Western Savings and Loan was an American financial institution founded by the

Driggs family The Driggs family is an American business family descended from Joseph Driggs of Middletown and East Haddam, Connecticut (died November 1748). Notable members of the family *Adam Driggs (born 1965), Maricopa County Arizona Superior Court judge * ...

. The Driggs family came to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

in 1921 after trading everything they owned—a bank, drugstore, hotel, and wheat farm in

Driggs, Idaho Driggs is a city in the western United States in eastern Idaho, and is the county seat of Teton County. Part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, it is located in Teton Valley, the headwaters of the Teton River. The populati ...

—for a section of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

land in

Maricopa County Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about 6 ...

. Their timing was unfortunate as cotton prices plummeted just as their crop came in and they were forced to take jobs selling building and loan certificates. In 1929, the Driggs family pooled $5,000 to found the Western Building and Loan Association, which became Western Savings.

Success and eventual failure

Western Savings and Loan eventually became a $6 billion savings and loan institution. Western shared a position on the list of the nation's 100 largest savings and loans with other Arizona-based institutions — MeraBank was number 27 on the list, Western came in at 37th, Great American was 67th, and Pima was 82nd. But in 1989, Western Savings moved into second place — not for its size, but for the amount of its losses, with a $1.06 billion net deficit, following a substantial but smaller loss the previous year. Western Savings was taken over by the

Resolution Trust Corporation The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) was a U.S. government-owned asset management company run by Lewis William Seidman and charged with liquidating assets, primarily real estate-related assets such as mortgage loans, that had been assets ...

, the federal depositor for the savings and loan crisis bailout in June 1989. In June 1990,

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

paid the

$81 million for Western Savings' $3.5 billion in deposits in 60 branches in Arizona and one branch in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and converted the thrift into commercial bank called Bank of America Arizona. In 1995, President Gary Driggs pleaded guilty to two felony charges and was fined $10,000 and placed on probation for five years.

Accomplishments and recognition

American Newcomen honored Western Savings and Loan Association in the year of the company's 40th anniversary. Since it was formed by the Driggs family in the Spring of 1929, six months before the historic stock crash, Western Savings had grown by 1969 to become the largest savings and loan association in Arizona and among the 100 largest in the United States. The major objectives of the association were the encouragement of thrift and the promotion of home ownership. Over those years, more than 30,000 first mortgage loans had been made, totaling more than 390 million dollars, thus becoming a significant factor in the growth and development of Arizona.

References

External links

* * * * Defunct banks of the United States Banks established in 1929 1929 establishments in Arizona Banks with year of disestablishment missing Savings and loan crisis Banks disestablished in 1990 1990 disestablishments in Arizona {{bank-stub