Douglas County Bank’s name hasn’t changed since the bank opened 50 years ago this week, and the bank’s chairman said Monday Lawrence residents shouldn’t expect it to anytime soon.

The bank first opened its doors to county residents May 1, 1952, and since that time the banking industry both in Lawrence and across the country has seen a trend of larger regional and national banks buying smaller community banks.

But it hasn’t happened to Douglas County Bank, and board chairman Ross Beach said there’s a simple reason.

“Ms. Beach and I are the only shareholders, and that means Ms. Beach and I can decide if and when the bank is going to be sold,” Beach said. “And I can tell you we are not going to sell it. It is not available.

“We like Lawrence and we have a home here. We have lots of friends and know lots of people up and down the sidewalk. There’s been lots of opportunities, but the bottom line is we don’t have to sell it, so why should we sell it?”

The bank will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an open house from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the main offices at Ninth and Kentucky streets. The celebration will feature free refreshments and prize drawings.

Bank president Ted Haggart also is using the anniversary to look at the bank’s future.

He said residents and customers should expect the bank to keep its Douglas County focus, in large part because “there’s a lot of opportunity here.” And he said stability in the bank’s ownership should allow it to continue taking a community approach to banking.

“A lot of banking is about judgment, and you can’t always do it by the book,” Haggart said. “Because of our ownership, we have the ability to use that judgment instead of always operating by some sort of rigid set of rules. I think that ability is good for the bank and good for the community.”

When the bank opened in 1952, there were only two other banks in the community. Among its founding members was real estate developer Conrad McGrew, farmer and state representative John Vogel, and Hiawatha banker Chet Jones.

Beach and his wife, Marianna, purchased a majority interest in the bank’s ownership in 1964, and through the years have acquired, through their holding company, 100 percent ownership in the bank.

Beach, who based his business operations out of Hays at the time, said Lawrence’s growth potential was what originally attracted him to the community.

“We liked the sound of the town,” Beach said. “And I guess we were smart enough to never sell a town short when it has a good, strong university located in it.”

The bank when Beach purchased it in ’64 had roughly $7 million in assets. Today, it has approximately $170 million in assets.