Yukon National Bank: one century, one family

“It's been our family — not too many banks can say that for 100 years,” bank President Randy Wright said. “My great uncle and great-grandfather founded the bank. My grandfather ran it, and my father ran it. Now I'm running it, and my sister is working here.”

Wright said he never felt like he was destined to run the bank, although he always was involved in family businesses when he was growing up.

The bank has five locations, including offices in Mustang and Bethany, but remains tightly connected with the Yukon community, Wright said. Those connections have helped the bank survive when others did not, he said.

“We have customers that will pay us when probably a lot of banks in the United States, their customers would not,” he said.

With his family history spanning the same century as the bank's, Wright's knowledge of the bank's troubled times spans decades from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the Great Recession of 2008.

The bank was founded in 1912 to help local mill workers cash their paychecks more quickly.

Canadian County's recent explosive growth has boosted the bank's business, which remains profitable as it now focuses on land and construction, Wright said.

“Even in these tough times, and there have been some people who are struggling right now, it's been a good area here,” Wright said.

Willingness to work

Wright, in a practice handed down from generation to generation, still drives around his hometown regularly to keep up with the local growth.