About Us

1st Bank of Sea Isle City was formed in 1888 as Sea Isle Building and Loan, when the founding fathers of Sea Isle City saw the need to promote home-ownership among area residents. As a building and loan, we opened simple savings accounts and loaned the money for homes. We started small, like all businesses do – even operating out of someone’s home! At that time, Sea Isle City was mainly rural pasture and miles of unexplored seashore.

In 1958, Sea Isle Building and Loan merged with the Tradesman Building and Loan, and First Savings and Loan of Sea Isle City was born. As we grew and thrived, the need for an established office became more apparent. In 1964 we opened our first office at 137 JF Kennedy Blvd., in Sea Isle City, the current site of our Loan Center. From 1964 until 1987 all of our operations, loans, deposits, administrative and back offices were housed in the same building.

In 1987, we opened our first Branch Office in Seaville at 2072 Shore Road. With the opening of a shopping center across the street, it made banking that much more convenient for all of our customers – those who live on the island and our friends offshore.

In 1992, a wonderful opportunity presented itself to us in our hometown of Sea Isle City. 1st Fidelity Bank was closing its office at 4301 Landis Avenue. A majestic building with a long history in banking, First Savings’ officers realized that the location would be key not only to the growth of our institution, but also to the future of Sea Isle City. In less than three decades, our little Savings and Loan had grown from a busy little one office operation to a thriving institution with two branches and a loan center, serving not only our hometown of Sea Isle City, but many of the surrounding communities as well. It was time for another change.

In 1998, our board of directors elected to change our bank charter to a federal charter. At the time, it offered more options under banking regulations, allowing us to offer more diversified products to our customers. At the same time, a name change was approved, no longer First Savings and Loan Association of Sea Isle City – we were now First Bank of Sea Isle City!

In 1999, the year of the big “Y2K” scare, a new management team rose to the call – bringing over 43 years of combined experience to First Bank of Sea Isle City. The suggestion came up to shorten our name to 1st Bank of Sea Isle City and was greeted with enthusiasm. Since then 1st Bank has become a household word.
In recent years, we have made improvements to both of our branches – adding administrative offices to the back of our branch at 4301 Landis and renovating our branch at 2072 Shore Road to include 2 drive-up lanes and a drive-up ATM machine. In 2004, we bid farewell to our building at 137 JF Kennedy and in its place raised our brand new Loan Center – a showcase building with a unique lighthouse façade. In the Spring of 2005 we introduced Internet Banking, and in September 2005, we opened our third branch office in Swainton.

We at 1st Bank of Sea Isle City are proud to be a part of our communities, and strive to maintain a hometown atmosphere while providing superior products and services to our customers. We believe in families, and we believe that without our “family” of customers we would be just another bank.

Look for 1st Bank’s lighthouse in your community, and remember, at 1st Bank, we believe that banking should be warm and friendly, not cold and impersonal.

1st Bank of Sea Isle City - We're lighting the way!

Statement of Condition

December 31, 2020