Photo by Tom Campbell

It’s not just the money that is green at Dick Belcher’s Mishawaka bank. Billed as Indiana’s first green bank, it even gives special parking privileges to customers who drive hybrid cars.

In the 1960s, after serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, Dick Belcher, BS ’56, came home to the northern Indiana community of Rochester thinking he’d probably use his agricultural economics degree for a career related to production agriculture.

Instead, at the urging of his college roommate, Belcher decided to start a bank specializing in home mortgages. He opened First Federal Savings Bank in 1966 in the back room of Ewing’s Grocery Store with two employees — himself and an associate.

“At the time, there were only two banks in Rochester and neither of them specialized in mortgages, so my old roommate suggested I open one,” Belcher says. “I’ve always had entrepreneurial blood in my veins, so I agreed. Ewing’s had space available, and we were able to become the first drive-up bank in town.”

Forty-two years after that first drive-up at Ewing’s, this energetic 74-year-old is taking an industry already associated with “green” and putting his money where his mouth is.

With Belcher at the helm as president, First Federal Savings Bank not only has expanded to six northern Indiana locations employing more than 160 people, but its newest branch, in Mishawaka, is making history as Indiana’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified “green” bank.

“We had a storefront in Mishawaka for many years, but as our clientele grew, we knew we needed to build a full-service location,” Belcher says. “We also knew that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right.”

And by “right,” Belcher, whose family has a history of environmental dedication, meant that the bank would have to be as environmentally friendly as possible, including grass on the roof, electricity-generating windmills behind the bank, and special parking spaces reserved for hybrid cars.

“Our daughter Cynthia (Maves) serves on our board of directors, and she is heavily involved in renewable fuel promotion. So, in the beginning planning stages — back in 2006 — it was she who suggested we consider more environmentally friendly building practices,” Belcher says. “After some research, the board agreed.”

After a call to Gensler Architecture, a firm with extensive experience in designing LEED-certified buildings, construction began on the bank in September 2007. Seven months later the doors were open to the public.