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NATCHEZ — United Mississippi Bank plans a joint Business After Hours on May 11 with the Natchez-Adams Chamber of Commerce and the Concordia Parish Chamber of Commerce.

The event will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bank with cocktails and food stations and history of the bank.

It will be held at the Natchez Civic Center, 512 Franklin St., on May 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

“We have a video we have filmed that gives a brief history of the bank from its humble beginnings in a trailer on South Pearl Street to the nine locations in the Miss-Lou we have today,” said Sarah Carter Smith, UMB’s vice president of marketing.

Back in 1973, James Biglane and a handful of other Natchez businessmen, like the late Cappy Stahlman, saw an opportunity to fill a banking need for many in Natchez.

They planted a seed called First Natchez Bank, beginning with $500,000 in capital, that 50 years later has grown into Southwest Mississippi’s leading banking institution, United Mississippi Bank.

“They saw an opportunity to serve parts of the market that weren’t necessarily being served,” said Adrian Sandel, United Mississippi Bank’s CEO and member of its board of directors.

Apparently, Biglane, Stahlman and other initial investors were correct. Today, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, United Mississippi Bank has more than $500 million in assets and that initial working capital of $500,000 has grown to more than $40 million.

Sandel, who joined United Mississippi in 2007, was named its CEO in 2017 and in 2022 was named to the institution’s board of directors.

“We try to do the simple things very well. If we are a good community partner, if we are a good employer, if we offer a good avenue into the payment center and we are a good provider of credit products — if we do those simple banking things well, we will continue to be successful,” Sandel said.