BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. – Pioneer Bank & Trust in Belle Fourche is expanding their space and growing their investment in the community.

On Wednesday, bank officials, planners and contractors gathered at the site of the new Pioneer Trust department, on the 700 block of State Street, to turn the first shovel of dirt and usher in the major expansion project.

The new Pioneer Trust and Estate services building will be directly behind the bank location on State Street and become the new location for the Trust Department which is currently located in the Don Pratt Building.

“A lot of reinvestment in Belle Fourche and we’re just grateful to the community for supporting us to a point that we can justify this expansion,” Dylan Clarkson, President and CEO, Pioneer Bank & Trust said. “We are very much looking forward to investing in Belle Fourche.”

Construction on the Trust Department is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027 and will accommodate years of growth.

“Our business model has changed and expanded, and we had the opportunity to buy some real estate that was adjacent to our existing branch building… so it just made sense for us to expand here. We wanted to stay very close to our existing branch,” Clarkson said.

In addition to the Trust Department project, Pioneer Bank is also investing in a private park – Pioneer Park – that will abut the bank parking lot on the south.

Pioneer Park will be used as a staging area for construction equipment so the completion date on that project is anticipated to be the second quarter of 2027 or sooner.

Clarkson said Pioneer Park will have seating and other features and will complement the downtown area. And while the park wasn’t in the original plans, when they learned the property at that site was for sale, it made sense.

“We just saw a natural fit geographically and it made sense to do it so we’re going to,” Clarkson said.

Pioneer Bank has a long history in western South Dakota. The bank was founded in Buffalo, S.D. In 1913 and just 24 years later in 1937 the Belle Fourche branch opened. In 1957, they received trust powers and in 1992, the Trust moved to the Don Pratt Building in Belle Fourche. Today, Pioneer has Trust officer in Rapid City, Spearfish, Belle Fourche.