Pennsylvania consumers have largely been treated to some of the best and most responsive banks in the country, due in large part to laws and an entrepreneurial spirit in the state which has led to the formation of major local and regional banks that remain committed to consumer satisfaction. Just such a bank was launched in 1864 in the state's western region in order to serve the residents of Hermitage. The town's population barely numbered more than 100 at the time, but the bank saw an opportunity and cornered the market for financial services in the town. It survived numerous financial panics over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and eventually committed itself to statewide expansion during the middle part of the 20th century. Through a number of acquisitions across Pennsylvania and extreme eastern Ohio, the First National Bank Corporation, as it came to be known, transformed into one of the largest Pennsylvania local ...
