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Hiawassee loses major employer with bank closure
Baltimore News.Net
Friday 19th March, 2010
With $25,000 in working capital, ten local businessmen saw the need for a bank in Hiawassee, Georgia.
So on June 14, 1909, the bank charter authorizing Bank of Hiawassee, was signed by the Secretary of the State of Georgia.
A site for the bank was designated when T.J. Hooper and John H. Davis each donated ten feet of property on the south side of the town square in Hiawassee. The building blocks used in the construction of the bank were formed under a large oak tree across from the construction site on the town's square. Bank of Hiawassee would be the first building in the county constructed from these blocks. When construction was completed in August 1909, Bank of Hiawassee opened to serve the Towns County area.
As the Bank continued to grow and serve the community, a new building would soon be needed to accommodate its needs. In 1955, a new Bank building was erected on the southwest corner of the town square. Additional remodeling and further expansions occurred in 1964, 1975, and 1986. By 1996, a totally new facility was built on South Main Street in Hiawassee. The building on the southwest corner of the town square was remodeled in 2007 to house the Bank's operations department.
Bank of Hiawassee grew and prospered throughout the next decades. Its customers and strong bank leadership are credited with keeping the Bank stable during the turbulent years leading up to and including the Great Depression.
Bank of Hiawassee was the oldest business in existence in Towns County, as well as the oldest financial institution in several surrounding counties.
Assets grew from $25,000 to more than $377 million in 2010. The Bank employed 138 residents from the tri-county area making Bank of Hiawassee one of the largest employers.
For more than 100 years, Bank of Hiawassee continued as a locally-owned and operated community bank with over 250 shareholders, and five branches; Hiawassee, Ingles Supermarket in Hiawassee, Young Harris, Blairsville and Blue Ridge.
Unfortunately the bank's century-old history came to a tragic end on Friday. Bank of Hiawassee, Hiawassee, Georgia, was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.
To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Citizens South Bank, Gastonia, North Carolina, to assume all of the deposits of Bank of Hiawassee.
The five branches of Bank of Hiawassee will reopen on Saturday as branches of Citizens South Bank. This transaction includes a branch office of Bank of Hiawassee in Blue Ridge, Georgia, operating under the business name of Bank of Blue Ridge, and the branch office in Blairsville, Georgia, operating under the name of the Bank of Blairsville. Depositors of Bank of Hiawassee will automatically become depositors of Citizens South Bank, the FDIC said in a statement issued Friday night. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Citizens South Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Citizens South Bank branches to process their accounts as well, the FDIC statement said.
Over the weekend, depositors of Bank of Hiawassee can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.
As of December 31, 2009, Bank of Hiawassee had approximately $377.8 million in total assets and $339.6 million in total deposits.
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $137.7 million. It was one of three banks in Georgia to cease trading on Friday.  Email this story to a friend
Comments on this story
Meg.
03-21-10, 03:32 PM |
Bank of Hiawassee shut down after 100 years in business
This is very troubling to me.When are the American people going to stand up,and boot out this congress we have,that is trying to take all from us.I can’t believe this is happening in Hiawassee,and the other surrounding counties.Lets face it, we are in real trouble here.We need a new government.
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Anita
03-21-10, 07:03 PM |
This can't be true, but I guess it is.
Over the past few years, we have moved funds from other banks, in another area, into Bank of Hiawassee, feeling that is was a safe, here-to-stay bank. We own property in Towns County and plan to move there this year. I don’t want an out-of-state bank! I want to deal with locals.
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waltky
03-21-10, 07:37 PM |
I shot an arrow into the air...
:confused:
... it fell to earth, I know not where.
:eek:
Hiawatha
:o
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logon
04-09-10, 05:54 AM |
Anita;192814:
Over the past few years, we have moved funds from other banks, in another area, into Bank of Hiawassee,[URL=“http://www.cisspdumps.com”]cissp[/URL] feeling that is was a safe, here-to-stay bank. We own property in Towns County and plan to move there this year. I don’t want an out-of-state bank! I want to deal with locals.
Oh **** its really really sad news.
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PhantomRF4
03-21-10, 09:18 PM |
Bank of Hiawassee
It is not the government, the FDIC steps in to protect our deposits, up to $250,000, if a bank fails. The bank is at fault, bad investments, risky transactions...who knows, read their financials. I do not like big brother government either, however, in this case whose the bad guy?
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PhantomRF4
03-21-10, 09:20 PM |
Bank of Hiawassee
It is not the government, the FDIC steps in to protect our deposits, up to $250,000, if a bank fails. The bank is at fault, bad investments, risky transactions...who knows, read their financials. I do not like big brother government either, however, in this case whose the bad guy?
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Jerry
03-22-10, 10:27 PM |
Sad news
These were fine, conservative bankers, and wonderful people, who fueled the local economy. They got caught like the rest of the country in a financial meltdown of unprecedented proportions. There certainly is no
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CONCERNED1
03-23-10, 05:30 PM |
FAIR WARNING
WHAT A SHAME OUR COUNTRY IS IN SUCH BAD SHAPE. BUT FOLKS THIS IS JUST A SIGN OF THE TIMES, BIGGER GOVERNMENT, MORE TAXES, OBAMA MOTORS AND THE LIST GOES ON. WE ARE HEADING FOR A ONE WORLD LEADER AND GOVERNMENT. JUST BE READY, FOR THE RAPTURE WILL BE SOONER THAN YOU THINK. TAKE HEED AND READ IT FOR YOURSELF IN MATT 24 4-14 MATT 24 38-50 IN GODS HOLY BIBLE.
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