Our History

The Farmers & Merchants State Bank has always had a special commitment to the growth of Northwest Ohio since its inception in 1897. The only name change in our history was in 1919, when the founding directors elected to change from a private bank to a state chartered bank. At that time, the name changed from Farmers and Merchants Bank to The Farmers & Merchants State Bank.

The F&M headquarters has always been in Archbold, Fulton County, Ohio. F&M began expanding its presence in Fulton County in 1973 by opening a full service office on North Shoop Avenue in Wauseon, Ohio. By the end of the 1980s, F&M had four full service offices in Fulton County.

Expansion of the Bank into Williams County began in 1981, with the opening of the Stryker and West Unity offices. By the end of the 1986, F&M had five offices in Fulton County and three offices in Williams County. F&M further expanded in the 1990s by opening an office in Henry County. During 2001, F&M opened an office in Defiance County, and in 2003 we opened our Operations Center in Fulton County.

Today

F&M has 30 full-service office locations and over 34 ATMs located in Fulton, Williams, Henry, Defiance, Lucas, Wood and Hancock counties in Ohio, as well as Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Jay and Steuben Counties in Indiana. Toward the end of 2007, F&M opened a new office in Perrysburg and expanded into Indiana with offices in Butler and Auburn. In August 2008, F&M opened a new full service office in Angola, Indiana. In July of 2010, F&M expanded into Hicksville, Ohio. Our Waterville, Ohio office opened in May of 2013 and F&M expanded into Custar, OH in December of 2013. In August of 2014, we opened an office in Sylvania, OH. 2016 brought even more exciting changes to F&M. We opened our Huntertown Office in Fort Wayne, Indiana, our 24th office in Bowling Green, Ohio and in 2018 our 25th office in Findlay, Ohio.

In January of 2019, F&M completed the acquisition of Limberlost Bancshares, Inc., the holding company for Bank of Geneva. The merger brings F&M’s total office count to 30 by adding five offices in Indiana in Berne, Decatur, Monroe, Monroeville and Portland.

In 2020, F&M purchased the assets and clients of Adams County Financial Resources located in Geneva, IN. F&M also opened three new Loan Production offices located in Oxford, OH, Muncie, IN, and West Bloomfield, MI.

More recently in April 2021, F&M announced the acquisition of Ossian Financial Services, Inc., adding two offices in Ossian and Bluffton, IN. In October 2021, F&M also completed the acquisition of Perpetual Federal Savings Bank, further expanding the F&M footprint in Urbana, OH.

F&M continues to serve the financial needs of individuals, farmers, businesses, and industries by offering the traditional banking products, as well as online, mobile and telephone banking products. Our online and mobile products allow access to account information and fund transfers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With the F&M Mobile App and Digital Services you can access your accounts, check balances, transfer funds, or pay your bills from your smart phone.