SunTrust Banks (Trust Company Bank) SunTrust Banks, based in
Atlanta, was the ninth largest bank in the United States as of
2004. From its beginning the bank earned a reputation as a trust
for well-to-do clients, but it also played a crucial role in
recapitalizing regional investment. The stability and growth of
the bank, with branches and affiliates in seven states and the
District of Columbia, serves as a measurement of the economic
growth of the New South since the end of Reconstruction
(1867-76). SunTrust is the hybrid of several southern banks,
Ernest Woodruff, a native of Columbus, assumed the presidency of
the Trust Company in February 1904. This frugal son of a
northern mill owner had a galvanizing effect on the young bank.
Under Woodruff the company orchestrated a series of mergers that
secured the bank's position. In 1910 he arranged the merger, for
$3.5 million, of several small regional coal and ice companies
to form the Atlantic Ice and Coal Company, which was the largest
underwriting venture in