The Georgia Railroad Bank and Trust Company originated with the Georgia Railroad Company, chartered in 1833 to construct a rail line from Augusta into Georgia’s interior. In 1835, the charter was amended to authorize banking activities, creating the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. The headquarters moved from Athens to Augusta in 1840, and the railroad reached Marthasville (later Atlanta) in 1845, supporting regional commerce and development.

Therailroad was leased to the Central of Georgia Railway in 1881. A separate banking subsidiary, the Georgia Railroad Bank, was organized in 1890, and trust services were added in 1929, forming the Georgia Railroad Bank and Trust Company. The bank joined the Federal Reserve System in 1931 and briefly closed during the 1933 banking holiday, the only interruption in its long history.

In 1954, the First Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia was established as a holding company. The bank merged with First Union Corporation in 1986, later part of Wachovia, which was acquired by Wells Fargo in 2008. In 2005, Wachovia publicly acknowledged the company’s historical use of enslaved labor in railroad construction during the antebellum period.