First National Bank of Athens, OH (Charter 233)
First National Bank of Athens, OH (Chartered 1864 - Liquidated 1917)
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, The First National Bank of Athens (Charter 233), The Athens National Bank (Charter 7744), and The Bank of Athens National Banking Association (Charter 10479), and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes. Athens also had one Obsolete Bank, State Bank of Ohio, Athens Branch, that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).
Bank History
- Chartered February 4, 1864
- Succeeded Branch State Bank of Athens
- Liquidated May 25, 1917
- Consolidated with 7744 (Athens National Bank, Athens, OH)
- Circulation assumed by 7744 (Athens National Bank, Athens, OH)
The Athens Branch opened in 1848 and remained in business until it became the First National Bank of Athens (Charter 233) in 1864.
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 known 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.[2]
Born at Athens, Ohio, July 30, 1829, Lewis H. Stewart was a son of Ezra Stewart, long a prominent citizen. He received his education and lived all his life at Athens, having married a daughter of Professor Williams of the Ohio University. For many years he was cashier of the Athens branch of the State Bank of Ohio.
In April 1858, The News-Herald reported that altered notes on the State Bank of Ohio had lately been put in circulation. Readers were given the following very simple rules by which they could readily detect counterfeits. All notes of the State Bank of Ohio, whether Ones, Twos, Threes, Fives, Tens or Twenties, with the name of the Branch engraved and printed on the face of the bill, had not been counterfeited. Bills with the name of the Branch written in with a pen (and particularly the tens) had been counterfeited. All ten-dollar bills containing the portrait of Judge Swan were spurious. All genuine Twos (new plate) had the signature of J.R. Finn, Vice President, while no genuine note above Threes, contained his signature.[3]
On April 4, 1900, Hon. Eliakim Hastings Moore died at the age of 88 years. He served as County Surveyor, County Auditor, Internal Revenue Collector and Congressman. He was the father of Rev. David H. Moore of Cincinnati, editor of the Western Christian Advocate. Mr. Moore was only 5 years old when he came from Boylston, Massachusetts, in 1817 to the new Northwest. Young as he was, he walked most of the way. His father was an expert Millwright and builder, working on the first mill erected on the Hocking and assisted in the construction of the best old-time residences and the wings of the university buildings. Young Moore improved to the utmost his limited advantages and became an authority in surveying. He was a leader in the development of coal interests of the valley and in securing railroad facilities. He served a long term as director of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad and at his death was the last of the projectors of the Columbus and Hocking Valley. He did much through the Legislature for the Ohio University of which he was a Trustee. He was instrumental in securing the location there for the Hospital for the Insane and was for years a director. He was a director of the old Athens branch of the State Bank of Ohio and as its president, superintended its transfer to the First National Bank of Athens, also serving the new institution as president. He was a Representative in the Forty-first Congress and declined renomination.[4]
On Wednesday, January 16, 1924, Henry O'Bleness, 81, prominent figure in building, banking and school circles of Athens for over half a century, died at his home on East Union Street. Death was caused by diabetes and came after a lingering illness of nearly nine months. A descendent of study pioneer stock, Henry O'Bleness was born June 16, 1842 at Newport, Ohio, and was apprenticed at an early age to learn his father's trade, that of carpenter and joiner. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, 85th Ohio Infantry to serve three months. In 1865 he again enlisted in the Union Army, this time as a sergeant in Company G, 145th Ohio National Guards in which organization he served 100 days. When discharged from service he worked for a time in Marietta at his trade as a carpenter returning to Newport in 1865 to engage in contracting and building. In 1865 Mr. O'Bleness came to Athens to become associated with W.M. McCoy in taking the contract for constructing the woodwork of the Athens Hospital for the Insane. Mr. O'Bleness having full charge of the business and completing the contract alone after Mr. McCoy withdrew from the firm after three years. At the completion of the asylum construction after five years, Mr. O'Bleness determined to remain in Athens and in the 50 years which followed, he became one of the most prominent figures in building, banking and school activities in the city and in Athens County. During the 30 years that elapsed before his retirement from active building and contracting work in 1900, Mr. O'Bleness either superintended or built by contract the city hall, courthouse, many Ohio University and Athens State Hospital buildings, and many of the business houses and residences of the city. He was the builder of Ewing Hall, Music Hall, and had charge of remodeling Cutler Hall. The last buildings which he constructed before his retirement were the Amusement Hall and Cottage "D" of the asylum, the latter building being given his initial in honor of its builder. Appointed a trustee of Ohio University in 1901, he became a member of the building committee and assisted in most of the construction work done on the campus. One of Mr. O'Bleness's most important early achievements in the city of Athens was the part which he took in installing waterworks, sewage lines, and electric lights in the city, serving as waterworks trustee and public service commissioner at the time.
On Friday, January 24, 1936, David Hastings Moore, former Ohio University trustee, collector of internal revenue for the Ohio district during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration, and former member of the Ohio State Senate, died after a short illness. He came to Washington, Ohio, from Athens nine years ago and engaged in the investment banking business.[5][6]
Official Bank Title
1: The First National Bank of Athens, OH
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $538,750 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1864 and 1917. This consisted of a total of 80,564 notes (80,564 large size and No small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Original Series 3x1-2 1 - 4000 Original Series 4x5 1 - 3750 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 800 Series 1875 3x1-2 1 - 440 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 1615 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 484 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 3585 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 1232 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 2300 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 1935
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1864 - 1917):
Presidents:
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
- Wolka, Wendell, "Bank Note Portraiture: The Ohio Experience," Paper Money, January/February 2004, Whole No. 229, p. 8.
- ↑ Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Lancaster, OH, Fri., Oct. 24, 1980.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Sat., Nov. 4, 1876.
- ↑ The News-Herald, Hillsboro, OH, Thu., Apr. 15, 1858.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Thu., Apr. 5, 1900.
- ↑ The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, Sat., Jan. 25, 1936.
- ↑ Chillicothe Gazette, Chillicothe, OH, Sat., Jan. 25, 1936.