Banks of Rock Island County
Before entering into details of the banks of Rock- Island County it
would be well to recall early conditions and incidents.
Within the last fifty-six years there have been numerous panics, but none
so disastrous locally as that of 1857 and 1858. Four banks in Rock Island
were reduced to one (Mitchell and Cable) as the immediate result, and that
bank and the bank of Gould, Dimock and Company, Moline, were the only
banks in the county for several years. The bulk of the currency in this
section in those days was issued by the Bank of Florence, organized by
Cook, Sargent and Parker, but it was located at Florence, Nebraska, which
is still an insignificant suburb .of Omaha. It must be remembered that
there was no railroad across the State of Iowa in 1857, hence the place of
ultimate redemption of Florence money was practically inaccessible. As
long as the powerful banking house of Cook and Sargent at Davenport
voluntarily redeemed the notes, they stood high but when that firm went
down in the panic great distress followed in this section.
As far as I know there was never but one daylight bank hold-up in the
county. March 24, 1856 there was a robbery of $5,000 from the bank of
Cook, Sargent and Parker in Rock Island. Mr. Parker, the cashier, was out
of the city, and at the noon hour A. F. Heath, bookkeeper, had gone to the
Rock Island House for dinner, leaving the teller, John Thorington, alone
in the office. Thorington said he was assaulted by three men, having been
knocked down with a slung shot, and that the robbery and escape followed.
He dragged himself into the adjoining hardware store of Harper and Steel
in a very much battered state. Alarm was immediately given and officers
and citizens, horseback and afoot, swarmed over the city and surrounding
country, but without avail. The matter is still a mystery.
July 20, 1904, burglars made a desperate attempt to enter the safe of the
State Bank of East Moline. With a liberal use of nitro-glycerine they blew
off the outer safe door, but left at about two o'clock in the morning
without having made any impression on the burglar proof money box.
While they did not get a cent of money they made a sad wreck of office and
furniture. No clue was ever obtained of the burglars. Charles Fiebig, lock
expert of this city, opened the money chest next morning and contents were
intact and uninjured.
John L. Drew, of Davenport, was a clerk in the bank of Cook, Sargent and
Parker of Rock Island in
1854, continuing with the bank of Mitchell and Cable for a few months
during the year of 1856. He, therefore, served as a banker at an earlier
date than any living man in this section. Honorable J. M. Gould, late of
Moline, served for a great. many
successive years as a banker, and is the pioneer living bank president.
Phil Mitchell commenced his bank service in 1863; it has been practically
continuous, and he is probably entitled to credit for longest service.
In order to show the growth of the banking business it may be said that in
1873, which was a panic year, deposits in all the banks in the county did
not exceed $600,000. Now they are $11,800,000.
The first bank in this section was that of Cook and Sargent, established
in 1847 at Davenport. It continued in business, as the leading bank on the
upper Mississippi until its failure in the panic of 1858. Its owners,
Ebenezer Cook, John P. Cook and George B. Sargent, were able financiers,
and at the time of the failure they probably owned more good Iowa land
than any later firm or individual, but it could not be sold at any price
in those distressing times.
The first bank in Rock Island County was that of Cook, Sargent and Parker,
which in 1852 occupied the room now occupied by T. H. Thomas, Second
Avenue and Seventeenth Street. In 1854 this bank was moved to the
quarters' now occupied by the State Bank of Rock Island, its successor,
showing a continuous existence of more than fifty-six years. It is the
oldest bank in the State of Illinois, save one. In 1856 the late P. L.
Mitchell, and the late P. L. Cable came to Rock Island from Kentucky and
bought out the Cook, Sargent and Parker bank, continuing the business
under the firm name of Mitchell and Cable until 1860, when the late
Cornelius Lynde, junior, bought out Mr. Cable's interest, and the firm
became Mitchell and Lynde, which firm was in turn succeeded by the present
State Bank of Rock Island in 1905.
In the latter part of 1852 or early 1853 the late Isaac Negus, and the
late William L. Lee and the late M. B. Osborn organized the Rock Island
Bank, a state institution, and authorized under the then existing state
banking law to issue bank notes, which it did liberally. John H. Kinney,
now of Chicago was cashier for several years. This was the first bank of
issue in the county, and it is fair to state it met every dollar of its
obligations, both to depositors and note holders, chiefly through the
financial rectitude and moral stamina of the late Isaac Negus, who stood
by it manfully, and was its last president when its bank building and
business were sold to Mitchell and Lynde in 1861.
The Bank of the Federal Union of Rock Island was organized in 1856 by the
late General N. B. Buford, H. C. Blackburn and Bushrod Birch, all
brothers-in-law. This was also a bank of issue as well as deposit and
succumbed to the panic of 1857 and 1858.
In 1856 there was the private banking house of Fish, Goodale and Lee at
Rock Island. This bank also went out of business in the panic of 1857 and
1858, but our late fellow citizen, Mylo Lee, was the medium through which
every dollar of its obligations were paid.
Mitchell and Lynde continued to be the only bank in Rock Island from 1861
to 1863, when P. L. Mitchell and Cornelius Lynde, junior, organized the
First National Bank of Rock Island, capital $100,000, with P. L. Mitchell
as president and J. M. Buford as cashier. It was among the earliest of the
national banks to be in operation in the United States, its charter number
being one hundred and eight. It continued in business until 1890, when its
business was merged with that of Mitchell and Lynde.
The next bank to be started in Rock Island was the Rock Island National
Bank, in 1871, whose first president was the late Captain T. J. Robinson,
and first cashier Mr. A. Benedict, now of San Jose, California. Mr.
Benedict served but a short time and he was succeeded by the late J. F.
Robinson, the present officers being H. E. Casteel, president; M. S. Heagy,
vice-president; and H. B. Simmon, cashier. Capital, $100,000.
The Peoples National Bank of Rock Island -capital, $100,000-was organized
in 1874, with Bailey Davenport as president, Joseph Rosenfield,
vice-president and John Peetz as cashier. Its present officers are Otto
Huber, president, and Carl Hellpenstell, vice-president and cashier.
The Rock Island Savings Bank was the first savings bank, and first state
bank to be organized under the present Illinois banking laws in the
county. Capital, $100,000. The first officers were E. P. Reynolds,
president, and J. M. Buford, cashier, which position he retained up to the
time of his election to the presidency to succeed the late P. L. Mitchell.
The present officers are Phil. Mitchell, president; H. P. Hull,
vice-president, and P. Greenawalt, cashier.
The Central Trust and Savings Bank of Rock Island-capital, $100,000-was
organized in 1899, and its present officers are H. E. Casteel, president;
M. S. Heagy, vice-president and H. B. Simmon, cashier.
In Moline, Chapman Brothers conducted a small banking and exchange
business, with insurance agency, as early as 1856, but they failed in the
ensuing panic, and it may be truthfully said the beginning of the banking
business in Moline was in 1857, when Gould, Dimock and Company started
their private bank.
This bank was succeeded in December, 1863, by the First National Bank of
Moline, with J. S. Keator as president, and J. M. Gould as cashier. John
Deere was president in 1866, succeeded by J. M. Gould as president and J.
S. Gillmore cashier in 1867, H. S. Chapman becoming vice-president in
1905, succeeding J. T. Browning. It was merged with the Peoples Savings
Bank and Trust Company in 1905.
The Peoples Savings Bank of Moline-capital, $100,000-organized in 1891,
its first officers being C. H. Deere, president; Morris Rosenfield,
vice-president, and J. S. Gilmore, cashier, merged with the Peoples
Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1905.
The Peoples Savings Bank and Trust Company of Moline was organized in
1905. Capital, $150,000. This was a consolidation with the First National
Bank, and Peoples Savings Bank of Moline. Its first officers were C. H.
Deere, president; H. L. Chapman, vice-president; and J. S. Gillmore,
cashier. The present officers are William Butterworth, president; N. H.
Green, vice-president; and C. W. Lundahl, cashier.
The Manufacturers Bank of Moline was organized under a state charter in
1869. Its first officers were S. W. Wheelock, president ; Porter Skinner,
vice-president; C. W. Lobdell, cashier; and C. F. Hemenwav, assistant
cashier.
It was succeeded in 1872 by the Moline National Bank-capital,
$100,000-with the same officers as above, and this bank was in turn
succeeded in 1906 by the State Savings Bank and Trust Company, of
Moline-capital, $200,000. The present officers are F. G. Allen, president;
C. I. Josephson, vice-president; and Sol. Hirsch, cashier.
In 1863 W. H. Devore started a private bank at
Port Byron. At first it was under
the name of Brown and Devore, but Mr. Devore succeeded and continued until
Simon-son and Schafer became his successor, to be in turn succeeded by the
present Port Byron State Bank-capital, $50,000. The present officers are
J. W. Simonson, president; F. S. Gates, vice-president; B. B. Huntley,
cashier.
E. E. Rogers and Sons started in the private banking business in Port
Byron in 1871, the partners being E. E. Rogers, Frank E. Rogers and E. M.
Rogers, the bank being known as the Bank of Port Byron. -
M. Schoonmaker started the Reynolds Bank, at Reynolds, in 1888, a private
bank which was sold to R. P. Wait and Company several years thereafter,
who continue the business.
The Farmers State Bank of Reynolds was organized in 1904-capital,
$25,000-with M. Schoonmaker, president; Elisha Lee, vice-president; and J.
E. Lee, cashier.
The State Bank of East Moline was organized in 1904-capital, $25,000. Its
first officers were Phil Mitchell, president; Daniel McNeal,
vice-president; and B. J. Mitchell, cashier. The present officers are J.
A. O'Neil, president; William Jackson, vice-president; and F. A. Sudlow,
cashier.
R. P. Wait started the private Bank of Taylor Ridge in 1905.
H. R. Cox started the private Bank of Silvis in 1907, which is the last
one to be started in the county.
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908