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Then and now
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The Jackson County Bank (top photo), seen here before Sylva’s 1956 traffic-pattern change that eliminated two-way traffic on Main Street, began in Webster in October, 1905, according to “The History of Jackson County.” It was capitalized at $12,000 and boasted deposits of $63,000 in 1906. Sylva industrialist C.J. Harris was the first president; other officers were E.L. McKee, Thomas Cox, and Marcellus Buchanan. Before the mid-1920s when the above building was built, the bank had moved to Sylva’s Main Street and was located for a time in Harris’ Sylva Supply building (now Jackson’s General). The bank continued its growth in the post-World War II period. By 1947, it had increased capitalization from $50,000 to $100,000 and applied to open a branch in Highlands, where it had operated a teller window since 1936. That branch was opened in 1948, and another opened in Cherokee in 1954. Although the bank had assets of around $7 million by 1962, this amount was deemed inadequate to finance the desired economic growth of the county, and the Jackson County Bank merged that year with the statewide First Union National Bank, which had assets of $228 million. First Union opened a branch office in Cullowhee in March, 1973, but it closed a few years later. The First Union name vanished in February 2002 after First Union bought out Wachovia but chose to operate under the Wachovia name. Bank officials kept only the former Wachovia branch in Sylva, and sold the Sylva First Union branch to Central Carolina Bank. SunTrust. which currently occupies the old Jackson County Bank building, bought out CCB in 2004, with the name change taking effect in April 2005. – Herald file photo (top) and Herald photo by Nick Breedlove |
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