First National Bank of Oneida
First National Bank of Oneida is an FDIC-insured community bank headquartered in Oneida with offices in Helenwood and Winfield in Scott County, and LaFollette in Campbell County. Founded in 1904 as Scott County Bank, it is Scott County’s oldest business as of 2025.
Early Years
First National Bank was chartered on Oct. 4, 1904 as The Scott County Bank. In 1905, its name changed to Scott County National Bank. In 1919, the name changed to First National Bank of Oneida.
The Scott County Bank opened on Depot Street in Oneida, with Claborne Cross serving as president. Cross was the son of Larkin Cross, a Scott County man murdered by Confederate guerrillas during the Civil War.
Cross was a leading businessman in Oneida. He owned the Hotel Cross, as well as a general store, and a stave and lumber business, and was the first board chairman of the Oneida Independent School District. He was a visionary who thought that Oneida should be incorporated and have paved streets, sidewalks, a sewer system, and a public water supply.
Joining Cross on the bank’s original charter were G.W. King, S.B. Anderson, O.H. Anderson, T.K. Williams and W.B. Boyd. E.G. Foster served s the bank’s first vice president, and W.C. Anderson was the first cashier. Joining Cross on the board of directors were King, E.W. Smith, W.H. Buttram, Gayson Foster, Talmon Sexton, Sanders Foster and John C. Lowe.
In 1905, the shareholders moved from a state-chartered bank to a national-chartered bank, which prompted the name change to the Scott County National Bank.
First National Bank
In Spring 1919, Scott County National Bank changed its name to First National Bank of Oneida. At that time, its resources were nearly $400,000, and it had been recognized as one of the most successful banks in the Southeast during World War I.
Claborne Cross served as the bank’s president for nine years, and was succeeded as a director by Horace “Fate” Cooper, another prominent businessman in Oneida. Cooper would serve on the bank’s board for 20 years, and was the president during the name change to First National Bank of Oneida in 1919.
Like Cross, Cooper was a visionary. He started Oneida Water Department, helped build the town’s first sewer system, and helped build the town’s first light plant.
Succeeding Cross as the bank’s second president was Talmon Sexton. He held that role for nearly 30 years, until his death in 1943. He was instrumental in the early coal production on Paint Rock Creek, which gave rise to the Tennessee Railroad. His son, Clifford Sexton, was an employee of First National Bank and went on to be co-owner of Oneida’s first movie theater, the Gem Theater on Depot Street. It featured a new movie playing to a standing-room-only crowd each night.
In 1921, the bank moved from its original, wood-frame building on Depot Street to a two-story brick building at the corner of Depot Street and Main Street, a building that had once been the home of City Hotel.
The Swain era
In 1942, while Talmon Sexton was still First National Bank’s president, W.H. “Bill” Swain moved from Detroit to Scott County to help run his family’s lumber mill in Helenwood.
In 1943, when Sexton died, E. Chester Terry was named president of the bank. He was First National Bank’s third president, and would serve in that position until 1959.
Swain was only 19 when he moved to Helenwood to take leadership of Swain Lumber Mill. It was originally to have been a temporary move. In 1959, he was 36 years old and would jog from his home in Helenwood to the Glass House Restaurant 2.5 miles away for breakfast each morning. He usually had soft-boiled eggs, which became known as “Billy Eggs” at the restaurant.
Swain was appointed the bank’s fourth president in 1959, and juggled his responsibilities between the lumber mill and the bank, spending mornings at the mill and the rest of the day at the bank. At one point, the Swain mill was buying from 32 different sawmills and had grown to become one of the largest mills in the region.
In 1966, First National Bank opened its first branch office in Helenwood. The new central office featured Scott County’s first drive-in window service.
In 1967, a new main office opened in Oneida, at the corner of Alberta Street and Depot Street. That office also featured a drive-in window.
In 1968, Swain was appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank in Nashville for a three-year term. There, he made acquaintances with University of Tennessee President Dr. Edward J. Boling, who persuaded him to serve on a new advisory panel for the Graduate School of Business on UT’s Knoxville campus and then appointed him to the UT Development Council. Swain became president of the Development Council in 1973.
In 1976, Swain was elected to the board of directors for the Tennessee Bankers Association, and served as president of that organization in 1982 and 1983. He also served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, Ga., and on the Tennessee Board of Education.
Like Cross and Cooper, Swain was a visionary. He played key roles in the establishment of Highland Telephone Cooperative and Huntsville Utility District, as well as the Scott County Rescue Squad and Scott County Hospital. In the 1980s, he persuaded Roane State Community College to open a satellite campus in Scott County, and donated 38 acres of land for a permanent RSCC campus in Huntsville.
Serving on the bank’s board of directors during this era were U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. and Tibbals Flooring Co. president Howard Tibbals.
In 1967, the bank established an advisory board that included Taskel Welch, Arzo Carson, Earl Burress, R.H. Troxel, Grover Pemberton and Norman Acres.
The modern era
In 1988, Michael B. Swain succeeded his father as president and CEO of First National Bank, becoming the fifth president in the bank’s history. Bill Swain continued his involvement with the bank until he died in 2015.
In 1999, First National Bank opened a new central office in Helenwood. Located next door to the original central office, it consolidated the deposit and loan staff under one roof with the bank’s bookkeeping department, data processing department, and the audit and credit departments.
In 2022, a new main office opened in Oneida at the corner of Alberta Street and Main Street in the Oak Grove district.
Mark Kline is currently the president of First National Bank, the fifth president in the bank’s 120-plus years of business. Mike Swain continues to serve as the bank’s board chairman. Kline is the grandson of C.L. Kline, who was named as a director of the bank in 1959, the same year Bill Swain was named president of the bank.