Our History

Central Bancompany has served Jefferson City and Missouri residents as a trusted financial partner for over 100 years.

The Central Bancompany history began as early as the early 1900s.

Sam Baker Cook arrived in Jefferson City in 1900 and assumed the presidency of the Central Missouri Trust Company in 1905 after serving as Missouri’s Secretary of State. He began a legacy of service that continues to this day.

Sam Baker Cook was committed to serving Jefferson City. After the Capitol building burned in 1911, Sam Baker Cook fought with other city leaders to ensure that Jefferson City would remain the state capitol.

In 1916, Central Missouri Trust Company, still led by Sam Baker Cook, moved into a seven-story Carthage stone building on the corner of Madison and High Street. Jefferson City residents christened this building “the first skyscraper.”

In the first 15 years, the resources of the Central Missouri Trust Company more than tripled, and the company increased its commitment to help Jefferson City grow.

Sam Baker Cook continued to promote the company and his adopted hometown until his death in 1931. He was succeeded by his son, Howard, who had begun working at the bank as a high school student in 1905, the year that Sam Baker Cook became president.

Howard took over the bank in the heart of the Great Depression, a period when the economic crisis threatened local and state government. The state of Missouri could not make its payroll or offer relief, so Howard Cook agreed to make $1,000,000 available to the state. The bank also operated without any changes throughout the Great Depression and remained as one of two banks in Jefferson City that survived the Depression.

Like his father before him, Howard Cook passed along the leadership of the bank to his son, Sam B. Cook in 1961. A veteran of military service in World War II and a graduate of Yale University, Sam B. Cook presided over unprecedented expansion of the bank and its operations.

Jefferson Bank was established in 1967 with one building and nine employees. With the goal as simple then as it is today – to be the best community bank possible.

Jefferson Bank became part of Central Bancompany in 1970. Central Bancompany is a privately held holding-company headquartered in Jefferson City, Missouri. We manage more than $20 billion in assets, serving more than 250 locations in 78 communities, as well as operate numerous divisions.

As the twenty-first century progresses, Jefferson Bank has the same vision for the future that guided their predecessors over a century ago. Central Bancompany and its family of member banks will continue to be committed to taking an integral role in the communities and serving its neighbors as it has for over 100 years.