National Shoe and Leather Bank, Auburn, ME (Charter 2270)
National Shoe and Leather Bank, Auburn, ME (Chartered 1875 - Receivership 1933)
Town History
Auburn is a city in south-central Maine. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities or Lewiston–Auburn (L–A).
Auburn was first settled in 1786 as part of Bakerstown, renamed Poland when it was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court in 1795. It was then part of Minot, formed from parts of Poland and incorporated in 1802. Auburn would itself be formed from parts of Minot and incorporated on February 24, 1842. The name was apparently inspired by "Auburn", a village (real or fictitious) featured in the 1770 poem "The Deserted Village" by Oliver Goldsmith. Originally part of Cumberland County, the town became county seat of Androscoggin County at its creation in 1854. By annexing land from towns around it, including part of Poland in 1852, Minot in 1873, and all of Danville (first called Pejepscot) in 1867, Auburn grew geographically into one of Maine's largest municipalities. Incorporated a city on February 22, 1869, Auburn in 1917 would be the first city in the state to adopt a council-manager form of government.
Farms supplied grain and produce, but with construction of the bridge across the river to Lewiston in 1823, and especially after arrival of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad from Portland in January 1848, the community developed into a mill town. Mills were built to operate by water power from falls on the Androscoggin River and Little Androscoggin River. In 1835, the factory system of shoe manufacture originated at Auburn. Other firms manufactured cotton and woolen textiles, carriages, iron goods, bricks and furniture. The population in 1860 was only about 4,000 but by 1890 it was about 12,000, when its shoe factories attracted many French Canadian immigrants, many of whom arrived by train from Quebec. Steady population growth continued to about 1960 when the population was about 24,500.
In Auburn, shoe manufacturing became the dominant industry by the late 19th century. The City Seal, depicting a spindle with different types of shoes at each outside point, was designed when Auburn was positioning itself as the shoe manufacturing center of Maine in the mid-19th century. In 1917 one factory in Auburn was producing 75 percent of the world's supply of white canvas shoes; however, after World War II the shoe industry began to decline, and between 1957 and 1961 the largest manufacturers closed their factories.
Auburn had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized May 24, 1875
- Chartered May 27, 1875
- Conservatorship March 21, 1933
- Receivership December 19, 1933
- The First National Bank of Lewiston bought the National Shoe and Leather bank building and equipment and opened an Auburn branch there, December 1933
In January 1876, the directors were Ara Cushman, John T. Randall, John F. Cobb, Moses Crafts, F.M. Jordan, Geo. C. Wing, Henry Willis. The officers were Ara Cushman, president and M.C. Percival, cashier. The bank had capital of $200,000.
On February 15, 1904, Ara Cushman expired on an Auburn street. He was one of the founders and until two months ago president of the National Shoe and Leather Bank and a prominent shoe manufacturer until the assignment to Boston parties of the Ara Cushman Company three months ago. He was born April 30, 1829, at Minot on his father's farm. He attended the Lewiston Falls and Gorham academies and at the age of nineteen taught a district school for several terms. Shortly afterwards he began the shoe business that became his life's work. In 1858 he began to branch out and erected a two story factory. Soon after he moved to Auburn, he built a large factory there. The business continued in Auburn until a recent reorganization under the firm name of Cushman, Merrill & Hollis of which Mr. Cushman's son, Charles L. Cushman was the senior partner. He was among the first manufacturers to inaugurate the profit sharing plan for employees. He had been financially interested in many organizations including the Arnold Shoe Co., the A.H. Berry Shoe Co. of Portland, Auburn Trust Co., Auburn Land Co., and Auburn Loan and Building Association. Mr. Cushman had served as president of the board of trade, as a representative to the State Legislature in 1873-4, and as delegate to many important Republican conventions. He contributed largely to charitable societies, was prominent in the Universalist Church and State church conventions. His widow and two sons Charles L. and Ara Cushman, Jr., both of Auburn, survived him.
On January 13, 1926, the officers elected were: president, George P. Martin; vice president and cashier, Everett L. Smith; assistant cashier, Parker B. Smith. The directors were E. Farrington Abbott, Amos G Fitz, Fred J. Gross, George P. Martin, Everett L. Smith, Parker B. Smith, and George C. Wing.
On February 27, 1926, Everett L. Smith resigned as cashier to accept the position of executive vice president of the bank and his son Parker B. Smith, assistant cashier was elected to succeed him as cashier. Fifty years earlier E.L. Smith became a clerk at the National Shoe and Leather Bank and stayed 10 years. At the end of that time, he left to accept a position as cashier of the Gardiner National Bank. In 1891 he returned to the National Shoe and Leather Bank. At this meeting, Mr. Smith was presented with a handsomely engraved gold watch.
On March 22, 1933, the Federal Reserve Bank announced appointment of conservators for two Maine banks. The banks were the National Shoe and Leather Bank at Auburn and the First National Bank at Brunswick. The Federal Reserve Bank said Parker B. Smith bad been named the National Shoe and Leather bank conservator and S.L. Forsaith was named conservator for the First National of Brunswick. The Reserve Bank reported that out of 367 member banks in its territory, all but 71 were open. This appointment made it possible for the to continue to run under the direction of Washington until the actual facts were discovered in respect to the banks condition and an appraisal of its assets and liabilities and a method evolved for its resumption of business on its former basis.
On December 20, 1933, Ernest M. Shapiro, resident of Auburn and well known locally as a public accountant was notified by the Comptroller of the Currency, J.F.T. O’Conner that he had been appointed receiver of the National Shoe and Leather Bank of Auburn. The duties of the receiver in this case were to liquidate the remaining assets of the bank not taken over by the First National Bank of Lewiston. The appointment was effective immediately and terminated the office of Parker B. Smith as conservator. The First National Bank of Lewiston recently took over sufficient assets of the National Shoe and Leather Bank to allow immediate payment of 50% of the deposits. Deposits in the Auburn bank had been withheld from the time of the bank holiday, but with the release of 50%, it became operative as a branch of the Lewiston bank, the capitalization of which had been greatly increased. Reoperation of the bank had no bearing on the remaining assets and deposits and it was this portion of the reestablishment that Receiver Shapiro had to settle. Shapiro began his career as a traveling accountant in the Income Tax Division of the U.S. Treasury Department and had conducted a public accountancy business locally for the past 10 years. His duties have included serving as outside auditor for the City of Auburn and he was the treasurer of the Auburn Rehabilitation Corporation, a local agency set up to distribute a $1,000,000 Reconstruction Finance Corporation fund necessitated by the New Auburn fire disaster.
Official Bank Title
1: The National Shoe and Leather Bank of Auburn, ME
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $2,495,740 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1875 and 1933. This consisted of a total of 280,902 notes (254,376 large size and 26,526 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 900 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 13899 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 26000 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 5100 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 7658 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 5417 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2000 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 2001 - 4620 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 3006 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 954 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 2438 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 328
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1875 - 1933):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
- Melvin C. Percival, 1875-1890
- Everett L. Smith, 1891-1925
- Parker Bradstreet Smith, 1926-1929
- Edward R. Smith, 1930-1932
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Auburn, ME, 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 Evening Journal, Lewiston, ME, Mon., Jan. 3, 1876.
- Lewiston Evening Journal, Lewiston, ME, Mon., Feb. 15, 1904.
- Evening Express, Portland, ME, Tue., Feb. 16, 1904.
- Sun-Journal, Lewiston, ME, Wed., Jan. 13, 1926.
- The Lewiston Daily Sun, Lewiston, ME, Mon., Mar. 1, 1926.
- The Lewiston Daily Sun, Lewiston, ME, Wed., Jan. 4, 1933.
- Sun-Journal, Lewiston, ME, Wed., Mar. 22, 1933.
- Sun-Journal, Lewiston, ME, Wed., Dec. 20, 1933.
- Lewiston Sun-Journal, Lewiston, ME, Wed., Jan. 3, 1934.