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Citizens Bank of Lafayette, Tennessee, opened for business in 1909 with $12,000 in capital provided by local investors. The bank survived the Great Depression in the 1930’s and was strong enough to acquire the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Lafayette in 1931.
Citizens Bank operated from a single location until 1974 when it opened its first branch. The bank opened additional branches in 1977, 1987, and 2016. We acquired the Bank of Celina, Tennessee in 1987, two branches in Carthage, Tennessee in 1993, and purchased a majority interest in Liberty State Bank in 1999. In 2009, Citizens Bank acquired another branch in Gainesboro, Tennessee, and in 2013, Citizens Bancorp merged Liberty into Citizens Bank. Finally, we acquired Traders Bank, in Tullahoma, Tennessee, in 2015, and American Bank & Trust of the Cumberlands, in Livingston, Tennessee, in 2020.
Charles Darnell was named President and CEO in 1973, at which time the bank had assets of $14 million. In 2005, the bank had assets of $279 million when Charlie Darnell retired as CEO, Joe Carter was named President and Peter Williston became CEO. Carter retired in 2019 and Tommy Anderton became President.
Recent efforts to transform our culture to create a great working environment for our employees, instill an attitude of service for our customers, and establish a community first culture have proven very successful in creating an even greater bank with over $1.4 billion in assets!