From Winona to regional leader, Merchants Bank CEO reflects on 150 years of serving the local community

Four years before the Great Northern Railroad connected Minnesota to Puget Sound and 10 years before the first furnace thermostat was manufactured in St. Paul, a group of businessmen gathered in Winona with a transformative idea of their own. They decided to start a bank focused on serving the working class in their community, where local staff would help their neighbors achieve their dreams. That bank — Merchants Bank — is still going strong 150 years later. “Legend has it, this company…