The First Bank in Lake City was appropriately named the Bank of Lake City. It was organized more than one hundred years ago, in June of 1903. Its directors were A. H. Williams, J.C. Lynch, J. S. McClam, H.P. Williams, W. J. Singletary, C. M. Kelley, and J. A. Green. The beginning capital was $20,000. The bank officers were A. H. Williams, president; J.C. Lynch, vice president; E.W. Yates, cashier; and W. L. Bass, solicitor.

The two-story building in the above picture is the original structure of the Bank of Lake City and the Lake City Drug Company, on the left. Construction began in 1904 and was completed in February of 1905. The bank occupied the first floor, and on the second floor were offices leased to other businesses. W. L. Bass, Esquire, also the bank's attorney, leased the first of these offices.

This building was and still is located on the southwest corner of John Street and Acline Avenue, west of the railroad tracks and one block south of Main Street, and is one of the earliest brick buildings in town.

Railroad Street was renamed A. C. Line Avenue, for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, which was eventually shortened to simply Acline Avenue. Other than scattered businesses on Main and Church Streets, this was the first business street in Lake City. The Bank of Lake City, with the drug store, was the only two-story building on Acline Avenue. Down the avenue was the Smith-Williams Company, a wholesale department store, and S. M. Askins' General Store. Sam Askins was a major pioneer of Lake City. The Lake City Hotel was also located on Acline, across the tracks from the A.C.L. Depot.

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