BY DAN HILDEBRAN
General manager
STARKE—Workers covered Community State Bank’s sign this week showcasing the financial institution’s new name: DLP Bank.
DLP Bancshares acquired the 66-year-old Starke-based bank with $225 million in deposits earlier this year.
DLP stands for Dream, Live Prosper, the motto of DLP Capital, which was started by St. Augustine resident Don Wenner in the early 2000s when Wenner was a college student in Pennsylvania.
Former Florida Governor Charlie E. Johns founded Community State Bank in 1957. Johns started his career as a railroad conductor and owned an insurance agency before entering politics in 1935. He was serving as president of the Florida Senate in 1953 when Gov. Dan McCarty died. Johns was sworn in as McCarty’s replacement. The state’s lieutenant governor’s office did not exist between 1884 and 1968. In 1954, Leroy Collins defeated Johns in a special election for the state’s chief executive post.
