First Woman's Bank of Tennessee

First Woman's Bank of Tennessee was founded by Brenda Vineyard Runyon in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1919. The ongoing women's suffrage movement reflected many women's desire to hold accounts independently of male relatives.{{Cite web |title=Brenda Vineyard Runyon |url=https://www.visitclarksvilletn.com/plan/clarksville-connections/business/brenda-vineyard-runyon/ |access-date=October 28, 2024 |website=Visit Clarksville TN}} The bank was the first in the United States to be managed and directed entirely by women.Gray, Warren P. (1948, 2007 reprint.[https://books.google.com/books?id=LaWTrkqXPCwC&pg=PA59 The Development of Banking in Tennessee], p. 59. Capricorn House Publishers. The novel concept resulted in a total of $20,000 in deposits on its first day of business, October 6, 1919.{{Cite web |last=Montgomery County Historical Society |date=Oct 28, 2024 |title=Brenda Vineyard Runyon and the First Woman's Bank of Tennessee |url=https://www.mchsociety.net/uploads/1/5/0/3/150396400/brenda_vineyard_runyon_and_the_first_womans_bank.pdf |access-date=October 28, 2024 |website=Montgomery County Historical Society}}

File:Lulu Bringhurst Epperson.jpg

It was located within the Hotel Arlington (now Hotel Montgomery) and is now sited by an Arlington historic marker. Lulu Bringhurst Epperson owned the hotel at the time and was the first to make a deposit. Men and women were permitted to maintain savings and investment accounts.{{Cite web |last=Binnicker |first=Margaret D. |date=October 8, 2017 |title=First Woman's Bank |url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/first-womans-bank/ |access-date=October 28, 2024 |website=Tennessee Encyclopedia}}

Runyon resigned her position in 1926 due to failing health and was unable to secure a successor. The First Trust and Savings Bank of Clarksville absorbed the bank in 1926.