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First American Bank and Trust Company History

First American Bank and Trust Company was founded in 1928. It began as a private banking company by J.H. Hubert, Sr. operating under the name "Hubert Banking Company." The original location was inside the Colonial Hotel building on the corner of College Avenue and Broad Street across from the famed University of Georgia Arch in downtown Athens, Georgia.

After Mr. Hubert's death in 1948, his daughters assumed control of the company and moved the offices of the banking company to a building at the corner of Washington Street and College Avenue across the street from the present location. In 1949, the banking company was granted a charter for a state bank and the name was changed to Hubert State Bank.

In 1962, the Hubert State Bank was purchased by a group of investors. In 1963, the State Banking Authority approved the name change to First American Bank and Trust Company. That name has been unchanged for over 40 years. The original Chairman of the Board, Clarence Rhodes McLanahan, served in that position until his death in 2000. His son, John D. McLanahan, Sr., presently serves in that office.

In 1971, the Bank acquired the old post office / federal courthouse building, located at 300 College Avenue in downtown Athens. This site, constructed in 1905, is now used as the Bank's main offices and the building has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.

In 1986, the Bank formed a holding company under the name of First American Bancorp. A stock conversion was conducted and at present the stockholders of the holding company are the owners of the bank. In 1991, the Bank permission was received from the federal and state regulatory agencies to exercise personal trust powers granted in its original charter. In 1997, the trust department was expanded to include three full-time on-site trust officers and assistants to handle the growth in this area.

First American Bank and Trust Company is a full-service commercial bank, insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It is in its 62nd consecutive quarter rated as a Five-Star Bank for safety, strength and performance by Bauer Financial Reports, Inc., an independent banking research firm. First American offers a variety of both personal and commercial checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposits, individual retirement accounts, mortgages, home equity loans, commercial and personal loans, credit cards and trust services.

In addition to the Main Office, the Bank has four full-service branches located on West Broad Street in Athens, on Highway 29 North across from Athens Technical College,  Experiment Station Road in Watkinsville, and the completely bi-lingual El Banco de la Oportunidad branch on Hawthorne Avenue. It maintains three branches located inside the three Athens-area Kroger stores offering extended evening and Saturday hours. All locations have ATM's.