Hundreds of friends of Gustav Hallbom, President of the Builders and Merchants State Bank, gathered at a banquet given in his honor at the Swedish Engineers Club, Wednesday, April 15th, to assist him in the celebration of his sixtieth birthday. Toast-master on this occasion was John S. Gullborg, President of the Alemite Corp., and speeches were made by Chas. Bostrom, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, John A. Sandgren, Oscar Peterson, John E. Ericsson, Axel Blomfeld, Clarence Ongman and others.

Mr. Hallbom arrived in the United States from Sweden in 1879. He started his career as a banker with the State Bank of Chicago, of which he became cashier and vice-president.