ABA Banking Journal - November 2008 - (Page 92)

BANKS OF 1908 Railroad gave birth to a town, a hope chest, and a bank hances are some bride in your family has owned a Lane hope chest that’s become a bit of family history. You probably don’t know that there’s a bit of banking history tied in, too. “This town grew up around the Lane company,” says Robert H. Gilliam, Jr., president and CEO of The First National Bank of Altavista, a $303.4 million-assets bank in central Virginia. First National is owned by a publicly held one-bank holding company, Pinnacle Bankshares Corp. Three Lane brothers ran a contracting firm that drove the Tidewater Railway through the area, adding an east-west route, primarily for hauling coal, to a north-south line in the area, which the new line crossed. The intersection looked like a good place to build a town, so the brothers bought 2,000 acres and soon Altavista was born. The brothers awarded free lots to encourage development, and First National was chartered, with Lane involvement, in 1908. A few years later one of the brothers bought a box plant and set up one of his sons to run it. The company began with the famous cedar chests, and expanded over time. Lane itself, which no longer operates in the town, once accounted for thousands of jobs. To this day the town celebrates an annual holiday called “Uncle Billy’s Day,” C The Lane family—railroad builders who became known for Lane hope chests—also helped build the town of Altavista, Va., and its first bank, The First National Bank of Altavista. named for William G. Lane, Sr., who started a weekly barter meet that survives as a flea market. Henry L. Lane, the third brother, was among the founders of the bank, and served as its first president. The bank actually managed to grow through the Great Depression, says Robert Gilliam, the sixth of its presidents, who started as a national bank examiner and has been with the bank since 1970, and CEO since 1980. He says much of the credit for that is given to Julian East, cashier during that period. “He was a conservative banker, and he didn’t take risks,” says Gilliam. While Lane and other manufacturers have come and gone, some other factory jobs have come, and the area benefits from medical and educational employment. Altavista has provided the bank with stability, but for growth it has relied on additional markets. The board intends to maintain its independence. Company shares remain mostly in local hands and aren’t concentrated in any significant holdings, which supports this goal. How a friendly game of cards turned into a100-year mutual hen Rosedale Federal Savings & Loan Association started in 1908, it didn’t have the trappings a de novo institution of 2008 would have. Indeed, it didn’t even have an official office. Today’s $606.7 million-assets thrift began with a county level charter from Baltimore County, Md., and the first meeting of what began as Rosedale Permanent Building and Loan Assoc92 NOVEMBER 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL W iation was held in the Seward General Merchandise Store. Holding that and subsequent meetings in an area between the store proper and the residence it was connected to was natural. Many of the initial board members and officers first got to thinking about starting the B&L in the course of friendly evening card games, according to 100 Years of Neighborly Trust: The Story of Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan Association, 1908-2008. Rosedale was a working-class neighborhood outside of Baltimore, and the growing community needed a ready source of credit . Initially, members of the building and loan had to buy shares— weekly installments of 25 cents were one means of doing so—before they could qualify for mortgages. Early passbooks Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.1stnatbk.com http://www.1stnatbk.com http://www.rosedalefederal.com http://www.rosedalefederal.com http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - November 2008

ABA Banking Journal - November 2008 Contents Editor's Column Banking 2.0: Credit, Banking's Essence, Set for Rethinking Snapshot: The Few, the Proud, the Banks that Can Raise Capital Will Strong and Simple Banks Inherit the Business? Back to the Future ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Farm Lenders Must Take Care When Lending in Indian Country Pass the Aspirin Into the Breach Adventures Across A Century What the Future Holds, Post Crisis Paul Volcker: A Financial Legend Still Speaks Strong Ed Yingling: Weathering the Storm Dick Kovacevich: "Boring" Banking to Dynamic Financial Services Jim Culberson: Community Banking: What has Changed and What Shouldn't Walter Shipley: How a Chemical Reaction Helped to Mold Today's JPMorgan Chase William Isaac: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead for Banks A Hundred Years from Our Pages Eight Tech Innovations that Brought Banks into 21st Century Bank Cherokee: Third Generaton Marks 100th Year The First National Bank of Altavista: Railroad Gave Birth to a Town, a Hope Chest, and a Bank Rosedales Federal Savings and Loan Association: How a Friendly Game of Cards Turned into a 100-Year Mutual New Washington State Bank: Cooking Up the Next 100 Years Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - November 2008

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