Bank of Athens National Banking Association, Athens, OH (Charter 10479)
Bank of Athens National Banking Association, Athens, OH (Chartered 1914 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Athens is a city in Athens County, Ohio, and its county seat. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about 65 miles southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio University, a large public research university with an undergraduate and graduate enrollment of more than 21,000 students. It is the principal city of the Athens micropolitan area. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 United States census. In 1910 the population was 5,463, growing to 7,252 by 1930.
The first permanent European settlers arrived in Athens in 1797, more than a decade after the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War. In 1800, the town site was first surveyed and plotted and incorporated as a village in 1811. Ohio had become a state in 1803. Ohio University was chartered in 1804, the first public institution of higher learning in the Northwest Territory. Previously part of Washington County, Ohio, Athens County was formed in 1805, named for the ancient center of learning, Athens, Greece.
Athens had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes. Athens also had one Obsolete Bank that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).
Bank History
- Organized January 20, 1914
- Chartered January 22, 1914
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Notation on Organization Report: Succeeds Bank of Athens
- Merged with Athens National Bank (Charter 7744) October 1962
In 1840 John Brown moved to Albany, Ohio, and 1868 to Athens, where he and his son, James D. Brown, engaged in business under the name of "Bank of Athens."
Passing up Main Street from the south part of the quiet little village of Athens, you find on the corner of Main and Washington Streets a fine three-story building owned by the First National Bank. The bank occupied the first floor corner room. Through the large plate-glass window reaching from the pavement to the ceiling of the room, one passing on the street can see piles of bank notes and silver which could be had by the favored few on short time and good interest upon undoubted collaterals such as United States bonds or upon personal security if it was known to be "gilt-edged." Crossing the street diagonally was the banking house know as the Bank of Athens. The windows were not quite so magnificent as were those of the First National Bank. But inside the bank they made quite as dazzling a display of their wealth. The Cincinnati Enquirer, November 1876.[1]
In December 1880, James D. Brown, cashier of the Bank of Athens joined T.H. Sheldon, cashier of the First National Bank of Athens, in endorsing Dr. Seth Hart's Croup Syrup, having used it as "a certain cure for Croup, Whooping Cough, and common colds incident to children."[2] Despite the recommendation, in 1941 F.D.C. No. 2496, Sample No. 27271-E found Dr. Seth's product's labeling was false and misleading as to its efficacy and the Northern District Court of West Virginia ordered the product destroyed.
On January 10, 1914, the Bank of Athens made application to the Comptroller of the Currency for authority to reorganize as the Bank of Athens National Banking Association. J.D. Brown, T.J. Davis, W.B. Golden, and Jane Brown Davis were named in the application as incorporators.[3] On January 22, 1914, a charter was issued authorizing the Bank of Athens, National Banking Association of Athens, Ohio to begin business with a capital of $100,000. James D. Brown was president and W.B. Golden, cashier. It succeeded the Bank of Athens.[4]
In March 1934, salaries of officials of state and national banks affiliated with the federal reserve system were made public. For the Bank of Athens National Banking Association, the following was reported: J.D. Brown, president, none; H.Z. Forsyth, vice president, $2,400; F.D. Forsyth, cashier, $6,000.[5]
On Saturday morning, October 13, 1934, James D. Brown, 89, president of Bank of Athens of Athens, Ohio, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. Davis, at Indian Hill. At the time of his death he was visiting at the home of his son-in-law, Thomas J. Davis, president of the First National Bank of Cincinnati. Recently he had returned with Mr. and Mrs. Davis from their summer home at Harbor Point, Michigan. For 60 years he had been President of the Bank of Athens, with which he became associated in 1863. His father, the late John Brown, founded the bank in 1855 in Albany, Ohio, later moving it to Athens. Still active, Brown had not resigned his position with bank. He had been ailing in health only a short time. Identified with banking all his life, Brown became widely known in Ohio banking circles. In addition, as a Civil War veteran, he had extensive acquaintances among G.A.R. members throughout the country, attending many of their reunions. Brown was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He was initiated into the society when attending Ohio University at Athens.[6]
On January 8, 1952, Thomas J. Davis, for many years a leading Cincinnati banker, died at Holmes Hospital. Mr. Davis retired in 1950 as a director of the First National Bank of Cincinnati which he had served as president from 1934 to 1944. His association with the bank began in 1902 when he was cashier there. As chairman of the board, Mr. Davis made headlines during the national banking crisis in 1933 when the Cincinnati Clearing House Association decided to limit withdrawals in local banks. Under Mr. Davis's direction, the First National declined to follow suit and became the only local bank to pay its depositors dollar for dollar shortly before President Roosevelt declared the bank holiday. He began his banking career in 1889 as clerk in the Catlettsburg, Kentucky, National Bank. He was one of the organizers of the Second National Bank of Ashland, Kentucky and was associated with the Bank of Ashland and the First National Bank of Louisa, Kentucky, before coming to Cincinnati in 1892. In the ensuing 10 years, Mr. Davis served as cashier of the old Fifth National Bank of Cincinnati. He was one of the founders of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and a member of the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal reserve Bank. He also was vice president of the Bank of Athens, Ohio, a family institution of which his wife, Mrs. Jane Brown Davis, was president.[7]
On August 19, 1958, Mrs. Jane Brown Davis, president of the Bank of Athens, Athens, Ohio, and widow of Thomas J. Davis, former president and chairman of the board of the First National Bank of Cincinnati, died of a heart attack at her residence in Indian Hill. She was 76 years old. Born in Athens, Mrs. Davis assumed the presidency of the Bank of Athens in the early '30s after her father's death. The bank was founded by her forefathers. She was a descendant of a Massachusetts officer in the Revolution, and was a Colonial Dame. Mrs. Davis was a member of the board of Western College, Oxford, Ohio; the Home for Incurables, Maple Knoll Hospital Home and the Widows' and Old Men's Home. She was a leader of the women's division of the American Red Cross in World War I. In World War II she participated in the Women At War Committee. Mrs. Davis was a member of the Camargo Club, the Queen City Club, the Cincinnati Country Club, and the Bath and Tennis Club, Palm Beach, Florida. She also was a founding member of the Little Harbor Club of Harbor Point, Michigan. One of the few women bank presidents in the United States, Mrs. Davis was survived by four children, 15 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her sons were: Laurence L. Davis, Indian Hill, vice president and director of the First National Bank; James B. Davis, Pittsburgh, vice president of the Peoples First National Bank & Trust Company, and Thomas J. Davis Jr., San Francisco, California, vice president of the Kern County Land Co. Her only daughter was Mrs. Alfred Loomis, Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.[8]
In April 1962, two Athens banks announced sale of their stock to three Cincinnati brothers. The banks were the Bank of Athens founded in 1868 and the Athens National Bank, founded in 1905. Carl, Robert, and Richard Lindner, Cincinnati businessmen purchased the stock. The chairman of the boards of directors of the two banks, Laurence L. Davis of the Bank of Athens, and James B. Davis of the Athens National Bank, made the announcement.[9] In October 1962, James J. Saxon, Comptroller of the Currency, approved plans to merge the $7.7 million Athens (Ohio) National Bank and the $6.4 million Bank of Athens National Banking Association.[10]
In February 1963, the American Financial Corp., a diversified Cincinnati holding company, announced plans to acquire the Athens National Bank of Athens, Ohio, and the United Liberty Life Insurance Co. of Dallas, Texas, and Cincinnati. The Athens bank had a net worth of $1,968,338 and the insurance company had assets of $1,372,771. Carl. H. Lindner, president of Cincinnati's diversified financial holdings company, American Financial Corp. Mr. Lindner also announced that American's earnings exceeded $1 million for the first time in 1962.[11]
Carl. H. Lindner, president of Cincinnati's diversified financial holdings company, American Financial Corp. said work was about to start on a branch office building for Athens National Bank at Athens.[12]
Official Bank Title
1: The Bank of Athens National Banking Association, Athens, OH
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $621,140 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1914 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 53,928 notes (34,796 large size and 19,132 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 8699 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 604 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 164 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 5490 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 7786 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1248
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1914 - 1935):
Presidents:
- James Dickey Brown, 1914-1934
- Mrs. Jane Brown Davis, 1935[13]
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Athens, OH, on Wikipedia
- Don C. Kelly, National Bank Notes, A Guide with Prices. 6th Edition (Oxford, OH: The Paper Money Institute, 2008).
- Dean Oakes and John Hickman, Standard Catalog of National Bank Notes. 2nd Edition (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990).
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Sat., Nov. 4, 1876.
- ↑ The Jackson Standard, Jackson, OH, Thu., Dec. 2, 1880.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Sun., Jan. 11, 1914.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Sat., Jan. 24, 1914.
- ↑ The Evening Independent, Massillon, OH, Fri., Mar. 9, 1934.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Sun., Oct. 14, 1934.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Wed., Jan. 9, 1952.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Wed., Aug. 20, 1958.
- ↑ The Newark Advocate, Newark, OH, Thu., Apr. 26, 1962.
- ↑ The Daily Reporter, Dover, OH, Tue., Oct. 30, 1962.
- ↑ The Lima Citizen, Lima, OH, Tue., Feb. 19, 1963.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati, OH, Thu., Apr. 16, 1964.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, Table M, Individual Statements of Condition of National Banks at the Close of Business, December 31, 1935, p. 120.