First Midwest Bank

In the aftermath of the great depression, C.D. Oberwortmann, Andrew Barber and Frank Turk founded Union National Bank and Trust Company of Joliet. Only one bank in Joliet had survived from the 1930's. These three men made a personal commitment to bring quality banking back to the area. Their original slogan was "The Friendly Bank" and summarized their commitment to treating the person in the overalls and the person in the business suit the same way.Their idea of focusing on an individual's needs, regardless of their net worth, proved to be extremely successful, not just the right thing to do. Over the next forty years, Obie, Andy and Frank grew their modest bank on West Jefferson Street in Joliet into a chain of twenty banks affiliated through their common ownership and strong values.

As the company moved to the next generation of management in the early 80's, a bold vision to unite this chain of twenty banks emerged from the planning process. A new public entity was created, First Midwest. The name symbolized the next generation's vision for the future reach and scale of our company. They worked side by side with Illinois lawmakers and wrote the bill lifting the prohibition on multibank holding companies. In 1983, their determination paid off as First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. acquired the stock of the twenty affiliated banks. At that time, this was the largest simultaneous acquisition of banks ever approved by the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C.

First Midwest is the premier relationship-based banking franchise in the growing Chicagoland banking market. As one of the Chicago metropolitan area's largest independent bank holding companies, First Midwest provides the full range of both business and retail banking and trust and investment management services through some 100 offices located in 62 communities, primarily in metropolitan Chicago. First Midwest was recently recognized by the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workforce Flexibility in the greater Chicago area.

Contact Info

Phone

(847)739-3850

Fax

(847)739-3875

Website

www.firstmidwest.com