The Bank of Commerce building was built in 1908 as the site of First State Bank. The lobby was shared with Columbus Drug Store and a newsstand in later years. The corner was once known as Blair’s Corner, after Blair’s Drug Store that stood there for many years during the mid- 1800’s. The drug store was named for two brothers, David and Jim Blair, each of whom was a power in local politics. Many political questions were argued there by the old-time planters and politicians of Lowndes County. The clock hanging from the bank originally hung one block south at the former National Bank of Commerce. The bank has a vault which has never been disturbed, having been built “for all time”. It is eight inches thick, double-lined with rails from the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, encased in four-foot walls and built of chilled steel. The building underwent a restoration in 1985, for which it won a preservation award from Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
