Menominee Tribe, County getting first bank

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and Menominee County will get its first bank later this year.

Bay Bank, which is owned by the Oneida Nation, plans to open a 2,200-square-foot branch office in December on the Menominee Reservation in Keshena.

“What we are doing there has never been done. There has never been a project like this in Indian Country,” said Bay Bank President and CEO Jeff Bowman.

Wolf River Development Company is behind the 6,100-square-foot mixed-use building. The project includes enhancing an existing gas station with a new convenience store, car wash and the Bay Bank branch office. Keller Inc. is the general contractor for the Standing Pines Convenience Store project.

“But this is not just a convenience store, this is not just a bank, this is business history in the making. And the community resources are the fuel for that economic engine,” Bowman said.

Bay Bank, which has two offices in the Green Bay area, is the only tribally owned bank in Wisconsin.