The Collapse of a Community Bank

georgia banks
David Walter Banks / Luceo for TIME

Heritage
The bank enjoyed a proud history. Founded in 1900, CB&T evolved economically with the small town that grew up around it. The bank helped diversify the area from its reliance on cotton by fueling investments in textiles and fruit, and provided financial service to virtually everyone in Cornelia, from car dealers to restaurateurs. Much of the growth of the last decades was presided over by J. Alton Wingate, who died in 2005. His portrait still hangs in the lobby of one of the bank's remaining branch building, above.

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