One of Ouray County’s longest standing institutions got its start in a room in the Beaumont Hotel, when the Home State Bank of Ouray signed a five-year lease for the space in June 1913.

Don’t recognize that name? That’s because, within weeks, the eight Western Slope businessmen who banded together to file a certificate of incorporation renamed it Citizens State Bank.

Over the next 113 years, as branches were added, ownership shifted and the communities the bank served expanded, contracted and created and recreated economies, one thing remained constant: the Citizens State Bank name.

That’s now changing as well. Citizens State Bank is rebranding as Altitude Bank and opening an eighth branch in Durango next month. It will be the first location to bear the new moniker, which the other seven locations will adopt in the coming years as part of a gradual transition.

For Citizens State Bank President and CEO Alexander Price, the changes reflect the shifts that have marked Ouray County throughout its 150-year history — a natural progression that will allow the bank to continue to serve southwestern Colorado for years to come.

“I think the key thing is that the bank isn’t defined by its name. It’s defined by its history, and though that name has been around 113 years, the history is one of change,” he said. “The history of our communities is one of change, and it’s about addressing that change on your terms and not having that change forced on you. Because for us, if we want to continue to support and invest in the communities the way that we’ve been able to, you do need to continue to grow.”

Price emphasized nothing else will be different — the employees and services remain the same. The bank hasn’t sold — it’s still owned by the Price family, which purchased the bank in 2016. Price’s father, Doug, remains chairman and CEO of CSBO Holdings, Inc., and the second-largest stockholder, next to the employees themselves.

The decision to become Altitude Bank wasn’t a hasty one. Citizens State Bank applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the Altitude Bank name in 2023.

So why change the name now? And why Altitude Bank?

Citizens happens to be a fairly common name in the financial industry. There are more than 200 banks in the U.S. that use some form of Citizens Bank in their name, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In fact, another similarly named bank – Citizens Bank – is located just across the Colorado-New Mexico border in Farmington.

Bank leaders wanted a name that would better differentiate Citizens State Bank of Ouray.

The bank was already using the name “Altitude” for one of its checking accounts. Price noted the name reflects the mountainous communities the bank serves in the region. The changes align with the broader philosophical approach the Price family has adopted in the 10 years of owning Citizens State Bank. Since 2016, they’ve invested millions of dollars in a remodel of the Ouray branch and added branches in Telluride, Mountain Village and Montrose. In that decade, the bank’s assets have more than doubled to $230 million, according to the FDIC.

Price said expanding to Durango seemed like a natural fit for the bank because the city serves as a service hub for Silverton, where Citizens’ has operated a branch since 1992.

While the number of community banks continues to decline across the country, Price said the communities Citizens State Bank serves have demonstrated a hunger for the personal service they provide.

“We’ve seen in Montrose that there’s an appetite in bigger communities than the ones we have historically serviced, and so Durango is a natural extension of that. Because people care about interacting with people and they care about building a relationship and building trust,” he said.

It may take some time for customers to grow accustomed to the name change. But Price said the transition to Altitude Bank is aimed at solidifying the bank’s future while remaining true to its roots.

“You have to have a broader platform to be resilient, and the Altitude name is a vehicle that allows us to continue to have a broad platform and continues to allow us to expand into places that we have a relationship with and connection with in a way that’s meaningful and doesn’t dilute what Citizens State Bank means. Altitude really is just an amplification of what Citizens State Bank was in the first place,” he said.