Pub. 9 2018 Issue 2

Summer 2018 31 West Virginia Banker months after its first stockholders meet- ing, held in January 1919, the bank’s president, William Barney, passed away. Despite this turmoil, the bank marked its first anniversary with more than $85,000 in assets and $54,000 in de- posits. A second stockholders’ meeting in August 1919 saw the election of J.V. Warden as president. Warden, a scion of the town’s namesake family, provided leadership for the next 36 years, and that steadiness helped the bank weather a host of tumult through the 1930s and early 1940s. Locally, the timber boom turned to bust, the lumber mill closed, and the railroad halted operations. Nationally, the Great Depression was bearing down on Amer- icans and banks were closing across the country. Internationally, the world would wage war. Capon Valley Bank certainly did not grow during this trying period, but the bank weathered the challeng- es, applied for membership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933, and emerged from the closet of World War II with plans for a new home. In 1946, the bank announced it would build a new office on a lot down the street from its rented quarters. On Feb. 25, 1949, the office at 2 W. Main St., Wardensville, was formally opened. The star of the new office was the massive vault door, purchased from Diebold for $5,971. The building, and its vault, is still the core of the bank’s main office today, albeit in a different configuration due to several building renovations and expansions completed in 1974, 1984, and 2001. As the bank moved into the 1980s, long- term plans turned toward providing additional services for neighboring communities. In May 1986, a mere seven months after the horrific November 1985 flood inundated South Branch Valley communities, Capon Valley Bank opened its first branch banking office in Moorefield, WV, by opening the office so soon after the devasting flood, the bank demonstrated its support for the Moorefield community and its recovery. One month later the bank’s board ap- proved a merger with Highlands Bank- shares Inc., a holding company affiliated with nearby Grant County Bank. After the merger Capon Valley Bank, now a subsidiary of Highlands Bankshares, continued to operate independently with its own local board, an operational structure that is still in place today. Capon Valley Bank opened its second branch office in Baker, WV, in June 1997, and in June 2001 the bank looked east- ward and opened its first out-of-state branch office, located in Gore, VA. With the success of its Virginia branch, the bank anticipated growing into neighboring communities, and began work on a new branch office in Stephens City, VA. Unfortunately, the timing of that office’s opening, September 2010, was dampened by the ongoing national economic crisis that again reshaped banking across the country. However, with the aplomb and resilience that has shaped its identity since 1918, the bank persevered and has solidified its place in the Frederick County, VA, market. As Capon Valley Bank approaches its 100th anniversary, its officers, directors, and employees look forward to celebrat- ing the milestone with friends and neigh- bors on June 29-30, 2018, in Wardens- ville, Moorefield; Baker, WV; and Gore and Stephens City, VA. To learn more, visit www.caponvalleybank.com. 