20th century
The Great Fire of 1901 destroyed most of the city. National Bank of Jacksonville was the only one of the city's banks to reopen. William Boyd Barnett died September 2, 1903, and Bion renamed the institution Barnett National Bank in his father's honor.[10]
In 1926, the Barnett National Bank Building was opened to house the company's operations and was built in the popular Chicago school style of architecture. At 18 stories, it was the tallest skyscraper in the city and remained so until 1954.[11] The bank survived various economic downturns and crises, including the Great Depression, ultimately emerging stronger. Bion Barnett led the bank until 1952, remaining as honorary chairman until his death in 1958 at the age of 101. By then, Barnett Bank had come to be known as "Florida's Bank". The bank continued to grow with the acquisition of many more Florida banks over the next two decades.[12]
However, under Chairman of the Board Hugh Jones,[13] Barnett Bank was slow to become involved in the rapidly evolving interstate banking mergers of the 1970s and 80s. Though eventually Barnett did make some purchases of out-of-state banks, starting in Georgia, it did so without growing its own brand recognition. While technically, according to federal statute, one bank cannot own another bank in another state, they can both be owned by the same holding company. Barnett, like other banks, grew across state lines in this way. But unlike other such banks, Barnett did not change the names of its new holdings, keeping the Barnett name exclusively within Florida. Ultimately, this weakened the company's stock, as the perception lingered that Barnett was not a major player in the area of mergers and acquisitions. Despite its slower than average growth, the holding company built a new corporate headquarters building in downtown Jacksonville: announced in 1987 and occupied in 1990. Hugh Jones then retired in 1993.[13] At 42 stories, the Barnett Center was the highest building in Jacksonville, and the second-tallest in Florida as of 2010. As of 2019, the reinforced concrete Barnett Center (now, the Bank of America Tower) remains the tallest building in Jacksonville.
