THAT’S COMING UP ON 12 NEWS THIS MORNING, STARTING AT 430. 12 NEWS CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH, WISCONSIN’S OLDEST BLACK OWNED BANK IS MARKING 100 YEARS IN MILWAUKEE. IN TONIGHT’S PROJECT, COMMUNITY 12 NEWS GERRON JORDAN SHOWS WHY YOU CAN’T PUT A PRICE ON THE BANK’S IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY OVER THE LAST CENTURY. THIS OLD BUILDING AT THE INTERSECTION OF 20TH AND FOND DU LAC IN MILWAUKEE HAS A HISTORY AS STORIED AS THE NEIGHBORHOODS IT REPRESENTS. IT WAS WALNUT WAY, THERE WAS HALYARD PARK, THERE WAS BROWNSVILLE. THESE WERE STRONG, THRIVING AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE THE CENTRAL CITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDED SEPTEMBER 24TH, 1924 BY R.T. AND WILBUR HALYARD. COLUMBIA SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION FILLED A BIG VOID YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT A BLACK OWNED BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES WAS NOT A WELCOME THING, LET ALONE A BLACK OWNED BANK. THE REASON THAT THE HOW YOU’RE STARTED IS THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT WE DIDN’T HAVE ACCESS TO FUNDS AT REGULAR BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE COUNTRY AT THE TIME. IN FACT, IT WAS THE ONLY PLACE THAT GAVE MR. MCKENZIE. A LOAN. NOW HIS GRANDSON IS THE BANK’S VICE PRESIDENT. FOR ME PERSONALLY, IT’S TO BE ABLE TO WORK AT A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WHERE MY GREAT GRANDFATHER GOT A LOAN AT A TIME WHEN HE COULDN’T WALK INTO MULTIPLE BANKS AND GET A LOAN. THAT TO ME, THAT’S THE THE PRICELESS PART YOU HAD. AL SMITH AND MILLER WAS HERE, AND PABST AND AFRICAN AMERICANS AND GO GET YOU GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL, GO GET A FACTORY JOB AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY. AND THEN THE FACTORIES LEFT. AND THAT CHANGED THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE OF NOT ONLY MILWAUKEE, BUT SPECIFICALLY BLACK MILWAUKEE. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT BLACK FINANCIAL LITERACY, WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE HISTORY AND THE HURDLES, THE MR. JUST I THINK THAT IS THE FIRST ISSUE THAT PEOPLE HAVE TO OVERCOME. WE ALWAYS HEAR ABOUT GRANDMA HAS THIS MATTRESS MONEY OR THERE’S JUST KEEPING MONEY IN A COFFEE CAN SOMEWHERE. THERE IS BECAUSE ONE DAY THEY WENT TO THE BANK AND THEY TOLD THEM NO, YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR MONEY. THESE THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPEN. SO WHEN YOUR GRANDMOTHER AND YOUR GRANDFATHER AND YOUR UNCLES AND YOUR AUNTS ARE. ALL TELLING YOU, DON’T PUT MONEY IN THE BANK BECAUSE ONE DAY IT’S NOT GOING TO BE THERE FOR YOU, BECAUSE THAT WAS THEIR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IT LEADS, IT LEADS DOWN THROUGH, LET’S SAY, GENERATIONAL MISTRUST. WHEN BLACK FAMILIES WEREN’T ALLOWED TO PURCHASE HOMES FOR YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS. AND THEN THERE WAS REDLINING IN CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOODS, YOU EMULATE WHAT YOU SEE GROWING UP. SO UNFORTUNATE. MANY OF US SAW OUR PARENTS RENTING, SO WE EMULATE THAT. MANY OF THE PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITY WERE RENTING. SO WE EMULATE THAT. THAT’S WHAT YOU GUYS ARE STILL WORKING TO ADDRESS? YES. AND TO CORRECT. HOW DO YOU DO THAT? EVEN NOW, IT IS DAY BY DAY, ONE BY ONE. IT IS. WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE HAVE TO GET WE HAVE TO GET THE CUSTOMERS IN HERE AND, AND, AND SHOW THEM THE IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL LITERACY. THIS YEAR, THE BANK IS CELEBRATING 100 YEARS, ONE OF THE OLDEST IN THE STATE AND ONE OF JUST 41 BLACK OWNED BANKS IN THE NATION. IN THE WAY THAT WE STUDY BLACK WALL STREET IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA. I HOPE THAT ONE DAY PEOPLE WILL STUDY COLUMBIA SAVINGS AND LOAN IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. AND WHAT IT DID TO NOT ONLY CHANGE THAT CITY, BUT CHANGE THE NATION AND THE WAY FINANCES ARE HANDLED AND LOOKED AT IN OUR COMMUNITY. WHAT WOULD MR. HALYARD SAY TODAY? 100 YEARS AFTER HE FOUNDED THIS INSTITUTION? I HOPE HE WOULD SAY GOOD JOB. I HOPE HE WOULD BE IMPRESSED. THE THING THAT I HOPE HE WOULD SAY MOST IS JUST KEEP GOING. THAT MOTIVATION TO SAY, YOU KNOW, GOOD JOB, KEEP GOING. YOU’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING IN MILWAUKEE. I’M GERRON JORDAN WISN 12 NEWS. THE BANK IS PLANNING TO HOLD A NUMBER O
Black History Month: This Black-owned bank is celebrating 100 years in business
Updated: 8:44 PM CST Feb 2, 2024
An old building at the intersection of 20th Street and Fond du Lac Avenue in Milwaukee has a history as storied as the neighborhoods it represents. “There was Walnut Way, there was Halyard Park, there was Bronzeville,” Wesley McKenzie said. “These were strong, thriving, African American neighborhoods in the central city of Wisconsin.” Founded on Sept. 24, 1924, by Ardie and Wilbur Halyard, Columbia Savings and Loan Association filled a big void. “You can imagine that a Black-owned business, in the U.S. was not a welcomed thing, not alone a Black-owned bank,” McKenzie said. “The reason the Halyards started it was because they understood we didn’t have access to funds at regular banks and financial institutions at the time.”McKenzie is the new vice president of the bank, which was one of the only banks to give his great-grandfather a loan decades ago. “For me, personally, to be able to work at a financial institution where my great-grandfather got a loan — at a time when he couldn’t walk into most banks and get a loan — that to me is the priceless part,” he said. When the Halyards started the bank in 1924, it was difficult for Black people in Milwaukee to bank with or get loans from financial institutions in the U.S.”We always hear about grandma has this ‘mattress money’ or just keeping money in a coffee can somewhere; it’s because one day they went to the bank and they were told ‘no you can’t have your money,” McKenzie said. “These things actually happened. So when your grandmother and your grandfather and your uncles and your aunts are telling you ‘don’t put money in the bank because one day it won’t be there for you,’ because that was their experience, it leads down through generational mistrust.”Those seeds of generational mistrust are what McKenzie is working to address. “It’s day by day, one by one,” he said. “We understand we have to get the customers in here and show them the importance of financial literacy.”This year, the bank is celebrating 100 years. It’s one of the oldest banks in the state and one of just 41 Black-owned banks in the nation. “The way we study Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I hope that one day people will study Columbia Savings and Loan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and what it did to not only change the city, but change the nation and the way finances are handled and looked at in our community,” McKenzie said.When asked what the Halyards would say 100 years later, this is how McKenzie responded:”I hope he would say, ‘good job.’ I hope he would be impressed,” McKenzie said. “The thing that I hope he would say most is just keep going– that motivation to say ‘good job and keep going, you’re doing the right thing.'”
An old building at the intersection of 20th Street and Fond du Lac Avenue in Milwaukee has a history as storied as the neighborhoods it represents.
“There was Walnut Way, there was Halyard Park, there was Bronzeville,” Wesley McKenzie said. “These were strong, thriving, African American neighborhoods in the central city of Wisconsin.”
Founded on Sept. 24, 1924, by Ardie and Wilbur Halyard, Columbia Savings and Loan Association filled a big void.
“You can imagine that a Black-owned business, in the U.S. was not a welcomed thing, not alone a Black-owned bank,” McKenzie said. “The reason the Halyards started it was because they understood we didn’t have access to funds at regular banks and financial institutions at the time.”
McKenzie is the new vice president of the bank, which was one of the only banks to give his great-grandfather a loan decades ago.
“For me, personally, to be able to work at a financial institution where my great-grandfather got a loan — at a time when he couldn’t walk into most banks and get a loan — that to me is the priceless part,” he said.
When the Halyards started the bank in 1924, it was difficult for Black people in Milwaukee to bank with or get loans from financial institutions in the U.S.
“We always hear about grandma has this ‘mattress money’ or just keeping money in a coffee can somewhere; it’s because one day they went to the bank and they were told ‘no you can’t have your money,” McKenzie said. “These things actually happened. So when your grandmother and your grandfather and your uncles and your aunts are telling you ‘don’t put money in the bank because one day it won’t be there for you,’ because that was their experience, it leads down through generational mistrust.”
Those seeds of generational mistrust are what McKenzie is working to address.
“It’s day by day, one by one,” he said. “We understand we have to get the customers in here and show them the importance of financial literacy.”
This year, the bank is celebrating 100 years. It’s one of the oldest banks in the state and one of just 41 Black-owned banks in the nation.
“The way we study Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I hope that one day people will study Columbia Savings and Loan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and what it did to not only change the city, but change the nation and the way finances are handled and looked at in our community,” McKenzie said.
When asked what the Halyards would say 100 years later, this is how McKenzie responded:
“I hope he would say, ‘good job.’ I hope he would be impressed,” McKenzie said. “The thing that I hope he would say most is just keep going– that motivation to say ‘good job and keep going, you’re doing the right thing.'”
