Woodlawn-American NB, Birmingham, AL (Charter 13358)
Woodlawn-American NB, Birmingham , AL (Chartered 1929 - Liquidated 1935)
Town History
Birmingham is a city in the north central region of Alabama. It is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous and fifth largest county by area. As of 2018, the Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan area had a population of 1,151,801, making it the most populous in Alabama and 49th-most populous in the United States. Birmingham serves as an important regional hub and is associated with the Deep South, Piedmont, and Appalachian regions of the nation.
Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, England, UK; one of that nation's major industrial cities. Most of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry.
From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South. The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City and The Pittsburgh of the South. Much like Pittsburgh, Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where both rails and railroad cars were manufactured in Birmingham. In the field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in the Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the United States. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company: Regions Financial, along with five other Fortune 1000 companies.
In higher education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (formerly the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry since 1947. Since that time it has also obtained a campus of the University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham (founded circa 1969), one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System. It is also home to three private institutions: Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Miles College. Between these colleges and universities, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. The city has three of the state's five law schools: Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, one of the major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences.
Birmingham had 10 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all 10 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized Jul 27, 1929
- Chartered Jul 31, 1929
- Liquidated May 8, 1935
- Absorbed by 3185 (First National Bank, Birmingham, AL)
Approval of charters for the Woodlawn-American and Leeds-American National Banks was given in July 1929 by the Comptroller of the Currency at Washington. J.C. Persons, President of the American-Traders National Bank said organization of the Woodlawn-American had been perfected with J.T. Rhodes of the First Avenue Coal and Coke Company as president. The new bank was capitalized at $100,000 with a surplus of $25,000. John A. Hand of the American-Traders National Bank was slated as the vice president and cashier of the new Woodlawn bank and Robert Daly the assistant cashier. The new banks would act as liquidating agents for the Woodlawn Savings Bank and the Leeds State bank that recently closed their doors. Horace Wilkinson was the liquidating agent for the two banks.
On Saturday August 3, 1929, The Woodlawn-American National Bank opened in the quarters previously occupied by the Woodlawn Savings bank and the Leeds-American National Bank opened in the former quarters of the Bank of Leeds. The new banks announced that they had no connection with the old institutions. Both banks were under the supervision of the American-Traders Security Corp. owned by stockholders of the American-Traders National Bank of Birmingham. The board of directors of the new Woodlawn bank were J.T. Rhodes, Ben I. Dilger, Dr. J.H. Stephens, A.P. Odum, W.I. Christian, John A. Hand, J.A. Allen, Claude Shill, John W. Keith, and Horace Wilkinson. The Woodlawn American National Bank's location was 5502 First Avenue, North.
Upon consolidation of the American-Traders National Bank with the First National Bank of Birmingham the end of June 1930, the Woodlawn-American National Bank became affiliated with the First.
On July 15, 1930, three unmasked robbers held up the Woodlawn-American National Bank and escaped with approximately $24,000 in currency. One of the trio remained in an auto and trained a machine gun on the door while the other two, armed with automatics, forced their way into the bank when the doors were opened by William Cox, a bookkeeper. Cox and teller C.L. Porter who arrived a few minutes later were forced at gun point to open the vault. The bandits escaped in a green Essex sedan as R.W. Daly, cashier, was entering the bank. Daly released the employees and the customer and called the police. Among the currency taken by the robbers were 2,500 new $5 bills with the name of Woodlawn-American National Bank printed on them. One of the bank employees thought that one of the robbers was a man that had previously made inquiries at the bank regarding some cancelled checks.
A week later a man was under arrest at Cullman, AL after a bill believed to have been taken from the National Bank was found in his possession. A bank employee received a threatening letter for having identified Neil K. (Popeye) Pumphrey as one of the robbers. Pumphrey of Memphis was arrested July 19th in Hot Springs, Ark. Pumphrey in custody of Chief of Detectives Herbert Akers left by airplane for Birmingham, but at Jackson, MS, Pumphrey induced Akers to release him. Pumphrey was arrested again that night. Pumphrey was released at Birmingham after questioning by police when he proved that he was not in Birmingham on the day of the robbery. About a year later, Pumphrey, in poor health, sent a bullet through his head ending his life on Oct 28, 1931.
On March 7, 1931 the Woodlawn-American National Bank took over the old Wahouma Savings Bank. By combining resources of the two banks, the eastern section of Birmingham was given a strong banking institution. Combined resources were $611,000 and the capital and surplus was $125,000.
In May, 1935, The Woodlawn-American National Bank, The Leeds-American National Bank and The Fairfield American National Bank, as well as the Tarrant-American Savings Bank and North-Birmingham Savings Bank were liquidated, ending their association with the First National Bank of Birmingham and becoming branch banks of the latter.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Woodlawn-American National Bank of Birmingham, AL
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $549,140 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1929 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 70,052 notes (No large size and 70,052 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 5402 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 2860 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 754 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 9392 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 5324 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1240
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1929 - 1935):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Alabama Bank Note History
- General information on Birmingham (Wikipedia)
- General information on Jefferson County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Alabama (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Birmingham , AL, 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://bbdata.banknotehistory.com
- The Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, Tue., July 23, 1929.
- The Dothan Eagle, Dothan, AL, Tue., Aug. 6, 1929.
- The Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, Wed., July 16, 1930.
- The Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, Mon., Mar. 9, 1931.
- Hope Star, Hope Ark., Thu., Oct. 29, 1931.
- The Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, Sat., June 23, 1934.