There are still a bunch of old bank drive-thru locations right in the middle of the central business district in OKC.

Wasn't there an old Oklahoma law that limited the distance a drive-thru could be from the bank itself? Since there were so many DT banks when these were built (First National, Liberty, City National, many others) they all had to provide facilities right in the middle of downtown.

And was this restriction directly related to the anti branch banking laws or was this different?


Didn't the laws change in the 80's as a way to induce outside banks to pick up the pieces following the Penn Square Bank collapse and the others that followed? I know First Interstate from California came in and bought the assests of a failed First National Bank and ultimately moved them to Leadership Square around 1985.

The First National to First Interstate was the event that changed branch banking laws in the state. That is what opened it up to branching, you already had what was in effect bank holding companies that had multiple banks operating under different names but chartered under separate companies like Will Rogers Bank (NW 10th near MacArthur) and Friendly Bank (I think that was the other one).

I do think the drive-thru locations were a direct result of the single bank laws. I know that Guaranty staked out the corner on NW Expressway & Meridian with an ATM before putting a small branch in there after the law changed.

There are still a bunch of old bank drive-thru locations right in the middle of the central business district in OKC.

Wasn't there an old Oklahoma law that limited the distance a drive-thru could be from the bank itself? Since there were so many DT banks when these were built (First National, Liberty, City National, many others) they all had to provide facilities right in the middle of downtown.

And was this restriction directly related to the anti branch banking laws or was this different?


Didn't the laws change in the 80's as a way to induce outside banks to pick up the pieces following the Penn Square Bank collapse and the others that followed? I know First Interstate from California came in and bought the assests of a failed First National Bank and ultimately moved them to Leadership Square around 1985.

You're exactly right, Pete. I was in banking for many years and remember what prompted the rules and when changes started taking place.

Don't know a thing about banking laws. But I worked on the communication systems. In the late 70s, early 80s communication between the main bank buildings and the drive through locations was done by a "line of sight" dish transmitter/receiver set. Using small dishes about the size of Direct TV. They had to be aimed directly at each other and were constantly needing adjustment. I didn't mind the ones on the drive throughs but the ones on the main buildings were very high. I HATE heights.

... you already had what was in effect bank holding companies that had multiple banks operating under different names but chartered under separate companies like Will Rogers Bank (NW 10th near MacArthur) and Friendly Bank (I think that was the other one).

Friendly and Central were co-owned before coming under the Bank One (and eventually Chase) banner.

But this was the rule, yes. Morrison Tucker controlled about half a dozen smallish banks in those days, and you wouldn't necessarily know it unless you were in the habit of reading the short-form balance sheets that were required to be published in the local newspaper.

I knew there were some paired up, I remember Central/Friendly now. What was the one that was paired up with Will Rogers Bank?