The Great Depression of the 1930s, showing bankers doing what they continue to do now – working methodically and patiently with their customers and communities to make the future brighter.

World War II in the 1940s, including financing bonds to support the war effort.

The “buy now, pay later” credit economy of the 1950s; the adoption of magnetic ink character recognition in 1959, allowing data printed on checks to be read by computer; and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.

Sweeping advancements in civil rights, medicine, education, job training and the sciences in the 1960s, including banking milestones such as passage of the Bank Protection Act, the Truth in Lending Act and the Fair Housing Act; the conversion of Fannie Mae into a publicly traded government-sponsored enterprise; and Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York, installing the first U.S. automated teller machine.

Stagflation of the 1970s, which also saw landmark banking legislation such as the Bank Secrecy Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Community Reinvestment Act; the end of the gold standard; and the first in-store bank branches.

The 1980s with its deep devaluation of farmland that devastated the rural economy; the savings and loan crisis; a soaring stock market that then crashed in 1987, losing 22.6% of its value; and Indiana’s Banking Structure Reform Act of 1985 that arguably has had more effect on the Indiana banking landscape than any other state law, allowing banks to branch across county lines and permitting them to acquire banks in contiguous states – and conversely to be acquired by out-of-state banks – leading to a flurry of M&A activity that resulted in a 40% drop in the number of independent banks operating in Indiana.