Cornerstone plaque from the Bank of Finance

Founded by Onie B. Granville in 1964, the Bank of Finance was the first African American-owned and operated state chartered bank west of Kansas City. Granville, a long time real estate broker in Los Angeles, formed the institution with other prominent African American community leaders in Los Angeles: Los Angeles City Councilman and later mayor Tom Bradley, real estate broker Lorenzo Spencer, businessman Wilton A. Clark, and physicians Dr. Perry Beal and Dr. Edward Ballard. Along with Granville's sister, Bernice Malbrue, the six men named on this plaque became the bank's first board of directors. In the face of discriminatory housing and financial practices, the Bank of Finance played an important role in financing Black homeownership and businesses in the Los Angeles area until it was purchased by another bank in 1984.