(Danville, Va.) — State and local officials gathered Thursday afternoon at a ceremony to unveil and dedicate a new state historical highway marker in honor of First State Bank, which for 98 years was one of the few banks in Virginia owned by African Americans.

The marker, issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, stands at the corner of North Union and Spring streets.

First State Bank opened its doors on Sept. 8, 1919, as The Savings Bank of Danville at 211 North Union St. When banks were allowed to reopen during the Great Depression, First State Bank was the first to open in the city. All banks were closed by Presidential Order on March 6, 1933. First State reopened on April 1, 1933, with a temporary insurance deposit of $5,000.

In 1953, the bank name became First State Bank.

Sylvesta Jennings, former CEO and chairman of the board of First State Bank and a bank employee for more than 40 years before retiring in 2001, said the bank’s mission was to serve the underserved people. In the early years of the bank, black people could not go to other banks and get the services they needed, he said.

“First State Bank has a rich and full heritage of serving the community – first serving the people of the community in which it was born to serve and, then as time passed, the entire community,” Jennings said.

Jennings also talked about the bank’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement. Bank directors and staff were jailed for doing so, he said.