Our Story
In the midst of the Great Depression, in our small town of Honea Path, S.C. all banks had closed down, during this time nine men with an extraordinary vision and $16,875.00 in capital started The Commercial Bank. The bank started on Main Street in downtown Honea Path constructing the current main office location in 1969, at 4 Church Street.
Our offices opened one by one, first in Honea Path in 1934, Donalds in 1947 and a few years later we opened our third office in Due west. In 2003 we opened an office in South Greenville and Belton in 2006, followed by Greenwood in 2019 and soon to open our seventh office in Ware Shoals in the spring of 2025. The home office was remodeled in 2005 and enlarged to included three stories.
Just as it was in 1934, The Commercial Bank continues to be a financial pillar to each community we serve. We strive to deliver exceptional customer service and financial stability, to smalltown USA. The Commercial Bank has a very engaged and knowledgeable Board of Directors who support and drive the vision that allows community banking to thrive in our communities.
Dr. E.R. Donnald served as the first President in 1934 and currently Mr. C. Nakia Davis serves as the seventh President on our 90th birthday. Mr. Davis has over twenty-five years of community banking experience and is a third-generation community banker and believes in keeping the community bank spirit alive where we serve.
Stories of The Commercial Bank fill the air as locals help us celebrate our 90 years of service. We often hear that in the early days getting a loan, may require collateral like cattle, cotton crops, jewelry or simply anything of material value. The credit decisions were based on your character and/or your family lineage and even though regulations have changed the banking landscape over the past 90 years, we take pride in knowing and serving our customers on a first name basis.
We consider our employees a family here at The Commercial Bank. We call ourselves the TCB Family! Over the years we have witnessed many long-time employees, several who have worked over 50 years! To name a few, we celebrated Jane Gambrell in 2022 as she retired with 51 years of service. In years prior, we have had employees, Mr. Owen Mullinax and Mrs. Iris Foster, who also worked 50+ years with the TCB family. Currently we have many employees that have been with us over 25 years, which is a rare occasion in today’s work climate.
Our board of directors, our management team and our employees are honored to have served our communities by putting people first with financial strength and integrity for 90 years. You will see our employees work, play, shop, volunteer in our community, at church, in the schools, coaching little league teams and serving in many other ways. Whether its monetary donations, serving in volunteer roles or simply teaching Sunday school classes we will continue our 90-year tradition of being the “People you know.” With this motto each of our branches has committed to serve 90 hours in their communities during the year, to celebrate our 90th anniversary!
We thank you for the privilege of being your Hometown Bank.