First National Bank, Fulda, MN (Charter 6054)
First National Bank, Fulda, MN (Chartered 1901 - Receivership 1926)
Town History
Fulda is a city in Murray County in the southwest part of Minnesota.
The city of Fulda was founded in 1881 along the Milwaukee Road primarily by German settlers, though also by Scandinavian and Irish. The community was named for Fulda in Hessen, Germany.
During the National Bank Note Era the population of Fulda was 150 in 1880, climbing to 818 in 1930, and as of 2010 it stands at 1,318.
First National Bank was the only National Bank in Fulda.
Bank History
- Organized Dec 14, 1901
- Chartered Dec 19, 1901
- Opened for business Jan 1, 1902
- Succeeded State Bank of Fulda
- Receivership Oct 7, 1926
The history of the First National Bank of Fulda is the intertwining story of two institutions, one operating from 1885 to 1908 and the other from 1891 to 1926. Each started as a private bank and each subsequently operated under state charter before assuming the charter and name of the First National Bank.
Four years after Fulda itself was founded, John Marshall Dickson established the town's the first bank in 1885, the Dickson Brothers Bank, as its chief owner and president. Although he had at least two brothers, it seems likely that John was the only one who ever actually lived in Fulda - perhaps his brothers held ownership stakes in the bank, hence its name. By May, 1886, the bank had been renamed the Bank of Fulda, and on May 18, 1892, it was incorporated under Minnesota state charter #161 as the State Bank of Fulda. On December 14, 1901, the bank was again reorganized as the First National Bank of Fulda under national charter #6054. It opened for business on January 1, 1902, in part of a handsome new brick building, the rest of which was occupied by a general store operated by A. C. Groskreutz. The building still stands today, albeit with an extensively remodeled ground floor. It can be identified by the inscription “FIRST NAT’L BANK” carved in the stone blocks atop the brick facade. John Dickson remained president of the institution through all these changes, and thus became the first president of the First National Bank. The cashier of the reorganized bank was Karl A. Meilicke, who was quickly succeeded by Ferdinand G. Kickul (aka Frederick Kekl) later in 1902. John J. (“Jay”) Schueller became cashier in 1905.
The other pedigree line for the First National Bank began with a private bank established in Fulda in 1891 by James Benton Martyn and Henry P. A. Martyn as the Martyn Brothers Bank. The Martyn brothers were originally from New York and lived in Newell, IA, before moving to Fulda some time after 1885. The Martyn Brothers Bank was sold in June, 1901, to Messrs. Schlegel & Hinckley from Emmetsburg, Iowa, who changed its name to the Farmers Bank. George Godfrey Schlegel moved to Fulda to become president. In late 1905 or early 1906, Hinckley sold his interest in the Farmers Bank to John Schritzmeier Tolversen, who moved to Fulda from Neenah, WI, to become cashier and active manager of the bank, and Warren D. Creglow, a banker from Remsen, IA. On August 18, 1906, the Farmers Bank was reorganized under Minnesota state charter #632 as the Farmers State Bank. Schlegel soon moved to Oregon and was succeeded by Creglow as president. In early 1908, Creglow sold his interest in the bank to Julius Andreas Smith, who had previously been vice president of the State Bank of Fulda until its conversion to a national bank in late 1901, and Erick Andreas Erickson, also from Fulda. Smith became president of the bank, Erickson became vice president, Tolversen remained cashier, and Thomas Patrick Downey was the assistant cashier.
In early 1908, John Dickson was struck and killed by a train while walking along the tracks east of Fulda. The First National Bank descended into chaos following his death. It turned out that Dickson had sold his stock in the bank to some unnamed “banking interests in Sioux City” shortly before his death, and a boardroom war subsequently erupted between these new shareholders and the officers of the bank, including its new president, John H. Plut. Within a few months, those officers all left the First National Bank to form a rival bank, the Citizens State Bank of Fulda. The Iowa investors then sold their stake in the First National Bank to Julius Smith and John Tolversen of the Farmers State Bank. Subsequently, on January 16, 1909, the Farmers State Bank completed a merger with what was left of the First National Bank, retaining its national charter, with Smith as president, Tolversen as vice president, and Downey as cashier. After the death of Julius Smith a few months later, John Tolversen became president, Erick Erickson became vice president, and Thomas Downey remained cashier. After four presidents and two changes in ownership in less than two years, the bank finally returned to stability.
The Midwestern agricultural economy flourished during and immediately following WWI, and the First National Bank of Fulda no doubt shared in that prosperity. In 1920, its assets peaked at over $841,000. Encouraged, perhaps, by this good fortune, the bank erected an impressive new building diagonally across the street from its original building. The 45x75 structure was designed and built by the Lytle Company of Sioux City, IA, at a cost of about $50,000, a sum almost equal to the entire capital of the bank. The “gun metal” brick exterior of the building, trimmed with cream-colored terra cotta, had large, two-story windows admitting abundant natural light into the interior. The interior was originally finished in mahogany and Italian marble, some of which remains today to provide at least a hint of the original magnificence. The bank opened its doors for business on April 24, 1919. About the same time, John Tolversen built a large home for himself overlooking the lake. Times were good.
The prosperity soon ended, however, with the collapse of farm commodity prices as part of a nation-wide deflation during the early 1920s. By late 1925 the First National Bank was in deep trouble, financially, along with many other small-town banks in the agricultural Midwest whose main business was providing credit to farmers. With much of its capital tied up in its building, the bank attempted a recapitalization by issuing additional stock, a move that only postponed its collapse by a few months but sowed the seeds for future lawsuits. On September 30, 1926, the First National Bank of Fulda voluntarily closed its doors, apparently after a run by depositors. Although the initial examination showed neither insolvency nor irregularity, the bank was judged too weak to re-open, and was placed in receivership on October 7, 1926, for subsequent liquidation.
In 1927, 25 plaintiffs who had invested in the stock offering of late 1925 filed civil suits against the officers and directors of the now-defunct First National Bank, those defendants being John Tolversen, Erick Erickson, Frank W. Johnson, George J. Leebens, Gilbert M. Gustafson, John Hyslop, and John Wisdorf. The complaint was wrongful conversion; essentially the plaintiffs argued that they had bought stock thinking they were investing in a new bank, rather than the troubled old one, and that they had been deceived into doing so by the defendants. Indeed, it appears that the officers and directors had originally planned in late 1925 to re-organize the bank as a new institution, but their plan was changed to a recapitalization of the existing bank as the result of discussions in December 1925 with the national bank regulators in Washington at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The trial was held in early 1928 in Slayton as a bench trial conducted by Judge Albert H. Enersen of Lamberton. One of the suits was dismissed at call, six were dismissed at the close of testimony, and four were dismissed by judgment on August 28, 1928. Damages totaling $3,200 were awarded in the fourteen remaining cases at the rate of 2/3 the amounts claimed, in three cases against Tolversen only, and in the others against six defendants jointly, all suits against Erickson being dismissed.
The evidence and records of the trial have been preserved at the Minnesota Historical Society library in St. Paul as District Court Case 4857, and include several of the stock certificates for the bank.
After the First National Bank closed, its building was initially leased by the Village of Fulda for use as a community center. On November 14, 1929, the Citizens State Bank purchased the building. On February 15, 1985, the Citizens State Bank failed, and the newly-organized Fulda State Bank assumed its operations. On October 1, 1988, the Fulda State Bank converted from a state to a national charter, becoming the First National Bank of Fulda. Thus, the stately old building in Fulda once again houses a First National Bank.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Fulda, MN
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $222,400 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1901 and 1926. This consisted of a total of 17,792 notes (17,792 large size and 0 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 460 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2010 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 2011 - 2983 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 1005
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
First National Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1901 - 1926):
Presidents:
- John M. Dickson, 1901-1908
- John H. Plut, 1908-1908
- Julius A. Smith, 1908-1909
- John S. Tolversen, 1909-1926
Cashiers:
- Carl A. Meilicke, 1901-1902
- Ferdinand G. Kickul, 1902-1904
- John J. Schueller, 1905-1907
- Thomas P. Downey, 1908-1926
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Murray County Bank Note History
- Minnesota Bank Note History
- General information on Fulda (Wikipedia)
- General information on Murray County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Minnesota (Wikipedia)
References
- Fulda, MN, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulda,_Minnesota
- 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://bbdata.banknotehistory.com
- Fulda Free Press newspaper archives, Gale Family Library, Minnesota History Center (http://sites.mnhs.org/library/)
- Fulda Centennial History (1881-1981), Fulda Centennial Book Committee, ed. Gary Richter