Change Moves Ahead – With or Without Us

-Perry Forst, President

This Mural hangs in Oak Grove Center.

I recently attended a banker seminar that featured an interesting speaker. The statement he based his presentation on was: “Change moves ahead – with or without us.” His comments sparked me to think about my life in Norwood Young America.

While my perspective to change in Norwood Young America is limited to 35 years, I think change has occurred on a rather large scale in our community. To start with, our community had been two separate cities. Norwood and Young America are among only a handful of cities in the state to have merged into one. This was a novel initiative and a big change for the community indeed.

Many large businesses and their buildings that were located in NYA are now gone. However, these changes opened the door for something else to take their place. For example, the bustling operations of Oak Grove Dairy once occupied the current location of the Oak Grove Center building complex. Thirty some years ago when Oak Grove Dairy was a major creamery, I doubt anyone could have imagined the change that would arrive down the road.

The large Young America Corporation building now hosts several new businesses. At one time, it would have been hard to not see on a near daily basis a rebate offer that was mailed to Young America. The Tino’s building (of pizza pockets fame) is now fully utilized by long-time locally based Hydro Engineering.

You could take your pick of several places in town to fill your vehicle with gas. The service station owner filled your tank, checked your engine oil, and cleaned your windshield, all while you watched. Now there are convenience stores, but we do it all ourselves. Maybe the old way was more convenient, but change brought us more than just the knowledge of how to pump our own gas.

New neighborhoods, industrial parks, strip malls, gas stations, restaurants, churches, and senior housing campuses have sprung up from repurposed land and farm fields.

Many business buildings in town have housed the same type of business over a considerable span of years. It just so happens that the ownership of the businesses in those buildings has changed hands many times over the years.

I started at Citizens State Bank before there was an ATM in town and before debit cards which now allow you to spend the money in your account without writing a check. We now have internet banking, online bill payment and mobile banking apps on your phone. Back in the day, if you wanted to get your paycheck into your account after hours you drove to the bank and slid your check and deposit ticket into the slot of the “night deposit.” Now you can take a picture with your phone and deposit your check directly into your bank account from anywhere. If I had written this previous sentence as recently as 15 years ago, readers would have wondered what in the world I was dreaming about!

Technology has brought changes to the methods through which customers can accomplish certain tasks at the bank. However, after 105 years Citizens State Bank continues to serve the community by recognizing each customer is a person who still values having people in the bank who will help them with their specific needs as “change moves ahead – with or without us.”

Person to person. Neighbor to neighbor. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.