Emprise Bank

History

The history of Emprise Bank began in 1910 with the formation of Stockyards National Bank in Wichita, Kansas. In 1965, W.A. Michaelis, Jr. purchased Sierra Petroleum Co. Inc., which owned Stockyards National Bank. In the early 1970s, Stockyards Bank was renamed United American Bank & Trust Company to reflect the bank’s expansion into other parts of the city. Sierra later became Emprise Financial Corporation.

Over the next 25 years, the Michaelis family acquired banks in communities across the state including Council Grove, Eureka, Hays, Hillsboro, Iola, Moran, Toronto, and Potwin. During this period, the Michaelis Family also acquired the National Bank of Wichita and Wichita State Bank.

In 1989, the banks located in Wichita were merged and the combined institution was named Emprise Bank. The Michaelis family’s banks throughout the state were aligned geographically and merged to form four community bank charters. These banks were renamed Emprise Bank. In the early 1990s, Emprise expanded into Lawrence and added branch locations in the Wichita area. Emprise Bank then acquired Wichita Federal Savings & Loan in the mid 1990s, which increased the bank’s market share and doubled its asset size.

In 2002, Emprise opened a location in El Dorado, and in 2003 locations were acquired in Humboldt and Chanute. Over the next two years, the community banks were all merged under one Emprise Bank charter. Then, in November 2006, Emprise Bank merged with Prairie State Bank, adding eleven additional branches to the Emprise network and increasing the number of employees to nearly 500. Through the merger, Emprise Bank reached $1 billion in total assets. Today, Emprise Bank has 42 locations in more than 20 communities across the state of Kansas.

The Art of Emprise

The Art of Emprise is a collection of art owned by the bank. The collection showcases pieces from Kansas artists and now includes works from more than 530 artists. Many of these pieces come from students and faculty at colleges and universities across the state.

In 1980, the Kansas Watercolor Society asked the Emprise Bank to sponsor its annual show; the bank agreed, and began making patron purchases on behalf of the banks. They have continued this sponsorship since, and expanded the Art of Emprise collection well beyond watercolors. Originally, the focus was simply finding unique pieces of art, but that focus changed to include artists with a Kansas connection.

The art is available to be viewed at Emprise Bank locations, as well as some other locations. Works of the collection have been displayed at the Andover Library (Andover, Kan.), Beach Museum (Manhattan, Kan.), Coutts Art Museum (El Dorado, Kan.), Lawrence Arts Center, Ulrich Museum, and the Wichita Art Museum. The collection has also been shared with the U.S. Art in Embassies Program, having works displayed in Belize and Uzbekistan.