History & Community
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Diamond Bank History
In downtown Chicago, the 11-story Rookery Building was completed on LaSalle Street, and America's first truly modern skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, was already two years old.
West of the tall elms and stately mansions of Michigan Avenue, a group of neighbors met to form North Avenue Building and Loan Association, the first financial institution north of the Chicago River.
THE BEGINNING
Just south of North Avenue and Halsted Street in 1886, stood the hay and feed store owned by William and Henry J. Kemper. It was probably there that plans were made for a cooperative association to offer loans for home purchases, with 33 neighbors each subscribing $200 to $2,000 to make up the first capital.
Its first office was on the second floor of what is now 755 W. North Avenue. Around the corner on Halsted Street was a separate entrance for horses and wagons to get their hay and feed. Each Tuesday evening, members of the association met to add to their savings, have their accounts updated, and to socialize.
From this modest start, North Avenue Building and Loan Association provided many of the home loans that helped turn the North Side from farms and fields into a thriving community.
GROWTH AND TESTING
Before the end of the century, Chicago's glittering Columbian Exposition drew some 27 million visitors from all over the world. A second World's Fair, no less magnificent, followed in 1933. There were two World Wars and the Great Depression.
In good times and bad, the association continued to serve its community. Sound, conservative management steered a course of solid growth. Even in the Depression, we never closed our doors. In all our 120 years, no customer has ever lost one penny.
When the association obtained its Federal charter in 1937, it moved eastward to 421 W. North Avenue, and changed its name to North Avenue Federal Savings and Loan Association.
In order to handle North Federal's expanding business, the association built its next headquarters in 1952 at 500 W. North Avenue, on the northwest corner of North and Cleveland Avenues.
By the end of 1958, new and still larger quarters were needed, and the association purchased its present location on the northwest corner of North Avenue and Clark Street for its new home.
TIME OF CHANGE
Late in 1959, the building at North Avenue and Clark Street was torn down, and in its place sprang up a unique modern building with glass and steel "curtain wall" construction.
At the time of the Grand Opening of the new office in 1961, the association changed its name to North Federal Savings and Loan Association of Chicago. In 1976, North Federal opened a branch office, in Westlake Plaza, Lake Avenue and Skokie Boulevard in Wilmette.
All the while, our Chicago neighbors continued to change. Carl Sandburg Village, Project LaSalle Street and other new developments appeared. The Germania Club remained, but the Red Star Inn was torn down to make room for Sandburg Village, and the elegant Plaza Hotel was replaced by the expanding Latin School of Chicago.
Throughout this change, North Federal has encouraged the redevelopment of the near North Side, providing millions of dollars to homeowners in the community for buying or building new homes or remodeling or improving existing structures.
When we were organized in 1886, our charter stated that the association was "to raise funds to be loaned only among members of said association" for homebuilding purposes.
Today North Federal can do business with everyone, and our customers can now come to us for much more than home loans and passbook accounts. We offer a wide range of banking services for both individual and commercial customers.
In keeping with the many changes over the years, including deregulation of the banking industry which allowed us to offer an ever-broadening scope of financial services, we adopted a Federal Mutual Savings Bank Charter in 1986, and changed our name to North Federal Savings Bank on our 100th anniversary.
The Banking environment continued to change in the late 1980's and early 1990's with the passage of new legislation. In September of 1993, North Federal Savings Bank formed a holding company called North Bancshares, Inc. North Bancshares purchased the stock of North Federal Savings Bank and offered it's stock to the public in an oversubscribed stock offering in December 1993. North Bancshares has about 400 shareholders, mostly members of the community. In August of 2004, North Bancshares merged with Diamond Bancorp and was taken private. On May 2, 2005, North Federal Bank officially changed its name to Diamond Bank.
The mission of Diamond Bank is to be the FIRST to give our customers what they need and the BEST at serving their needs CONSISTENTLY.
