the all-purpose credit card. Park is the second bank in Ohio and among the nation’s first 200 banks to offer this card. BankAmericard would eventually be renamed Visa.

On May 14, Park introduces a new phone number service for customers where they can get their “Time and Temperature.” The time is set to the atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado. The popular service is still being used today at 740-349-0511 and draws an average of nearly 46,000 calls monthly.

Park sees considerable growth during the 1960s. Trust accounts grew from 24 to 139 accounts, assets grew from $29.9 million to $76.5 million, deposits grew from $26.5 million to $66.2 million, loans grew from $16.7 million to $45.2 million and net income increased from $330,000 to $802,000.

Park installs its first Cash ’n Carry machine in July, which allows customers 24-7 access for account withdrawals or cash advances of $25 or $50 twice a day on their BankAmericard. Park was the third bank in the state to offer the machine.

Park acquired a 2,600-square-foot building from the Borden Company at 990 North 21st St. After spending $362,000 for the building, renovations and equipment, Park opened the 21st Street office on March 21. To celebrate and promote the new opening, the branch gave away small “Parky Pig” banks.

After the Ohio Legislature passed a bill in 1978 permitting banks to operate branches in contiguous counties to the counties where they were incorporated, Park opened its first office outside Licking County in July at 150 E. Broad St. in Columbus. During the 1970s, Park’s net income grew to $3.6 million in 1979.

Bill McConnell is appointed president of Park National Bank while John Alford continues as CEO and is named chairman. When McConnell had his initial job interview with Alford, Everett Reese asked him if he would ever aspire to be a bank president. “I gave him an answer then that I believed and, I think, I don’t see how I could have improved on it after all these years,” McConnell recalled. “I said I didn’t know if I had the capabilities to run a bank, but I didn’t want to associate myself with a place where that was not a possibility.”

The number of female officers at Park rose in 10 years from just two (Betty Birmingham and Geraldine Marston) in 1970 to eight, including Marston, Cynthia Crane, Suzanne Graves, Pamela Furnas, Mary Larimer, Shirley Matheny, Donna Buris and Marilyn (Skinner) Porter.

Park elected Nancy Shrider Chiles (now Nancy Chiles Dix), president of oil and natural gas producer W.E. Shrider Co., as the first woman to its board of directors. She went on to serve in the Ohio Senate and became the first woman inducted into the Ohio Oil and Gas Association Hall of Fame.

Park National Bank purchased Fairfield National Bank in Lancaster, Ohio, on May 1 from National City Corporation. This was the first merger that brought a multiple-location, out-of-county bank into the fold. It became a model for how Park continues to do business based on Bill McConnell’s proposition: When the situation is right, allow banks to keep their identity, board and people intact.

On August 31, Park merges with Mutual Federal Savings and Loan, based in Zanesville, Ohio, as part of the Park National Corporation. Mutual Federal was renamed Century National Bank in June 1997. PRK common stock begins trading on the NASDAQ exchange.

Dan DeLawder is named president of Park National Bank. Bill McConnell continues as CEO and is named chairman by Park National Bank and Park National Corporation. John Alford continues as chairman of the Executive Committee. DeLawder, like his two predecessors, served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He served as president of Park until 2004 and as chairman of the bank and PRK since then. He was CEO of both from 1999-2013.

Park acquires Scope Aircraft Finance, founded in 1975 and which specializes in loans for high-performance piston, turboprop and light jet aircraft, from a private individual. By the end of 2017, loans in 41 states and Puerto Rico totaled more than $260 million, up from $15 million in 1994.

Park National acquires First-Knox National Bank, based in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and Farmers and Savings Bank, based in Loudonville, Ohio, merge with Park. From 1997-2002, David Trautman serves as the First-Knox president before returning to Park as executive vice president. Park also expands to Pataskala and opens a full-service branch in the Pataskala Kroger store.

Dan DeLawder is elected president of the Ohio Bankers Association, becoming Park’s fourth president to head up the state trade association. Also, Park National’s Trust Department exceeds $1 billion of assets under management for the first time, with Park National Corporation reaching $1.8 billion in assets. Less than two decades later, trust assets for PRK would eclipse $5 billion.

On the same day on March 23, three more Ohio banks, all subsidiaries of Security Bancorporation, join Park National Corporation: Springfield’s Security National Bank and Trust Company, Piqua’s Third Savings and Loan Company (which changed its named to Unity National Bank in December 2001) and Urbana’s Citizens National Bank (which merged with Security National Bank in 2009). Harry O. Egger continues as CEO of Security Bank Division and joins the Park National Corporation Board of Directors and becomes vice chairman of the PRK board.

Park acquires First Federal Bankcorp Inc. in Zanesville and merges it with Century National Bank. Park launches new Health Savings Accounts, giving individuals the opportunity to save tax-free money for health expenses. Park opens a branch in downtown Delaware on North Sandusky Street. Park also opens branches in the Gahanna Kroger and in Worthington.

On January 1, David Trautman is named president of Park National Bank and Park National Corporation. Dan DeLawder is named chairman of both and continued as CEO. Bill McConnell continues as chairman of the Executive Committee. Trautman applied to 24 other financial institutions before getting interviews with Everett Reese, Bill McConnell and DeLawder. McConnell offered him the job, saying, “We hope that everyone else was wrong.”

Park launches the Difference Maker award in Heath. The award is given annually to a person, nominated by the community, for making a positive impact locally. Difference Makers are honored in six communities – Heath, Hebron/Buckeye Lake, Johnstown, Licking Valley, Pataskala and Utica – as well as among Park’s Freedom Years members.

Park goes outside the Midwest for the first time and acquires Vision Bancshares Inc. and its 18 branches in Florida and Alabama. Deteriorating economic conditions led to a significant increase in troubled loans by the end of the year. The Vision purchase soon became one of Park’s greatest challenges and failures.

On December 23, Park receives a $100 million loan through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Capital Purchase Program (CPP) that was intended to help increase its lending. The CPP is part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program for financially healthy banks. Park is well capitalized but participated in the CPP, in part, to ensure it could compete with other banks receiving the federal funds. Park paid back the funds it borrowed in 2012, following its sale of Vision Bank.

Park National Bank helped secure a $750,000 grant for the Salvation Army to build a homeless shelter on Arch Street in East Newark. The facility opened in the summer of 2010 and has been ably serving the community since.

Park National launches PNB Cares, a weeklong volunteer program for its associates to give back to the communities Park serves. In the first year, 430 associates worked on 40 projects in 10 communities and Park donated 1,900 hours of service. In the seven years since its inception, PNB Cares was extended to two weeks and has contributed nearly 13,000 collective volunteer hours to about 40 organizations each year.

Park National and its associates pledge $1 million to support Central Ohio Technical College and The Ohio State University at Newark’s Next Generation Challenge Scholarship Campaign. Bill McConnell, chairman of the campaign, and his wife Jane donated another $1 million. Director emeritus J. Gilbert Reese and his wife Louella match community gifts up to $10 million in aggregate. It was the most successful fundraising effort for either institution, raising nearly $21 million.

Park National Bank expands its presence in downtown Newark, purchasing the second through seventh floors of the North Third Tower at 51 N. Third St. The tower is directly across the street from Park’s main office, and the purchase includes 150 parking spaces to accommodate Park’s growing workforce.

David Trautman is named chief executive officer of Park National Bank and Park National Corporation while retaining his role as president of both entities. Dan DeLawder continues as chairman of PRK and PNB. Trautman joined Park in 1983 and served as president of the First-Knox division from 1997-2002. He rejoined Park in 2002 and was named president of the bank and PRK in 2005.

Park National turns its 12-hour Customer Care Center operation into a round-the-clock phone, email and web chat service on January 2. In the month of January, the center handled 55,677 calls, 3,332 web chats and helped process more than 100 online checking or savings account applications.

Park promotes Matt Miller, who graduated from the University of Akron, to executive vice president of PRK and PNB on April 1. Miller joined Park in 2009 as vice president and subsequently was promoted to senior vice president and chief accounting officer.

The Columbus District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration honors Park with its District Director Rising Star Award for ensuring small businesses can access capital to increase jobs, expand markets, launch new products and invest in new equipment. Earlier in the year, the Community Capital Development Corporation names Park its 2016 Bank of the Year for providing $3.32 million in small-business loans that led to $11.3 million in expansion.

Park expands its presence into Kentucky and opens a temporary loan production office in Louisville in May. The office will primarily serve business owners with a variety of lending services. The 4-person team plans to open a full-service banking office before the end of the year.