GULFPORT, MS (AP) — Hancock Bank celebrates 115 years of serving the Gulf Coast with birthday festivities in Lighthouse Park at the bank's downtown Gulfport headquarters.
The event is Thursday, Oct. 9, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
The bank was chartered in 1899 and originally was opened as "Hancock County Bank" in a small wood frame building in Bay St. Louis.
In 1932, Hancock opened a Gulfport branch. In 1939, Hancock County Bank became, simply, "Hancock Bank" and moved its headquarters to an eight-story brick building in Gulfport that is still part of Hancock's corporate campus.
Hancock dedicated its 15-story One Hancock Plaza tower in 1981 and, after Hurricane Katrina's devastating blow to the coast in 2005, invested more than $65 million in restoring the headquarters.
