Columbia Savings & Loan, Wisconsin’s First Black-Owned Bank

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“This bank was founded with more faith than finance.”—Ardie Halyard

As Columbia Savings & Loan celebrates its 100th anniversary, the financial institution in mid-city Milwaukee has the distinction of being Wisconsin’s first Black-owned bank. When Ardie and Wilbur Halyard arrived in 1923, they immediately saw ways to advocate for improved living conditions and financial stability. Both had earned college degrees from southern universities, which was unusual for people of color at the time. Prejudice and discrimination followed Blacks from the south as they joined the Great Migration to northern cities looking for work.

In Milwaukee Ardie and Wilbur saw Black entrepreneurs successfully running groceries, restaurants, shoe repair stores, barber shops, beauty parlors, cleaners and funeral homes that served more than 13,000 people living in the Walnut Street neighborhoods. But the Halyards were troubled that very few of the residents owned a home, unable to save for a down payment.

The only houses available in 1923 were unsafe hand-me-downs with leaky roofs, structural damage and non-functioning toilets. Worse, unscrupulous predators found ways to deter people from living anywhere but rooming houses and small hotels. One of the early proponents of this practice was gambler John L. Slaughter.

By 1900, Slaughter had established saloons and gambling dens along West Wells Street between Third and Seventh streets. His headquarters was the Turf Hotel on the highly trafficked corner of Third Street. In the Turf’s saloon, he ran a wire service so patrons could wager on horse races at various racetracks around the country. Although he never revealed it, Slaughter was Milwaukee’s first Black millionaire who made his fortune on the backs of working people living in what would become known as Bronzeville. His roulette wheels and craps tables were discovered to have been modified to increase the house’s odds. By relieving patrons of their cash, Slaughter kept them living paycheck to paycheck. He was arrested more than 35 times on criminal charges, but paid a small fine or in many instances, the case was dismissed.

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Keeping Sharks at Bay

Slaughter moved to Chicago about the same time that Ardie and Wilbur Halyard came to Milwaukee. They believed that a small, community savings and loan would help residents avoid the sharks who preyed on their own people. The first of several setbacks occurred when an unethical attorney charged them $500 for a bank charter that cost $10. They also discovered that white realtors worked in tandem to keep Black families confined to a designated area of town. Undaunted, the Halyards pushed on and in September 1924 the Columbia savings and loan opened in a north side funeral parlor’s spare room. The initial clients liked the Halyards’ straightforward, honest way of doing business, and the positive word began to spread.

Soon people in the Walnut Street communities began pulling their meager savings accounts from traditional white banks and placing the money with Columbia. Because operating margins were so thin for the first 10 years, neither Ardie nor Wilbur took a salary. “We never had holidays off and many times we worked through the night,” Ardie said in 1983. “You don’t get something for nothing.”

To make ends meet, Ardie worked in a secondhand clothing store and Wilbur became a real estate broker and insurance agent. In the meantime, their message of “we’re all in this together, so let’s work for each other” helped pull people together in a way like never before. As increasing numbers of residents were motivated to save for a home, Ardie said their success showed the City of Milwaukee that Blacks could be as financially responsible as anyone else.

The couple moved their business from the funeral home in 1958, settling into a building at 20th and Fond du Lac near the Sears Roebuck department store. By the time of Wilbur’s death in 1963, the little saving and loan had achieved total stability with assets of $3 million. After her husband’s passing, Ardie hand-picked several highly qualified executives to steer the bank’s day-to-day business. “I knew Mrs. Halyard for 31 years”, said the late Wes Scott, director of the Urban League. She was into economic development long before anyone even talked about that”.

When I-43 freeway construction cleared large parcels of land in Bronzeville, Ardie and her staff saw an opportunity to create a subdivision with new homes at the site. But city officials didn’t show any interest in the project and neither did any of the large lending associations. As the only investor, Columbia financed the first five homes, breaking ground in November 1976. Ultimately 35 more homes were built in what was named Halyard Park. Ardie passed away in 1989 at the age of 92 and was buried with her husband in Forest Home Cemetery. The Halyards’ vision and unwavering efforts to achieve it are inspiring others to follow the path they blazed 100 years ago.