Awakening the Giant
Finally, in 1969 Governor Guy was able to realize some of his ambitions for the Bank, appointing Herb Thorndahl as bank president. At the same time, the 1969 session passed legislation creating an advisory board for the Bank. Members of the board were appointed by the governor and were charged with making recommendation to the Industrial Commission on policy matters for the bank.
Under Thorndahl's long tenure, the bank, which had been in the same building since 1919, was extensively remodeled and modernized, training and professional education for bank staff was actively encouraged, and the bank's organizational structure was changed.
The bank prospered through the 70s with profits increased by 201%. No longer the center of political wrangling, the bank consolidated programs and became more actively involved with the private banking community. Although the bank is prohibited by law from making direct commercial loans, Thorndahl reasoned that it was not prohibited from guarantee loans made by commercial banks or buying down the commercial interest rate on riskier small business loans.
Twenty-eight years after discontinuing agricultural lending, the bank at last began to make funds available for farm real estate loans and in 1978 established the Beginning Farmer Loan program to help new farmers buy land and farm equipment. The bank created guarantee programs for Farmers Home Administration and Small Business Administration loans and granted the nation’s first federally insured student loan.
Photographs from the collection of Bank of North Dakota and the
State Historical Society of North Dakota