Our History
As the oldest bank chartered and continually headquartered in Greenville County, Bank of Travelers Rest remains committed to the vision of its founders. Customers experience the conveniences of a full-service financial institution while enjoying the personalized service of their community bank. Bank of Travelers Rest serves the county through offices in Travelers Rest, Marietta, Taylors, Berea and in the City of Greenville.
Here’s a little about our past.
We pay tribute to those who made us who we are and to those who continue to carry out the mission of providing outstanding financial service to our customers.
A group of nine visionaries saw the need to bring access to financial products and services to the people living and working in northern Greenville County. These men saw the important role that a community bank would play in the lives of people who would live, work, save and invest in the place they call home. This vision became reality in 1945 when the state of South Carolina issued a charter for Bank of Travelers Rest. The bank officially opened for business on March 18, 1946. With just over $36,000 in assets, the bank opened in a small building on the corner of McElhaney Road and Highway 276.
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1945
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1956
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- March 1946 – Bank of Travelers Rest opens its doors on McElhaney Road in Travelers Rest. Its mission was to provide banking services to northern Greenville County. Innovative for its time, the bank was open six days a week, a tradition that continues to this day.
- December 1955 – the bank opened its “new bank building” on Poinsett Highway in Travelers Rest. This modern branch boasted just over 2,000 square feet of floor space, drive-up teller windows and even had air conditioning.
- December 1959 – the bank’s board approved the purchase of a Burroughs Bookkeeping Machine and an Addressograph to further mechanize the bank’s operation.
- July 1962 – the Marietta Branch opens. A local newspaper covered the branch opening noting it was “completely air-conditioned” and had “three teller cages”.
- October 1968 - Continuing to offer innovative services and ensure quality customer service, Bank of Travelers Rest converted all customer accounts to a new computer system. This sped up processing and led to better recordkeeping for the bank. “We find this operation to be a tremendous improvement in our internal procedures,” noted John White, Bank President.
- March 1969 – Bank of Travelers Rest began providing “Master Credit Card” services. Through the years, the offerings of card services have changed, but the bank’s now Visa® Platinum Rewards Cards and Visa Business Rewards Cards are serviced from our operations department in Travelers Rest.
- April 1970 – The bank opened its location on Plaza Drive. It would later become the “main office”.
- January 1972 – Bruce White begins his full-time career at Bank of Travelers Rest. He worked alongside his father and bank founder, John White. White succeeds his father as President in January 1977.
- April 1978 – Bank of Travelers Rest opened its location on Old Buncombe Road which gave the bank its first Greenville office. To mark its grand opening, the bank held a contest to give away: 1 color television; 2 CB Radios; and 20 dinners at local eatery, Epps.
Also in 1978 the bank made strides toward embracing ever-changing banking technologies. The bank's customers were provided: Visa; Surepay; automated payroll and automated transfers. In addition, the bank joined the SC Automated Clearing House (ACH) Association, allowing us to service customers by originating and receiving Electronic Funds Transfer.
- December 1983 – Bank of Travelers Rest embraced the newest technology by placing its checking and savings records into an online computer system.
- June 1984 – Bank of Travelers Rest launched its Advisory Committee, composed of retail and business customers. The intent of the committee was to learn more about the banking needs of our communities. Our advisory board committees function similarly today and are specific to each branch location.
- March 1985 – Bank of Travelers Rest brought its first ATM online. The ATM introduced “RediBanker” as the new, advanced way to give customers “24 hour access to their accounts.”
- June 1986 – The bank brought the servicing of its credit card portfolio in-house. This move gave us the ability to service customers directly from our headquarters in Travelers Rest. A significant move, this marked the commitment of the community bank to provide local service and be available for its customers.
- March 1990 – Bank of Travelers Rest opened its fourth location, located on White Horse Road. The new location extended the bank’s service area and ability to meet the growing needs of the community.
- March 1992 – Bank of Travelers Rest established a mortgage loan department. This gave us the ability to provide 30-year financing for customers who wished to buy or refinance their homes.
- October 1992 – Tom Britt, current President, began his career with Bank of Travelers Rest.
- March 1994 – Bank of Travelers Rest launched its wealth management department, Gateway Financial Services (now Gateway Wealth Strategies).
- 1995 – The bank finished a complete renovation of its facility on Plaza Drive, adding additional space to house the Operations Department. Previously, operations teams worked in the old Poinsett Highway location. With their move, the Poinsett Branch was completely closed.
- March 1996 – Bank of Travelers Rest celebrated a half-century of service to the community. The bank’s 50th anniversary was commemorated by awarding prizes for the oldest bank statement, the oldest canceled check and the oldest paid promissory note. In addition, each of the branches held a drawing for a winner to “grab for cash.”
- December 2007 – Bank of Travelers Rest opened two branches in the same month. Its branch on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Taylors marked the move to serve customers living and working on the east side of town. The Downtown Greenville office opened as a full-service branch without a traditional teller line. The first-of-its-kind in the bank's then 9 branch network provides customers with more individualized service. Customer service staff, each with their own office, provide everything from traditional teller functions to opening new accounts.
- September 2013 – The bank launched its own mobile app, myBTRmoney. This app extended community banking to customers around the world providing them access to “Bank of Travelers Rest in the palm of your hand.”
- November 2015 – Bank of Travelers Rest promoted Tom Britt from Executive Vice President to President. Bruce White remains CEO and Chairman of the Board.
- March 18, 2016 – Bank of Travelers Rest opened its 10th location on the corner of Verdae Boulevard and Woodruff Road. This Grand Opening and 70th Anniversary Celebration was marked by a ribbon cutting performed by the bank’s first customer from 1946, Mr. Carol Smith.
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Updated Online Banking Terms of Service
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