The Village Bank, in operation from 1982 to 1995, was historically Chapel Hill's third independent bank. More importantly, it was the first locally owned and managed bank to show itself capable of competing with the large, outside commercial banks that now dominate the Chapel Hill banking scene.

Until the 1960s, Chapel Hill residents could turn to two independent local banks and a strong savings-and-loan firm to satisfy their financial needs. The largest and oldest of the former, Bank of Chapel Hill, was started in 1899 and was the only bank to have a presence in the main downtown. It did not have a challenger until another independent bank, University National Bank, opened in 1954 in a small office on West Franklin Street.

The Orange Building and Loan Association opened in 1919 and had two name changes, the last to Orange Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1982, in the same East Rosemary Street location.

Federal laws that restricted state banks to a single state were changed to allow unrestricted territorial growth, setting in motion in the 1960s an era of widespread mergers that created dominant regional and national banks. All three independent Chapel Hill units were absorbed by larger banks. Bank of Chapel Hill was acquired by North Carolina National Bank (NCNB) of Charlotte, later renamed Nations Bank and now is Bank of America, the second-largest American bank. University National Bank and Durham Bank and Trust formed a new bank, Central Carolina Bank (CCB), in 1961, with home office in Durham and a Chapel Hill branch office in University Square. CCB was acquired by SunTrust Bank of Atlanta in 2005. Orange Federal Savings and Loan was bought by Centura Bank of Rocky Mount in 1992, which was merged into Royal Bank of Canada and continues as RBC Centura.

Dramatic growth in Chapel Hill's population and prosperity during the 1960s attracted four other large commercial banks to the central business district. They were Branch Bank and Trust (BB&T), First Citizens Bank, First Union Bank and Wachovia Bank. They extended their comprehensive services to outlying areas through branch offices. In addition to Orange Federal, there were three additional savings and loans: Home, Security and Federal.

Charles T. Roupas was the key person who generated the idea of a new independent bank, led the way through the maze of steps needed to translate the idea into a functional Village Bank, and served as the bank's front man, president and CEO for its first eight years.

Roupas was born in Johnson City, Tenn., in 1943 and later his parents moved with him, his brother and sister to Roanoke, Va., then to Fayetteville. At UNC he was initially interested in psychology but switched his major to economics for his 1965 degree. He received a master's in business administration from Emory University in 1967 and served in the U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Reserve at Fort Bragg from 1967 to 1973.

After one year at a bank in Nashville, Tenn., Roupas spent the next 14 years learning the commercial banking business within the hierarchical structure of NCNB in Charlotte (1968-75) and in Chapel Hill (1975-80). Two initial years were spent in corporate-wide profit planning and credit analysis on corporate accounts, followed by two years in various administrative positions in long-range planning and bank expansion programs in the statewide North Carolina NCNB network. He became director of the NCNB branch network in the Charlotte metropolitan area, then city executive and vice president in Chapel Hill.

In a drastic move in 1980, Roupas retired from NCNB and took the first steps in creating an independent bank in Chapel Hill. This was a difficult decision for him because his record suggested a steady upward move in the NCNB management structure.

However, he had married Helen Parrous, a 1972 Methodist College graduate who also completed a master's degree in social work at UNC in 1978. He and his wife had already put down deep roots in the Chapel Hill community and planned to make it their permanent home. They became parents of a son, Thad, in 1981 and a daughter, Victoria, in 1985.

The rationale for a new independent bank was laid out by Roupas and a small group of supporters in early 1980. It would give local residents an opportunity to "invest in Chapel Hill" through a bank that would reinvest the deposits that it generates in loans to local customers with local needs. Its services would be tailored to meet the needs of its service area (Orange County, northern Chatham County and southern Durham County).

A feasibility study was completed as the first formal step in creating the bank. and a group of 28 incorporators each advanced $1,000 for start-up costs. Approval was granted by the State Banking Commission and the Federal Insurance Corporation. The only delay was over the proposed name of Community Bank, which proved to be already in use elsewhere, and its replacement by Village Bank. A 13-member board representing the range of community support groups was soon selected. Central office space was leased in Kroger Plaza, in a location recently vacated by the large Kroger grocery store, at the corner of Elliott Road and East Franklin Street.

When it opened for business in March 1982, the bank had about 1,000 stockholders and $1.5 million in operating capital from sale of stock at $10 per share. It met with immediate public acceptance and showed a profit in less than three years. By 1988 it had greatly increased its services, had opened seven branches and had $80 million in assets. However, some steep losses due to an unanticipated decline in the local real estate market brought federal regulators into the picture by early 1991 with cautions against what they considered investment policies that were too lax. Consequently, more conservative members on the bank board took over the leadership to clean up some of the larger losses and debts and set in motion more restrictive lending policies that returned the bank to good financial health within a year.

The major loss was the resignation of Roupas as president and CEO. He felt that some of the more drastic new policies would result in a diminished "community orientation." In a normal banking development, the Village Bank's success eventually led to an attractive buy-out offer from a larger regional bank, Triangle Bank of Durham. The offer was accepted and the merger was concluded on Nov. 1, 1995. Village Bank shareholders benefited from the sale, but it left the town again without an independent bank.

Sources: Coverage in The Chapel Hill Newspaper and interview with Charles T. Roupas, who continues as a registered investment advisor and financial consultant in Chapel Hill.