Our Eagle Bank Story
Our original 1919 bank office.
Eagle Bank & Trust Company has been serving customers in central Arkansas and beyond since 1919. From our humble beginnings, we’ve grown to 13 full-service bank locations, one bank loan production office, eight mortgage loan production offices and nearly $400 million in assets across four states. We’ve continued to remain locally owned and operated, privately held and committed to the service and support of our communities.
What is now Eagle Bank & Trust Company is the result of a 2012 merger of Eagle Bank & Trust Company (formerly First State Bank of Sherwood) and Heber Springs State Bank.
Harry Hastings, Jr., of Little Rock, Arkansas, had the vision and diligence to pave the way for our success, and we’re proud of our history. After noticing an upward population trend in central Arkansas, Hastings applied for a bank charter for the First State Bank of Sherwood in 1964. Though the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) argued the Sherwood population was too small to warrant their own bank, Hastings appealed to the FDIC Board of Review in Washington, D.C. They officially granted Sherwood’s first bank charter in July 1966. Additional locations were opened in Sherwood, Gravel Ridge, Little Rock, Maumelle, and Conway.
The original First State Bank of Sherwood opened at the corner of North Hills Boulevard and Highway 107 on January 7, 1967. Additional branches later opened in Sherwood, Gravel Ridge and North Little Rock, and, in 1988, First State Bank of Sherwood changed its name to Eagle Bank & Trust Company.
Today, Cathy Hastings Owen, the daughter of Harry Hastings, Jr., is the Chairman of the bank and the bank holding company. Under her leadership, State Holding Company received its charter in June 1984. In November of the same year, State Holding Company acquired the majority stock of Heber Springs State Bank.
The Arkansas National Bank of Heber Springs received its charter in 1919, continually operating throughout the Great Depression. The bank’s national charter was exchanged for a state charter in 1978, when it adopted the new name of Heber Springs State Bank. Through the years, branches were opened in Drasco, Fairfield Bay, Greers Ferry, Heber Springs, Quitman, Rosebud and Vilonia.
In 2012, Eagle Bank & Trust Company merged with Heber Springs State Bank, retaining the Eagle Bank name and the longevity of the Heber Springs charter. Today, Eagle Bank & Trust is a healthy, successful and well-capitalized community bank.