In 1914, Charlotte was one of 37 cities that submitted a formal petition for a regional Reserve Bank. Though the North Carolina city was one of the smallest by population to compete, it held its own in terms of deposits per capita, reflecting a strong banking sector.

The headquarters of the Fifth Federal Reserve District eventually went to Richmond, which opened for business on November 16, 1914, along with 11 other regional Reserve Banks around the country. However, the Charlotte region continued to push for a Fed presence. After a seven-year campaign led by local bankers, the Charlotte branch of the Richmond Fed opened on December 1, 1927.

“Their belief was that it would spur growth of the banking sector and commerce in the region,” Matt Martin, senior vice president and Charlotte regional executive, said during a panel discussion, “A Century of Change: Charlotte, Banking and the Federal Reserve,” which the Richmond Fed cohosted with the Levine Museum of the New South on September 16.

“Charlotte was developing into a regional banking center,” Matt said. “And given the proximity to both North Carolina and South Carolina, it made sense to put a branch in Charlotte. The region thought it was really important to have a branch there.”

 Joining Martin on the panel were Harvey Gantt, Charlotte’s first African-American mayor; Hugh McColl, former chairman and CEO of Bank of America; and Rick Rothacker, author of “Banktown: The Rise and Struggles of Charlotte’s Big Banks.” Museum President Emily Zimmern moderated the hour-long discussion, which was followed by questions from the audience.

As the Bank marks its 100th anniversary, it’s a fitting time to reflect on the history of finance in the Charlotte region and its rise to become the second largest banking center in the United States. The Levine panel examined a wide range of banking and regional history.

The panelists broke the discussion into three sections: the arrival of the Federal Reserve in Charlotte through the 1950s; the late 1950s, when key mergers set the stage for the growth of the banking industry, through the mid-1990s, when the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 made interstate branching possible for the first time in 70 years; and events since the mid-1990s, including the growth of banking, the Great Recession and the region’s economy today.

To learn more about the Charlotte office’s early years, read a question-and-answer with Martin on the Levine’s blog. Also, find out more about Fed history at www.federalreservehistory.org.