Bank of
Montgomery began in
Troy, North Carolina, in 1935 and changed its name to First Bank in February 1985. On December 16, 1999, First Bancorp agreed to buy First Savings Bancorp Inc., parent of First Savings Bank of
Moore County, with six branches and $325 million in assets, for $78.4 million in stock. On October 23, 2000, First Bancorp announced its purchase of Century Bancorp of
Thomasville and its subsidiary Home Savings, founded in 1915. At the time, First Bank had 43 branches in 15 counties. In the Thomasville area First Bank already had branches in
High Point and
Archdale. On October 1, 2008, First Bancorp announced the completion of its merger with Great
Pee Dee Bancorp, Inc., the holding company of Sentry Bank and Trust, headquartered in
Cheraw, South Carolina, with branches in Cheraw and
Florence, $221 million in assets, and $155 million in deposits. On June 19, 2009, the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation closed Cooperative Bank of
Wilmington, chartered in 1898 and the second bank in North Carolina to fail in 2009; First Bank took over its 24 branches and $774 million in deposits as of June 22. In 2011, First Bancorp took over five Bank of Asheville branches with $210 million in assets after state regulators closed the bank. In 2013, First Bancorp moved its corporate headquarters from Troy, North Carolina, to Southern Pines, North Carolina. On March 4, 2016, First Bancorp and
First Community Bank announced a deal in which First Community would sell all three of its branches in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and one each in
Huntersville, North Carolina, and
Mooresville, North Carolina, to First Bancorp. Deposits at these branches totalled $130 million. First Bank would sell seven Virginia branches to First Community. With deposits totalling $150 million, these were located in
Abingdon,
Blacksburg,
Christiansburg,
Fort Chiswell,
Radford,
Salem and
Wytheville. On March 4, 2017, First Bancorp completed a $93 million deal with Carolina Bank Holdings Inc. of
Greensboro, North Carolina, which would add $706 million in assets, $601 million in deposits, eight branches and three mortgage offices. A $175 million cash and stock deal with ASB Bancorp Inc. of
Asheville, North Carolina, completed March 19, 2018, gave First Bancorp an additional $803 million in assets and 13 Asheville Savings Bank branches in
Buncombe,
Madison,
McDowell,
Henderson and
Transylvania Counties in Western North Carolina. The deal was completed October 18, 2021. On January 3, 2023, First Bancorp announced the completion of the $181.1 million purchase of
Greenville, South Carolina-based GrandSouth Bancorp. The deal gave First Bancorp $1.3 billion more in assets and eight branches including its first in
Charleston, South Carolina, and
Columbia, South Carolina. ==References==