Barnett: The Story of Florida's Bank

For more than a century, the name Barnett was synonymous with Florida banking. From its humble beginnings in 1877, Barnett Bank grew to be the largest and most dominant banking organization in the state. The bank, and the remarkable executives who led it, made significant contributions not only to the growth of Jacksonville, its headquarters city, but also to the economic development of Florida and the evolution of the American banking industry.

After surviving countless challenges— from yellow fever epidemics and the great 1901 Jacksonville fire to the perilous Depression times of the 1930s and the real-estate lending crises of the 1970s and 1990s — Barnett finally succumbed to the merger frenzy that overwhelmed the banking industry. When NationsBank purchased Barnett in 1999, it represented the most expensive bank acquisition in U.S. history.

But the Barnett name did not fade away. Instead, in an unprecedented action for a large, publicly owned company, a group of senior officers organized a non-profit corporation — the Barnett Historic Preservation Foundation, Inc. _ to preserve and publicize the company’s historic legacy. One result of the Foundation’s activities is this detailed history of the most important financial institution ever headquartered in Florida.