- This page was last modified on 8 June 2025, at 04:41. Suggest an edit.
Citizens & Southern National Bank facts for kids
Citizens and Southern National Bank (C&S) was a very big bank in the southeastern United States. It started in Georgia and grew to include South Carolina and Florida. For most of the 1900s, C&S was the largest bank in the Southeast.
C&S later joined with another bank called Sovran Bank in 1990. They formed a new bank called C&S/Sovran. This was done to try and stop a company called NCNB Corporation from taking over C&S. But just one year later, C&S/Sovran actually merged with NCNB. This new, even bigger bank was named NationsBank. Today, NationsBank is a main part of what we know as Bank of America.
One old C&S building in Charleston, South Carolina is very special. It's the second oldest bank building in the U.S. and might be the oldest still used as a bank. It was built in 1798 as the Bank of South Carolina. Over the years, it was also a library and a business office. In 1966, C&S bought the building and made it a bank again. Now, it's a private office building at 50 Broad Street.
Contents
History of C&S Bank
The C&S bank began in Georgia. This happened in 1906 when two banks, Citizens Bank of Savannah and Southern Bank of Georgia, joined together. Citizens Bank started in 1887.
A man named Mills B. Lane was very important to Citizens Bank. He became its president in 1901. In 1906, he helped buy Southern Bank of Georgia. This allowed the two banks to merge and become the new C&S Bank. The official name was the Citizens and Southern Bank of Georgia.
In 1922, C&S took over another bank called Central Bank and Trust Corp.. This bank was started by Coca-Cola co-founder Asa Griggs Candler.
Growing into Other States
C&S wanted to open banks in South Carolina. They got permission to do this on May 2, 1927. The main office was still in Savannah, Georgia.
Two other important people in C&S's growth were Mills Lane Jr. and Hugh C. Lane. Mills Lane Jr. was president and chairman between 1946 and 1973. He helped C&S become the biggest and most profitable bank in the South. Hugh C. Lane became chairman of C&S in 1960.
In South Carolina, C&S of Georgia bought all the shares of two banks in Charleston. These were Atlantic Savings Bank and Atlantic National Bank. Atlantic Savings Bank had started in 1874 as Germania Savings Bank. In May 1928, these two banks changed their names to Citizens and Southern Bank of South Carolina. Even though it was owned by C&S of Georgia, it operated as a local bank in Charleston.
Splitting Up and Coming Back Together
C&S banks grew quickly in both South Carolina and Georgia. In 1940, new federal rules were made. These rules stopped banks from operating in many different states at once. Because of this, C&S of South Carolina became a separate company from C&S of Georgia. This allowed South Carolina to have its own large "local" bank.
In 1956, C&S of South Carolina merged with another bank called Growers Bank and Trust in Inman, South Carolina. By 1960, C&S of South Carolina started using computers. This made banking more efficient. They even offered free checking accounts to customers who kept at least $100 in their account each month. This was a first in South Carolina!
In 1985, the Citizens and Southern Georgia Corporation decided to buy C&S National Bank of South Carolina. This brought the two banks back together in 1986. They had been separate since 1940. When they reunited, C&S of South Carolina had $2.5 billion in assets (money and property). C&S of Georgia had $12.3 billion in assets.
C&S of Georgia also bought Landmark Banks of Florida in 1985. Landmark Bank then became The Citizens & Southern National Bank of Florida. Because of these two big purchases, C&S of Georgia doubled its size in just 18 months!
C&S also had other companies. These included C&S Corporation, C&S Realty Corporation, C&S Computer Services Corporation, and C&S Housing Corporation.
Big Mergers and Changes
From 1984 to 1986, a special rule allowed banks in the Southeast to buy each other. This rule kept bigger banks from places like New York or Chicago from taking over. This made strong Southern banks start buying smaller banks. They wanted to become too big to be taken over themselves.
Sovran Bank, which C&S would later buy, acquired D.C. National Bancorp in 1986. Then it bought Commerce Union Bank in 1987.
Joining with Sovran Financial Corp.
In 1988, C&S tried to merge with First Federal Savings Bank in Brunswick, Georgia. But First Federal said no.
Soon after, NCNB (North Carolina National Bank) tried to take over C&S. NCNB was buying many shares of C&S stock. To help stop this takeover, C&S bought Sovran Financial Corporation from Norfolk, Virginia. The two companies merged and became C&S/Sovran. They had main offices in both Atlanta and Norfolk.
This merger created a huge bank with $47 billion. It had branches in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Washington D.C. It seemed like a giant Southern bank that could resist any takeover attempts.
Becoming NationsBank
The quick merger of C&S and Sovran was supposed to make a very strong bank. But two problems came up. First, the leaders from C&S (Atlanta) and Sovran (Virginia) argued a lot. Second, Sovran had many loans that were not being paid back. This made the new C&S/Sovran bank weaker.
NCNB saw that C&S/Sovran was having problems. NCNB had been growing by taking over other struggling banks. In 1991, NCNB was able to acquire the weakened C&S/Sovran. C&S/Sovran had $49 billion in assets, while NCNB had $69 billion. The new company was named NationsBank. Its main office was in NCNB's hometown of Charlotte.
Before this merger, NCNB was the 10th largest bank in the U.S. by assets. C&S/Sovran was 12th. After they merged, NationsBank became the 3rd largest bank!
As part of the merger, some C&S branches were sold to other banks. For example, the C&S branch in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, was sold to First National Bank. Other C&S branches in places like Marion and Chester, South Carolina, were sold to First Citizens Bank.
NationsBank kept growing. It eventually bought BankAmerica Corp.. Even though NationsBank was the company that survived, it decided to use the more famous name, Bank of America. They also changed the old BankAmerica eagle logo to a new one that looked like the U.S. flag.
Headquarters Buildings
C&S had two main headquarters buildings in Atlanta after moving from Savannah.
The first building is still standing today. It is now part of Georgia State University and is called the J. Mack Robinson College of Business Administration Building. It was built in 1901 and has 14 floors. It was the first building in Atlanta to use a steel frame. It had different names over the years, finally becoming the Citizens and Southern National Bank Building from 1929 to 1992. This building was given to Georgia State University in 1992 after NCNB bought C&S.
In 1968, C&S moved its headquarters to a new building called the C&S Bank Tower. It was built between 1964 and 1968 and designed by Richard Aeck. It was a very unique building for Atlanta at that time.
The Aeck C&S Bank Tower building was taken apart piece by piece after the NationsBank Plaza building opened in June 1992.
Construction for an even newer, much bigger headquarters building in Atlanta started in 1991. This was just before C&S merged with Sovran. This new building never became a C&S headquarters. NCNB bought C&S while the building was still being built. It opened as NationsBank Plaza in 1992. Later, in 1998, it was renamed Bank of America Plaza after NationsBank merged with BankAmerica and changed its name to Bank of America.