Citizens National Bank was established in 1871[4] at the height of Flint's great lumber industry.

[2] Citizens National Bank played a key role in the development of the auto industry in the United States.

[3] On April 8, 1991, Citizens Banking designated $15 million in loans for small businesses in county's poor and minority communities over three years.

On February 18, 1992, Citizens pledged $15,000 toward construction of the Robert M. Perry School of Banking building at Central Michigan University.

[13] On December 29, 2006, the bank acquired Republic Bancorp of Ann Arbor, Michigan to become, at the time, the 45th largest U.S. bank-holding company.

[15][16][17] In December 2008, the bank received $300 million in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program after it suffered losses from the downturn of the U.S. automotive industry during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

[19][20] In 2011, the bank agreed to a settlement in a Redlining case as Republic Bank's successor by the US Department of Justice triggered by a Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System complaint which will require them to open a loan office in a Detroit black neighborhood and $3.6 million for loans and grants in Wayne County.

[23] In 2011, the United States Department of the Treasury appointed two directors to the bank's board after it had failed to repay $300 million in bailout funds.

The bank holding company considered issuing stock to pay the debt back, but instead put itself up for sale with J.P. Morgan Chase hired to find a buyer.

[24] On September 13, 2012, Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Corporation announced it would acquire Citizens in a stock-for-stock merger transaction valued at approximately $912 million.

[5] In October 2015, the University of Michigan–Flint announced a purchase agreement for $6 million the North tower of the building to be completed by March 31.

In 1964, a Citizens Bank jingle was crafted by Jackie Bowles from the poem, with small alternation to the words, and set to Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase music.

[5] The original "CB" letters were removed and were supposedly going to be put in the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan.