Clarence Hill and George Henry opened the doors to their new bank at 206 N. Franklin St. in Port Washington, Wisconsin September 11, 1899 — less than a year after the Great Wisconsin Chair Factory Fire destroyed the town’s business district.

From this modest start, PWSB has grown to $1B in funds and loan assets under active management, ranking in the top 15% of similarly sized Wisconsin commercial banks. Today, eight full-service locations offer the services of a large bank with the personalized service you’ll only find at a fifth-generation, family-owned community bank.

Today Steve Schowalter and Mark Schowalter carry on the traditions stared by the founders more than 125 years ago. 

Steve served as the long-time President and CEO of PWSB and currently holds the position of Chairman. Under his leadership, the bank expanded throughout Southeastern Wisconsin while maintaining a reputation for local, personal service. 

Mark is part of the executive team continuing the family legacy. His role often focuses on business development and maintaining the high-touch relationships that define the bank’s "life-long customer" philosophy. 

Join us for a look behind the scenes at the Homestead High School Fine Arts Department with Amelia Figg-Franzoi, Tuesday, November 18.

It is is comprised of five different areas: Band, Choir, Orchestra, Theater, and Visual Arts. Through exposure to the arts, we strive to cultivate an environment where our students can grow into successful, confident adults. Artists can select from courses in acting, directing, technical theatre, concert band, string orchestra, Highlander Choir, metals, ceramics, digital art, painting, photography, AP Music Theory, AP Research, and much, much more.

Theatre is fundamentally about sharing ideas. It’s about sharing ideas not only from the cast to the audience but from and to everyone involved in the process. It’s about a writer having an idea and sharing it with the director, and about this director sharing that idea with a cast, and that cast sharing their ideas with the director and with each other, which – after a lot more sharing – is finally shared with an audience. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Theatre is about fun. It’s about playing make-believe, causing mischief, finding a family and sharing experiences with one another – connecting in ways you didn’t think possible. It’s about backstage parties, inside jokes and having a group of people you know will always be there for you.

Theatre is about gaining a deeper understanding of the way the world works, and how you fit into that. It’s about flooding your head with new bundles of feelings woven into those things we humans called Ideas and growing these Ideas with every rehearsal until they become embroidered and beaded into things which are fundamentally parts of You. And You develop too. Theatre is about constantly moving and growing and learning and developing as a person and feeding into that with everything you do.

Theatre is about challenging viewpoints. It’s about turning everything you and the people around you know as normal on its head and offering up ideas as to what could replace this pre-conceived normality.

Theatre is about making new worlds. It’s about working in a suspended reality where normality is meaningless, and anything can be anything because – momentarily – you can play god.

Theatre is a celebration. A celebration of humanity.