Our History
Magnolia State Bank is a state-chartered financial institution, established in 1975 as Jasper County Bank. A group of local businessmen founded the bank to better serve the residents of Bay Springs and Jasper County. J. I. Jenkins, a long-time local banker, was the bank’s first president. Robert L. Abney, Jr., owner of Abney Insurance Agency, served as the bank's first Chairman of the Board from 1975 until his death in 1990. His son, Dr. Robert L. Abney, III, succeeded him as Chairman and served through 1998.
Mr. Thomas E. Brown joined Jasper County Bank in May of 1977. Due to his leadership and commitment to excellence, he was elected president and chief executive officer of the bank in 1979 and then was elected Chairman of the Board in 1999 and served in that capacity until his death in 2016.
In 1982, Brown and Chairman Abney formed The Magnolia State Corporation, a one-bank holding company which continues to own the Magnolia State Bank.
The bank has always been resilient and overcame many challenges in its early years. Through hard work and determination, the bank began to develop into the institution it is today. In 1977, Jasper County Bank opened its first branch office in Heidelberg, Mississippi. Another branch was opened in Taylorsville in 1989.
In 1999, the Board of Directors decided the time was right for the bank to expand into more communities across Mississippi. To facilitate this goal, shareholders unanimously approved changing the bank's name from Jasper County Bank to Magnolia State Bank, effective January 1, 2000.
In 2005, Magnolia State Bank opened a location in Laurel to serve the residents and businesses of Jones County. Thereafter, the bank expanded to Petal, in Forrest County, in 2007, to Hattiesburg, in Lamar County, in 2010, and to downtown Laurel in 2017. The bank’s most recent constructed facility addition is its Hattiesburg office located on Highway 98, which was opened for business in the spring of 2017.
In April 2016, the Board named Barbara Brown Chairman of the Board of The Magnolia State Corporation and Magnolia State Bank. At that time, Kristofer T. Mangum was named Chief Executive Officer. Mangum, a Petal resident, is a former professional football player for the Carolina Panthers and graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in Public Administration. Lillious Ann Shoemaker, an attorney and Bay Springs resident, was named Magnolia State Bank President the same year, after serving as the bank's general counsel since 2014.