Unico Bank’s heritage is one built on financial strength and integrity. The very first branch was chartered on July 1, 1901, as a state bank located in Irondale, MO. The bank was named Irondale Bank and was started with only $10,000.00. The founding board of directors consisted of Jennie T. Forster, George J. Cole, Jonathan Wishon, J. I. Robinson, J.W. Yeargain, W.E. Matkin, A.T. Nixon, and P.S. Cole. In March of 1959, Henry Akers purchased the bank from Mr. and Mrs. William Jamison. Mr. Jamison was reported to have died while on duty at the bank. At the time of purchase, there was a “telephone operation” in the top story of the building. Remodeling had begun to take place to lower the building to one level. Bullet proof glass was built into the bank, and when a customer wanted to enter, the officer or employee on duty had to make a decision whether or not to let the customer enter the bank. If the customer looked like a good person the employee would push a button that would open the bullet proof door to let the customer in.

In 1967, Jim Crisman became President and later owner of Irondale Bank. As the financial needs of the community grew and Irondale Bank prospered, a new bank was built in 1975 on the outskirts of Potosi, MO, located at the junction of Rt. 8 and Hwy. U. The new facility was opened on June 2, 1975, as a full-service financial institution offering savings accounts, certificates of deposits, safety deposit boxes, loans of all types, and no service charge checking accounts.

Leon Brinkley became chairman of the board of Irondale Bank in 1979. In 1980, Leon and Barbara Brinkley purchased Irondale Bank, and Leon took on the duties of President, CEO and Chairman of the Board.

In 1990, the Brinkley’s purchased several savings and loan locations and named them Unico FSB. This allowed them to expand their bank services into southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas. Since Unico FSB was based in Kennett, MO and had Arkansas offices in Oak Grove, Paragould, Trumann, Harrisburg and Marked Tree, Leon and his wife Barbara relocated to Paragould, AR. This allowed Leon could assume the role as President and Chairman of Unico Bank FSB.

Following the Brinkleys decision to relocate to Arkansas, Ron Stephens was named as President of Irondale Bank. Ron began his career at Irondale Bank in 1973 and was knowledgeable on the day-to-day operations of the bank. Ron served as President of Irondale Bank and later Unico Bank until his retirement in 2013.

On January 18, 2000, Irondale Bank and Unico Bank FSB merge together, becoming Unico Bank. The name Unico is derived from the Latin word “uni” meaning one and the abbreviation for company “co”. The meaning of the name Unico is “one company”. The home office for Unico Bank and the official charter for the bank is in Mineral Point, Missouri, which is also known as our Potosi Branch.

Jonathan Mays became President of Unico Bank in 2013, following the retirement of Ron Stephens. Jonathan graduated from Freed Hareman University with a bachelor’s in business administration. He was previously employed as a Retail Sales Manager for Jimmy Sanders Inc. from 2000-2009 before joining Unico Bank in 2009. Jonathan served as Vice President and Branch Manager of the Unico Bank Kennett location from 2009-2013 before being promoted to President. Jonathan was then named as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board in 2016 following the passing of Mr. Brinkley.

Over the last 25 years, Unico Bank has expanded even more, adding locations in both Missouri and Arkansas. In 2008, we opened our office in Desloge, MO. In 2010 two additional locations were added in Paragould, AR. In 2016 we added an office in Lake City, AR. In 2017, we added three locations in St. Francois County which included locations in Bismarck, Park Hills, and Farmington. In 2018, we added our first location in Jonesboro, AR and a second location was added in 2022.

Irondale Bank, which started with only $10,000 in assets and one location in 1901, has now grown to Unico Bank with fifteen locations and has assets which have surpassed $500,000,000. We would like to thank all our customers for allowing us the opportunity to serve them and look forward to serving all of their banking needs for years to come.