SouthTrust Bank
SouthTrust Bank was a large regional bank headquartered in the SouthTrust Tower at 420 20th Street North in downtown Birmingham. It was purchased in 2004 by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia and again sold to Wells Fargo Bank.
The bank was founded in December 1887 as Birmingham Trust and Savings Company and moved into offices in the Elyton Land Co. building on 20th Street North on June 20, 1888. The first board of directors was headed by Henry Caldwell with Samuel Murphy as vice-president and M. G. Hudson as cashier.
From 1891 to 1901 it leased offices in the Morris Block at 19th Street and 1st Avenue North. It constructed a banking office at 112 20th Street North in 1902, and rebuilt it as a monumental Neoclassical structure in 1922.
The name was changed to Birmingham Trust National Bank (BTNB) when it secured a national charter in 1946. It opened its first "neighborhood branches" in East Lake, Mountain Brook, and Five Points West in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A new BTNB Southside office was completed at 24th Street and 6th Avenue South in 1955.
The bank erected a 7-story office building behind its 20th Street banking office in 1964.
BTNB was the first financial institution in the nation to introduce what was termed at the time an "automated central information system" in 1971.
After regional acquisions, the holding company SouthTrust Corporation was formed in 1981.
BTNB became known as SouthTrust Bank in 1982. SouthTrust was acquired by Charlotte, NC-based Wachovia Corporation in 2004. The SouthTrust name disappeared from bank buildings in October 2005. The bank's name and Trade Marks were acquired by First National Bank of George West, headquartered in George West, Texas, in 2013.
BTNB branches
- BJCC branch, 1040 19th Street North
- East Lake branch, 7324 1st Avenue North, East Lake
- Eastwood branch, 5389 Oporto-Madrid Boulevard, Eastwood
- Five Points West branch, 2136 Bessemer Road, Five Points West
- Mountain Brook branch, 2903 Cahaba Road, Mountain Brook Village
- Southside office, 2401 6th Avenue South, Southside, opened 1955
References
- North Alabama (Illustrated) (1888) Birmingham: Southern Commercial Publishing Co.
- SouthTrust Bank website - accessed October 6, 2006