Second National Bank, New Albany, IN (Charter 2166)
Second National Bank, New Albany, IN (Chartered 1874 - Receivership 1934)
Town History
New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 to the north and the Ohio River to the south, and is considered part of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. In 1870 the population was 15,396, growing to 25,819 by 1930.
The land of New Albany was officially granted to the United States after the American Revolutionary War. The territory had been captured by George Rogers Clark in 1779. For his services Clark was awarded large tracts of land in Southern Indiana including most of Floyd County. After the war, Clark sold and distributed some of his land to his fellow soldiers. The area of New Albany ended up in the possession of Col. John Paul.
New Albany was founded in July 1813 when three brothers from New York, Joel, Abner, and Nathaniel Scribner, arrived at the Falls of the Ohio and named the site after the city of Albany, New York. They purchased the land from Col. John Paul. New Albany was platted by John Graham on land owned by the Scribner brothers. In 1814, Joel and Mary Scribner built their home in New Albany; the Scribner House still stands today. New Albany was incorporated as a town in 1817 as part of Clark County. In 1819, three years after Indiana was admitted as a state, New Albany became the seat of government for newly established Floyd County. A courthouse was finally built in 1824.
New Albany grew rapidly and was the largest city in Indiana from 1816 until 1860, when it was overtaken by Indianapolis. Before the Civil War, over half of Hoosiers worth over $100,000 (~$1.7 million in 2023) lived in New Albany, making it by far the wealthiest part of the state. The steamboat industry was the engine of the city's economy during the mid-19th century. Fueled by abundant forests for lumber, at least a half-dozen shipbuilders were in operation and turned out a multitude of steamboats and packet boats, including the Robert E. Lee, Eliza Battle, the Eclipse, and the A.A. Shotwell. Shipbuilding was accompanied by a wide range of ancillary business including machine shops, foundries, cabinet and furniture factories, and silversmith shops. Its second largest business was the American Plate Glass Works.
New Albany had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and four of those banks issued National Bank Notes. New Albany also had six Obsolete Banks that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).
Bank History
- Organized August 3, 1874
- Chartered August 12, 1874
- Assumed 965 by consolidation December 21, 1909 (Merchants National Bank, New Albany, IN)
- Conservatorship March 24, 1933
- Receivership March 23, 1934
On August 3, 1874, the directors of the new Second National Bank of New Albany met and elected the following officers: Lawrence Bradley, president; M.A. Weir, cashier; Charles H. Butler, teller. The bank planned to commence business on the 20th in the building of the Merchants' National Bank. The capital stock was $100,000 with 60% paid-in.[1]
On Tuesday, January 12, 1875, the stockholders of the different national banks in New Albany elected their directors and officers. The directors of the Merchants National bank were Jacob Hangary, W.C. De Pauw, Lawrence Bradley, J.R. Shields, and J.B. Winstandley. The officers were Jacob Hangary, president; Seth Woodruff, cashier; and Edward Hangary, clerk. The directors of the Second National Bank were Lawrence Bradley, R.P. Main, J.H. Butler, R.G. McCord, and M.A. Weir. The officers were L. Bradley, president; J.H. Butler, vice president; M.A. Weir, secretary; Charles Butler, teller.[2] Lawrence Bradley was president of the woolen mills and J.B. Winstandley, treasurer of the glass works. W.C. De Pauw was chief owner of the foundry.[3]
On November 11, 1909, J. Harry Fawcett, cashier of the Merchants National Bank in New Albany, Indiana, was shot and killed and President J.K. Woodward seriously injured by an unidentified man who entered the bank before noon and began shooting. The assailant, a man of about 21 years, ran to the Ohio River and started for the Kentucky side in a skiff. The New Albany police pursued in a motor boat, succeeding in capturing the man near the Kentucky and Indiana bridge, placing him behind bars in the New Albany Jail.[4] On November 13th, George A. Newhouse was appointed cashier of the Merchants National Bank. Thomas J. Hoal, the 17-year-old who killed J.H. Fawcett and seriously wounded John K. Woodward, president, was said to be half flippant, half contrite. In an interview with Superintendent Peyton of the Jeffersonville Reformatory, he said he pulled the trigger of one revolver three times pointing it at George A. Newhouse, bank teller, but the chambers were empty.[5]
On November 29, 1909, a deal was closed to merge the Second National Bank and the Merchants National Bank, both of New Albany, the former with capital of $200,000 and the latter with $100,000. The capital stock of the new concern would be $300,000 and the bank would do business at the Merchants' banking house at Pearl and Main Streets, the scene of the recent deadly bank robbery. Earl S. Gwin, president of the Second National would be president and George A. Newhouse, the newly elected cashier of the Merchants, cashier.[6]
On March 25, 1933, conservators for the Second National Bank and New Albany National Bank were appointed by the comptroller of the currency. Frank N. Fougerousse, cashier of the Second National was named its conservator and Harold McCulloch, vice president of the New Albany National was named its conservator. Operations of the New Albany Trust Company, adjunct of the Second National and the Industrial Savings and Trust Company connected with the New Albany National temporarily were suspended.[8]
On Monday, March 12, 1934, the Union National Bank, a reorganized bank, would open for business under a newly granted charter #14047. The reorganization supplanted two banks that were closed, the Second National Bank and the New Albany National Bank, and released a large volume of money to depositors.[9] Julius C. Moser was president of the Union National and Ira F. Wilcox, cashier. Walter V. Bulleit was a director of the Union National and also of the federal reserve bank in Louisville.[10]
On September 1, 1934, the New Albany Trust Company was able to reopen because of $400,000 in mortgages which the HOLC had unfrozen for it. The Federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) Bank of Evansville accepted only homes that were lived in by the borrowers as collateral. The HOLC was organized by President Roosevelt to prevent countless mortgage foreclosures and to make liquid millions of dollars of frozen assets in banks in the shape of mortgages which could not be paid off in time.[11] Charles D. Knoefel was a former president of the New Albany Trust Company and conducted the Knoefel Drug Store on Market Street between Pearl and State Streets.[12]
In 1940, the officers of the Union National Bank were Julius C. Moser, president; Frank N. Fougerousse, vice president; and Ira F. Wilcox, cashier.[13]
Official Bank Title
1: The Second National Bank of New Albany, IN
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $5,435,560 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1874 and 1934. This consisted of a total of 690,266 notes (510,758 large size and 179,508 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Original Series 4x5 1 - 6500 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 11766 1882 Brown Back 50-100 1 - 1975 1882 Date Back 50-100 1 - 3200 1882 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 533 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 5000 1902 Date Back 4x10 1 - 5000 1902 Plain Back 4x5 5001 - 62233 1902 Plain Back 4x10 5001 - 44070 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 19334 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 7678 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 12356 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 5080
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1874 - 1934):
Presidents:
- Lawrence Bradley, 1874-1895
- Col. James Madison Andrew, 1896-1907
- Earl Stimson Gwin, 1908-1913
- Henry E. Jewett, 1914-1927
- George A. Newhouse, Jr., 1928-1932
Cashiers:
- Merrill Alonzo Weir, 1874-1882
- Edward B. Lapping, 1883-1893
- Lawrence Leyden Bradley, 1894-1894
- Edward B. Lapping, 1895-1896
- George William Harrison, 1897-1902
- Earl Stimson Gwin, 1903-1907
- George A. Newhouse, Jr., 1910-1927
- Frank N. Fougerousse, 1928-1932
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- New Albany, IN, 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 Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, Tue., Aug. 4, 1874.
- ↑ The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, Wed., Jan. 13, 1875.
- ↑ Evansville Courier and Press, Evansville, IN, Tue., Nov. 7, 1876.
- ↑ Springfield News-Sun, Springfield, OH, Thu., Nov. 11, 1909.
- ↑ The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, Sat., Nov. 13, 1909.
- ↑ The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, Tue., Nov. 30, 1909.
- ↑ The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, Sun., July 27, 1930.
- ↑ The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, Sun., Mar. 26, 1933.
- ↑ The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, Thu., Mar. 8, 1934.
- ↑ The Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, IN, Sat., May 2, 1936.
- ↑ Evansville Courier and Press, Evansville, IN, Sun., July 29, 1934.
- ↑ The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, Fri., Apr. 30, 1937.
- ↑ The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, Thu., Jan. 11, 1940.