Wallkill Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association

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Wallkill Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association
23 Wallkill Avenue
Wallkill, New York 12589
Voice: 845-895-2051
Fax: 845.895.2555

The Wallkill Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association was organized in July of 1913. The stated goals of the Association at that time were to promote thrift and homeownership within the local community. It sought to meet these goals by providing a safe place for local savings deposits and by prudently lending these deposits back into the community in the form of home mortgages. Although many years have gone by since the Association was first chartered, and the financial services landscape has changed dramatically, we still take pride in meeting these traditional goals.

Significant events in the history of Wallkill Valley Federal include:

The Association originally conducted its business on the first Wednesday night of each month in office space provided by the Wallkill National Bank, which was an institution that had been organized during the preceding year (1912). Several of the new Association’s Directors also served on the Board of the Wallkill National Bank.


Savings and Loan activities were conducted under a State Charter for 22 years, until in 1935, the Directors took the necessary steps to Federalize the Association. Since that time, it has operated under charter of the United States Government.


By 1938, when the Association was nearing a quarter of a million dollars in assets, the Board foresaw the need for larger quarters and longer hours of business. New office space was secured in the Terwilliger store building on Main Street in Wallkill and business was conducted on a daily basis.


On April 1st of 1938, Mr. Peter Harp of New Paltz was appointed Attorney for the Association. A position he would faithfully fill for the next 56 years.


In 1940, it became evident that the business of the Association necessitated full time operation and control. The Directors hired Mr. S. Kelso Sloan, who was then Secretary of the Association as the first full time employee, in the position of Executive Vice-President and managing officer.

The continued growth of the institution during the 1940’s, particularly during the years following the end of World War II, soon made it apparent that the Association would need its own office building. On July 29, 1950, this new office building, which had been constructed under the supervision of Mr. Daniel VanAlst, one of the Savings & Loan’s Directors, was opened to the public. The staff at that time was comprised of two full time employees. Mr. Sloan along with Mary DuBois, who had been hired in 1947 to assist in the operation of the Association at its former location. Total Association Assets at that time stood at just over 3 million dollars.

During the 50th year anniversary celebration in 1963, Macey VanWagenen and Harry Dunn, who were Charter Directors, and who were still active, were honored for their service. Mr. VanWagenen had succeeded Mr. Clarence Crossley as President of the Association in 1939. Mr. Crossley had become the Association's’ second President upon the retirement of Mr. Frank Wilkin in 1934. Mr. Dunn had been elected Vice-President in 1937.

With a staff of seven full time employees, a steady increase in the number of customers as well as the increased complexity of daily operations, it once again became necessary to expand to accommodate the Association’s growth. Therefore, plans were formulated during 1971 to triple the amount of available office space.

The renovated office structure was dedicated in April of 1972. The additional space made it possible to transfer savings account operations to an on-line computerized system, which in turn enabled the Association to offer daily interest on accounts, various types of CD’s and NOW checking accounts.

This period of expansion was managed by Mr. Howard C. Terwilliger who had been elected Association president in 1967 and served in that position until his retirement in 1984. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association since that time.

John R. Edler was elected Association president in 1984 and continues in that position to this day.

A 75th anniversary celebration was held in 1988, which marked the opening of our former Board Room located in the basement of the building.

All mortgage accounts were computerized in March of 1989 and direct deposit and electronic funds transfer services have since been added.

Growth continues to mark the progress of the Association. The Association currently employs sixteen full-time employees who manage over 110 million dollars in Assets. Due to our steady growth, an aggressive building expansion project was formulated as we entered the new millennium. A lot located adjacent to our office building was developed to allow for the tripling of the available floor space of the Association. This massive expansion has also allowed us to provide for drive-thru teller and drive-thru ATM service as well as safe deposit boxes and debit cards. As an added convenience to our customers, in 2005 we also added 24- hour telephone banking, internet banking and internet bill-payment.

Our history demonstrates that the Association has a long and proud history of successfully meeting the financial needs of the local community. We will always strive to be a customer oriented community bank. We look forward with great excitement and anticipation to the future and we invite you to both contribute to, and benefit from, the future success of the Wallkill Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association.