Celebrating 150 years of Cattle Bank through pictures.
Chartered in 1873, Cattle Bank & Trust is the second oldest bank charter in the State of Nebraska. We are committed to serving the banking and financial service needs of Seward and Lancaster counties, as well as Southeast Nebraska.
We understand that when it comes to selecting a financial service provider you have many options to choose from, so we appreciate the trust that our customers place in us everyday and value the long-term relationships that we establish with many of them. Our employees are the difference makers, professional bankers focused on serving the customers and communities that we live, work, and play in.
Cattle Bank & Trust is customer driven – focused on providing a superior level of service and a comprehensive line of financial products. We provide leadership and support the long-term economic growth of our customers, communities, employees, and shareholders.
Trust – Trust is the foundation of our bank. We understand the importance of providing financial services and products in a confidential and secure manner.
Customer Driven – Everything we do as a financial institution and every decision we make as a bank is prioritized by how it will impact the customer. This philosophy is reflected in the relationships we form with each customer, many of which span generations.
Community Service – Being a community bank, our success is tied to the success of the communities we serve and vice versa. We give back to our communities through involvement and by providing resources to numerous community service organizations and public entities.
Stability – Conservative financial management is an important component to success and longevity. Our financial statement reflects this conservative philosophy as we play a key role as an economic engine for the communities we serve. As a bank with a 150-year history, we have the ability to think generationally as we serve our customers and communities.
Leadership – We believe in being a leader within our industry and in our corner of the world. The delivery channels from which we deliver our services are designed to be convenient, cutting edge, and reflect good value. Bank employees continually take an active role in the preservation, development, and improvement of our communities.
(Portions of the following are reprinted with permission of the Seward County Independent by Charlyne Berens, originally printed in 1979. Additional updates provided in 1992, 2012 and 2013.)
When Claudius Jones opened the forerunner of today’s Cattle Bank & Trust in 1873, the process was like opening a grocery store. His “banking company”, as it was called, had regulations similar to any regular retail business of the time, and a head for business and a tenacity to stay with the business separated those who succeeded and those who did not. When Jones was in his early 30’s, he founded several banks in Illinois. He moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1871 and then to Seward in 1873, where he founded what he called the State Bank of Nebraska.
Jones suffered a serious illness which forced him to sell the Bank to a man named Oskabock in 1876. The Bank changed hands again in 1881 when John Cattle and his three sons bought out Oskabock. The bank has been in the Cattle Family ever since.
John Cattle and his sons, Robert, John and Walter, were farmers in England and came to Nebraska in the 1870’s, lured by the chance to invest in inexpensive land. The British Steamship Company and the Burlington Railroad promoted land on the Great Plains, and the oldest Cattle son, Robert, took advantage of the company’s offer of a free trip to come to Nebraska and see the prospects for himself. Robert thought the land and opportunities looked good and the rest of the family followed him to Seward County where they bought railroad land north and west of Seward.
The Cattle Family bought the State Bank of Nebraska in 1881, but also continued to farm. After his wife died, John decided to return to England and Walter took over the bank. John’s son Robert T. Cattle, Sr. began to work in the bank after he finished law school in 1911. Robert married Mercedes Brown in 1912, who was the granddaughter of the bank’s founder, Claudius Jones.
The State Bank of Nebraska was nationalized and took the name of The Cattle National Bank of Seward in 1930. Robert T. Cattle, Sr. became President of the bank in 1931 and served in that capacity until 1960. His son, John W. Cattle, Sr., graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1940, entered the Armed Forces, and began working full time at the bank upon his discharge from the service in 1945. He served as President and CEO of the bank for 32 years and during his tenure, also, served as the President of the Nebraska Bankers Association in 1971. His son, John W. Cattle, Jr. became President and CEO of the Bank in 1992 and served in this role until 2006. Ryne D. Seaman joined the bank in 1989 and became President and CEO in 2006 and currently serves in this position, along with Chairman Of The Board. He was the first non-family member to serve as CEO.
John W. Cattle Sr. passed away April 21, 1999 from complications during heart by-pass surgery. His wife, Virginia, served on the Board of Directors from 1967 to 2021. John W. Cattle Jr. passed away June 20, 2022. Becky Vahle, John, Sr. and Virginia’s daughter, joined the bank in 1986, and currently serves as Vice President and is also a member of the Board of Directors.
Claudius Jones’s State Bank of Nebraska opened in a rental building on the south side of the square in 1873. Within a year, Jones moved the Bank into a building built especially for it at the southeast corner of the square. The building was constructed with bricks hauled overland from Nebraska City and was one of the first brick buildings in town. It is still in active use today.
The State Bank of Nebraska moved from its location on the southeast corner of the square sometime in the early 1900’s and occupied part of the building where Et-Cetera Gift Shop is now located. Sometime during those years, most of the wood structures on the north side of the square, burned in a fire. When the merchants rebuilt, the Cattle’s built their bank where Norval Brothers and Mullally Law Offices are located now.
The bank remained in that location until 1951 when they bought Sampson’s Grocery store located on the corner of the square where the Bank parking lot is today. The Cattles remodeled Sampson’s, acquired the Thomas Building adjacent to the south in 1963, and tore down the structure to expand south. In 1976 the Main Bank was remodeled and in 1978, the Motor Bank, complete with solar heating and cooling systems, was constructed at Fifth and Roberts Streets.
In 1995 the bank purchased three buildings to the south of the Main Bank previously occupied by Mullally Law Office, The Clock Bar, and Rami’s Photography. These buildings were subsequently torn down and the vacated space plus the existing parking lot of the bank were the sight for the new Main Bank, located on the northeast corner of the historic downtown square. The Cattle family, being very cognizant of the architecture of downtown Seward, designed the exterior of the facility to architecturally fit into the historic downtown business district and courthouse square. The Bank moved into these new offices in August of 1997. In 2001, the bank applied for and received trust powers and shortly thereafter changed the name of the bank to The Cattle National Bank and Trust Company. In January of 2003, the bank expanded its physical footprint into Lincoln, Nebraska locating a branch facility in the Coddington Marketplace in southwest Lincoln. Within a few years, the bank outgrew this location and in May of 2012, opened its second Lincoln location in the southeast corridor of the city in the Village Gardens development at 56th and Pine Lake Roads. Two years later the bank opened its third Lincoln location in the Fallbrook Market Place in northwest Lincoln. Then in 2020, almost 20 years after Cattle Bank & Trust first expanded into the Lincoln market, the bank opened its southwest Lincoln branch location at 14th and Pine Lake in the Costco Outlet Development and simultaneously closed the Coddington and Village Gardens locations bringing staff together from the two branches.
Today, the bank, Board of Directors, and forty-eight employees remain committed to the traditions and core values under which it was founded—Trust, Stability, Leadership, Customer Driven, & Community Service.
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