PEOPLES BANCORP INC. - P.O. BOX 738 - MARIETTA, OH 45750


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    Contact: Mark F. Bradley
---------------------                             Chief Integration Officer
February 14, 2002                                 (740) 373-3155



                            PEOPLES BANCORP DECLARES
                             FIRST QUARTER DIVIDEND
                  --------------------------------------------

         MARIETTA,  Ohio - The Board of Directors of Peoples Bancorp Inc.
(Nasdaq:  PEBO) today declared a quarterly  dividend of $0.15 per share.
         The first quarter dividend payout of approximately $1.1 million on an
estimated 7.1 million shares is payable April 1, 2002, to shareholders of record
at March 15, 2002.
         In other news, Peoples announced the Company will be a presenter at the
fifth annual Midwest 2002 Super-Community Bank Conference on February 26-27,
2002. Sixteen of the leading small and mid-cap banks in the Midwest are
sponsoring the annual conference for the benefit of institutional investors and
brokerage firms. Peoples is scheduled to present Tuesday, February 26 at 5:10 pm
Eastern time in the Adams Room of The Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. A link to
the live web cast of Peoples' presentation will be available through
peoplesbancorp.com's Bulletin Board. For those unable to attend the live
broadcast, a replay will be available for 30 days at peoplesbancorp.com. There
is no charge to access the web cast.
         Peoples Bancorp Inc., a diversified financial products and services
company with $1.2 billion in assets, offers a complete line of banking,
investment, insurance, and trust solutions through Peoples Bank's 40 sales
offices and 26 ATM's in Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Peoples' common stock
is traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol "PEBO." Learn more about
Peoples or enroll in Peoples OnLine Connection, Peoples' Internet banking
product, at www.peoplesbancorp.com.

                       END OF RELEASE