First National Bank is a locally owned community bank committed to providing quality, personal, caring service to all people in the towns and communities that make up its service area. The "Hometown Bank" has a talented team of people who care about the communities and people they serve. The bank's main office occupies a much enlarged space in the same building where itbegan 130 years ago. The illustrious history of First National Bank can be traced to 1874, when Jesse Jenkins and H.D. Lee organized a private bank in Shelby, North Carolina, known as J. Jenkins and Company. Burwell Blanton...

In the fall of 1923, the Shelby Kiwanis Club developed a plan to create a county-wide fair combining the Boiling Springs, Fallston, and Union community fairs into one event. Through the sales of $20 shares of stock, $15,000 was raised to establish the Cleveland County Fair. The first fair was held in 1924 with 70,000 in attendance. Since then, the theme has always been to celebrate city and farm life coming together through such popular attractions as agricultural exhibits, livestock, carnival rides, stage show revues, stock car racing, tractor pulls, and demolition derbies. Today, the...

Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shelby was established in 1841 as the seat of newly formed Cleveland County. Once a textile center surrounded by thousands of acres of cotton fields, Shelby is experiencing an exciting economic revival with a diversified mix of business and industry. The 1907 courthouse will be the center of a Southern music and heritage museum highlighting local musicians Earl Scruggs and Don Gibson. In Images of America: Shelby, U. L. "Rusty" Patterson and Barry Hambright have taken another look at Shelby, with special attention paid to the people who...