Lake City Bank faced turbulent times in its early years. Nationwide bank panics struck in 1873, 1893 and 1907, threatening to disrupt the country’s banking system. Smaller, more localized panics were not uncommon, adding to the general economic instability. Businesses failed, stock prices collapsed and unemployment soared. The panics of 1873 and 1893 even led to severe depressions.

The young Lake City Bank navigated through it all, changing its organizational structure three times by 1919. In fact, the first change came in 1875, just three years after its founding, when James McMurray and the other members of the bank’s board of directors selected 26 charter stockholders to form a private corporation. Further shifts came in 1895 and 1919.

While many other banks struggled, the actions taken by Lake City Bank’s leadership allowed it to survive and even expand. Around the time of the first reorganization, Lake City Bank outgrew its original space next to Wynant’s Drug Store and moved to the Indianian building on the south side of Warsaw’s town square. It remained there until 1961.