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 Home > About Us > Our History
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Our History
From 1921 through May, 2008, WaterStone Bank was known primarily as Wauwatosa
Savings Bank. The bank experienced quite a bit of growth throughout
the years leading
up to 2008, both in new branch offices and in additional product lines. Doug Gordon,
President and CEO of WaterStone stated, “A name change is necessary to better reflect
what we are now, and what we plan to be in the future.”
On May 19, 2008, Wauwatosa
Savings Bank became WaterStone Bank, SSB.
Since 1921 WaterStone has served
local communities as a financial institution known for its tradition of stability
and community involvement. With offices in Wauwatosa, Oak Creek, Franklin/Hales Corners,
Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, Waukesha,
Germantown/Menomonee Falls, and West Allis, the
bank offers mortgage products, home equity products,
checking, savings, certificates of deposit, money market, IRA accounts, commercial loans, and business banking products.
During its long history, WaterStone has established strong ties to its communities
and is committed to promoting community growth and development. The bank established
the WaterStone Bank Fund (formerly the Wauwatosa Savings Bank Fund) with the Waukesha
County Community Foundation in 2002 in order to ensure the bank’s ability to continually
give back to the communities in which they serve. The bank supports a variety of
local programs but special consideration is given to programs that promote education,
youth organizations and community development.
WaterStone Bank began as a building and loan association under the name
of Wauwatosa Building and Loan in 1921 by founder
Edward F. Geske and other local businessmen on the site that is now 7615
W. State Street in the village of Wauwatosa. Today, the Wauwatosa branch office is located
at 7500 W. State Street in the facility that was built in 1971.
Through the years,
the original “building and loan” became a “savings and loan” and eventually, on
January 1, 1994, became a “savings bank.” In September 2005, depositors approved
a bank reorganization plan and a partial stock issuance
plan. In
October 2005, the public stock began trading on NASDAQ under the symbol [WAUW]. In May 2008, the bank
officially changed its name to WaterStone Bank, SSB.
The bank’s second branch was
the Oak Creek office on South 27th Street, which opened in 1973. The bank’s present
Oak Creek office located at 6560 S. 27th Street was built in 1988.
The first Waukesha
branch opened in 1986 at 1710 Paramount Drive (Highways 164 and 18) in an existing
bank building. In September 2005, the office relocated to a new facility at 21505 E. Moreland Blvd. (Highway 18 just west of I-94). The Oconomowoc branch office opened in March 2003 at 1233 Corporate Center Drive (near
Highway 67 and I-94).
The main
Pewaukee branch
office, which opened in June 2004, offers full service and is located
at 1230 George Towne Drive, just east of Highway
16 and Capitol Drive. Two branches
were opened in 2006; one in Franklin/Hales Corners at 6555 S. 108th Street, six
blocks south of Forest Home, and the other office opened in Germantown/Menomonee
Falls at W188N9820 Appleton Avenue, just
north of County Line Rd.
The newest office
of Wauwatosa Savings opened in March, 2007 at 10101 W. Greenfield Avenue in West
Allis. This office combines a full-service bank and a lending center to offer customers
a full range of deposit and lending products, as well as centralize residential
mortgage and consumer lending to offer a quicker response for customer satisfaction.
During its long history, the bank has had only five Chief Executive Officers: Edward
J. Geske, Charles A. Perry, Raymond J. Perry, Donald J. Stephens, and currently
Douglas S. Gordon, President and CEO.
2007 was an important year in WaterStone’s
transition from a savings bank to a full-service bank. In January Jon McGlocklin,
former National Basketball Association (NBA) player, television sports commentator
and co-founder and president of the MACC Fund signed an agreement to be the Bank’s
spokesperson. McGlocklin’s support contributes to the bank’s ability to reach out
to new and existing markets. In February the bank’s in-house processing technology
was upgraded in order to introduce many new products to meet their customers’ needs,
as well as offer faster and more efficient
operations to provide the best customer
service available in the marketplace.
In late 2007 it was apparent that Wauwatosa
Savings was no longer a typical savings and loan institution, and the bank’s markets
reached beyond Wauwatosa. “As we continue to expand geographically to other communities,
“Wauwatosa” does not clearly define our intentions to be the premier community bank
in all the communities we serve,” commented Gordon.
WaterStone Bank reports assets of over $1.7 billion and employs
just over 200 people. The bank is FDIC insured and an Equal Housing Lender.
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