Hosmer: Down Home with the Haerters

While Hosmer, S.D., may be just a blip on a map for most, it's home for banker Bruce Haerter, and he's proud of it. While Haerter grew up in Hosmer, he went to college in Aberdeen, S.D., and worked his way up from mail clerk at what was Aberdeen National Bank to commercial lending. Then, willingly, he moved back to his hometown..Haerter's appreciation for Hosmer is evident in the way he speaks of his hometown. "I could probably choose to live anywhere, but I choose to live in Hosmer, and I couldn't be more proud of it. I just think it's a closely knit community with a lot of friends and family in this area," he said. It probably helps that his children Joe and Kayla both live nearby along with his five grandchildren..It appears that many in the community feel the same as Haerter. Hosmer's pride is evident in the well-kept buildings on Main Street and the strong support for local businesses like the grocery store, meat market and cafe which serves some fine cuisine, including the occasional cheese mutton or knopfla, which makes sense with the community's strong German-Russian heritage..Nestled among those longtime businesses in Hosmer is Farmers State Bank, an institution chartered in 1919 and still located in its original, beautiful brick storefront. About the time Mr. Ford's Model Ts came rumbling into Hosmer, the Haerter family, along with a few other businessmen in the town, started the bank. Hosmer was growing and the enterprising merchants felt it needed financial services. Another bank followed suit, but in 1924, Hosmer State Bank, the only in-town competition Farmers State Bank ever had, closed its doors. .Nearly 100 years later, a fourth generation of Haerters manages the $21 million Farmers State Bank. Of the 70 banks in South Dakota, Farmers State Bank trades places with The First National Bank of Frederick, which is about an hour east of Hosmer, for smallest bank in the state..Haerter said there's no rivalry. "I've known the Campbell family for all of my banking career," he said. "I use the taxidermist in Frederick and was there last Friday to deliver a lockset of moose horns I own. No sooner than I walked in the place and First National Bank President Scott Campbell also walked in, and we had a nice visit. It's anything but a rivalry. If anything, there's a friendship with the people at their bank.".Farmers State Bank chose to stay in our trade area and develop on a slow and steady basis, Haerter said. The concept of branching is "always on the table, always something we're looking at," he said. However, he and his wife, along with a few others, founded Black Hills Community Bank in Rapid City, S.D., in 2007, a bank completely independent of Farmers. "Maybe that's where a lot of energy has gone in the last nine years," he said..An ag bank in an ag community, the Farmers State Bank began diversifying a little in the late 1980s when Haerter took his father's banking mantle and expanded the bank's offerings with commercial lending..While the bank has done some lending outside of its own Main Street, "our commercial lending comes primarily out of our area," Haerter said. When facing the throes of the 2009 recession, the bank found other ways to continue diversifying. Farmers has found its happy place in collaborating on loans with "other bankers and other institutions and developing other lines of business. It's worked well ever since. It's served us well financially, too," he said..While in Aberdeen, Haerter also used that time to court the former Joyce Everitt. "I had been working at Aberdeen National a little before she came on board. We dated, and every day of my life since, we've worked in the same financial institution," he said. Joyce, now his wife of more than 30 years, is his "partner in life and a partner in business.".Haerter credits her with keeping Farmers up with all the new regulations which "is a monumental job," he said. "The real work is done through Joyce. She is the reason, along with our daughter who works on the compliance side, we are able to maintain a strong presence on compliance and audit. I give her all the credit. She's very talented and dedicated to what she does. As a result, we are able to stay even with the regulations as they continue to enter the banking industry.".The Haerter children are two of the bank's eight employees and are poised to become the fifth generation to manage the institution as Haerter gets closer to handing over the responsibilities of leadership..Following in his own father's footsteps, Haerter was president of the South Dakota Bankers Association in 2000-2001. "I was on the board of directors or chairs or president for 10 years. That probably has been one of my fondest banking endeavors outside of being a banker itself," Haerter said. "I think the world of them. I always received more than I could ever give there, too.".Another big plus to living in Hosmer are the many opportunities for outdoors excursions, something Haerter truly enjoys, although he doesn't always stay close to home. If you search him on Google, you'll see his angling records, such as a 29.5 inch walleye in Manitoba, and photos of a rack from a 10-point mule deer and a smaller but still record-worthy rack from a Coues deer from Mexico. "I do love to hunt and fish," he said. "I've been able to get to some really cool places like New Zealand, Alaska, Mexico, and the Aleutian Islands. My priority, though, is to stay married," he quipped..Standing sentinel next to the bank's front door is perhaps Hosmer's No. 1 tourist attraction: a bright orange phone booth. People like to stand in front of it or inside it, Haerter said. "It reminds them of the phone-booth Superman used. It's probably the most photographed thing in Hosmer," Haerter said. "The phone company thought about taking it out but business owners felt the removal would be a loss to the community — it's functional, still used to this day.".With a one-of-a-kind cafe, a bright orange phone booth, and a banker with some good stories about the one that didn't get away, it kind of makes you want to put Hosmer on your bucket list.