By Bryan Gentry

Published: March 24, 2008

First National Bank of Altavista has survived a century as a local, independent bank.
One of the first businesses to open in the town, it outlasted the Great Depression and held on to its independence at times when many small banks consolidated.
The bank has grown from one building — at the corner of Broad and Seventh streets, with a mule-and-buggy drive-through window — to eight office locations in Region 2000.
Altavista Mayor Rudy Burgess, who has had an account with the bank since the late 1940s, called First National a pillar of the community.
“It’s meant a lot to people in this community, giving us loans to help us buy a home, and helping us pay for our kids’ education,” he said. “It’s been a tremendous asset.”
Rob Gilliam, president and CEO of First National Bank of Altavista, said the town’s commerce has allowed the bank to prosper over the years.
“I came to the bank and came to Altavista in 1970, and when I got to know the bank … and the town, I remarked to folks that Altavista was a well-kept secret,” Gilliam said.
“The town of Altavista afforded this bank a marvelous opportunity.”
Gilliam said the bank’s success is “largely a reflection of … how the local individuals and businesses viewed the importance of the bank to our community. They supported it through the Depression and … through lots of merger and acquisition flurries.”
Altavista was founded in the early 1900s and officially chartered in 1907.
Henry Lane, a co-founder of the town and co-owner of the Lane Brothers Company, worked with a local doctor and a lumber mill owner to start a bank to serve the young town.
The U.S. Treasury Department granted a charter for the bank in December 1908. The bank opened with $25,000 in capital and one employee, a cashier.
In the century since then, the bank has faced a number of challenges.
The stock market crash that sparked the Great Depression came when the bank was just about 20 years old.
Thousands of banks folded, but First National Bank of Altavista survived.
Burgess said he feels the bank’s leadership helped it get through. “I think that speaks well of the whole organization from day one. I think it’s just remarkable,” he said.
A few decades later, a new challenge emerged: how to stay independent when some larger banks were making preemptive offers and buying up community banks.
The leaders of other community banks say that environment makes a century of independent banking significant.
“It’s a milestone for a community bank in this day and time to reach the 100th year mark given the current environment of frequent bank mergers,” said Mike Thomas, president of Select Bank.
Todd Scruggs, vice president of Bank of the James, said it’s “a testament to the dedication of the board and management in their mission to remain independent.
“Surely they have had several opportunities in the last 100 years to turn over the reins but they have remained focused on their goal.”
Gilliam said other banks have, on a few occasions, expressed interest in acquiring First National Bank of Altavista. The board of directors, however, chose to remain independent.
“We felt that we had an equal opportunity or a greater opportunity to increase (shareholder) value independently,” Gilliam said.
About 20 years ago, First National Bank of Altavista began to expand.
The bank opened a second branch in the town in 1986. Then, in the 1990s the bank began looking for places to expand elsewhere.
In 1999 the Airport Branch near Lynchburg, was opened. Then the bank opened locations in the city and in Forest.
In November 2006 a branch was opened in Amherst, in a temporary location. On Wednesday the bank plans to open its permanent Amherst office.
Gilliam said the bank hopes to open a branch in Rustburg by the end of this year.
The bank now has 100 full-time employees and $280 million in assets. Gilliam said the bank will continue looking for ways to expand.
“We now view ourselves as a Region 2000 company. We continue to look for ways to expand our presence and our business in the Region 2000 area,” he said.
“We feel like we can continue to serve the market and create value for our shareholders,” Gilliam said. “As long as we can continue to do that, we are very covetous of our independent posture.
“(We’ll) continue on into the foreseeable future as we are.”