Alamo National Bank, San Antonio, TX (Charter 4525)
Alamo National Bank, San Antonio, TX (Chartered 1891 - Liquidated 1989)
Town History
San Antonio is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seventh-most populous city in the United States, second-most populous city in Texas and second-most populous city in the Southern U.S., with a population of 1.43 million at the 2020 census. The San Antonio metropolitan area, with an estimated 2.76 million residents, ranks as the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest in the nation. It is the county seat of Bexar County.
San Antonio is home to five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo.
San Antonio had 16 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and 15 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized December 5, 1890
- Chartered March 2, 1891
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged South Texas National Bank of San Antonio (Charter 14179) (No Issue) in 1946
- Failed March 29, 1989. Received Gov't Assistance until closed.
On December 5, 1890, the Alamo National Bank was organized in San Antonio with a paid-up capital of $250,000. The directors were Charles Hugo, Ernest Steves, Henry Elmendorf, N. Mackey, Axel Merscheidt, S. Halff, and W. Henermann of San Antonio, and J.N. Brown and P.H. Swearengen of Brenham. The officers were Charles Hugo, president; S. Halff, vice president; and J.N. Brown, cashier. The new bank would begin business on January 1st.[4]
In January 1905, the directors were Chas. Hugo, S. Halff, Edwin Chamberlain, G. Schmeizer, Geo. C. Vaughan, Ernest Steves, Wm. Reglen, Geo. Heuermann, and J.N. Brown. The officers were Chas. Hugo, president; S. Halff, first vice president; Edwin Chamberlain, second vice president; and J.N. Brown, cashier. The bank had capital $250,000, surplus and profits $150,000.[5] On Monday evening, May 29, 1905, Solomon Halff, identified with some of the largest business enterprises in this section including the wholesale firm of A.B. Frank Co. and the Alamo National Bank, died at his home in San Antonio surrounded by his family. He was at his place of business until 12:30 p.m. when he returned home, leaving to see his doctor around 6 o'clock.[6]
On October 26, 1906, J.N. Brown, for many years cashier of the Alamo National Bank, was elected president to succeed Charles Hugo, deceased. Otto Meerscheidt, assistant cashier, was made cashier.[7]
The Alamo National Bank Building at 154 E Commerce Street was completed in 1929, and stands 24 stories tall on San Antonio’s historic Paseo del Rio, spanning one city block facing St. Mary’s Street. In 2005, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places while it was under renovation to open as a Drury Hotel.
On Wednesday, May 14, 1930, Ernest Steves, pioneer San Antonio financier, business man and civic leader, died in Santa Rosa infirmary four days after he was operated on for appendicitis. Had he lived until Sunday, Mr. Steves would have been 68 years old. He was unmarried and had been living with his 91-year-old mother, Mrs. Johanna Steves. At the time of his death Mr. Steves was chairman of the board of the Alamo National Bank and its affiliate, the Alamo National Company. He also was a director of the San Antonio Building and Loan Association. He was an official of the Airport Corporation formed to finance the site which San Antonio donated to the government for Randolph Field, then being built as the "West Point of the Air Service." Mr. Steves was a member of the railroad committee, the chamber of commerce and as such was an active worker for the projected Gulf and West Texas railroad to San Angelo. Mr. Steves, son of the late Ed Steves who emigrated from Germany to Comfort, began his business career here as a lumberman with his father in 1878. At the time of his death he remained identified with some of the Steves lumber and building material interests.[8]
In January 1935, the Dallas Federal Reserve Board reappointed directors of the Houston, San Antonio and El Paso branch banks. Reappointed were C.N. Bassett of El Paso, John A. Wilkins of Houston, and Walter P. Napier of San Antonio.[9]
On Saturday, January 19, 1946, an announcement was made of plans for consolidating the South Texas National Bank of San Antonio (Charter 14179) with the Alamo National Bank also of San Antonio. Combined facilities of both institutions as the Alamo National Bank under the charter of the Alamo National and after March 4, 1946, that all business would be transacted in the Alamo National Bank's building.[10]
The South Texas National Bank of San Antonio succeeded the South Texas Bank and Trust Company, receiving its charter on June 2, 1934. It did not issue national bank notes. In July 1932, The South Texas Bank & Trust Company was organized by depositors of the defunct City-Central Bank & Trust Company, assisted by a loan of $1,450,000 from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.[11] The bank opened on Friday, September 30th with final approval of the RFC loan. Ernest J. Miller, formerly of Corpus Christi was president of the new bank. A 40% dividend was be paid to City Central depositors, many of whom agreed to redeposit in the new bank.[12]
On February 2, 1948, Edwin Chamberlain, 90, retired investment banker, died in San Antonio. Chamberlain, a native of Brownsville, founded the investment house of Edwin Chamberlain & Company, retiring in 1940. He was the oldest past president of the Texas Bankers Association, a past president of the State Association of Texas Pioneers and a founder of the San Antonio Country Club.[13]
The statement of condition of the Alamo National Bank as of the close of business on September 30, 1977, showed total assets of $308,248,000. The bank had capital $8,000,000, surplus and undivided profits 13,231,000. Directors attesting to the correctness of the report were John K. Myer, Reagan Houston, and William B. Hudson.[14] In 1976, Reagan became Chairman and Chief Executive officer of the Alamo National Bank.[15]
In August 1984, directors of Alamo National Bank and San Antonio Bank & Trust voted to merge in anticipation of a merger of the holding companies that owned the institutions. Bank officials had been considering consolidation since Southwest Bancshares Inc. completed its acquisition of San Antonio Bank & Trust in March. Mercantile Texas Corp., the parent company for Alamo National and Southwest Bancshares announced plans a year ago to merge the two holding companies. The merger of the two downtown banks was contingent on completion of their holding companies' merger. The consolidation would result in an institution with total assets of $793 million and total deposits of $616 million. Alamo National, founded in 1891, would be renamed MBank Alamo and San Antonio Bank & Trust, started in 1892, would be known as MBank Travis Park Branch.[16]
In March 1989, Robert L. Clarke, Comptroller of the Currency seized 20 insolvent MBanks with the intent to sell them. Among the MCorp banks seized was MBank Alamo. James B. Gardner, former chairman of MBank Dallas, was hired as president of Deposit Insurance Bridge Bank. The FDIC planned to recruit a chairman from outside Corp system to run it.[17] MBank Alamo had assets of $717,213,000 and Deposits $673,443,000.[18]
In July 1989, William Renfro was the managing director of Central Texas operations for the newly created Bank One, Texas. Ohio-based Banc One Corp. came to the rescue of the former MBank Austin organization, saving plenty of jobs in the process. MBank Austin formerly went by the name of Deposit Insurance Bridge Bank and before that MBank Austin, successor to American National Bank. Renfro came to Austin after 12 years in banking in Corpus Christi and San Antonio where he was an oil and gas leader and later chairman and chief executive of Alamo National Bank.[19]
Official Bank Title
1: The Alamo National Bank of San Antonio, TX
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $7,165,310 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1891 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 839,315 notes (609,560 large size and 229,755 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 5000 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 5000 1882 Brown Back 50-100 1 - 3534 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 8555 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 3339 1882 Date Back 50-100 1 - 72 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 18500 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 18700 1902 Plain Back 4x5 18501 - 74717 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 18701 - 53976 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 20410 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 9986 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 2374 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 22188 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 8300 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 2647
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1891 - 1935):
Presidents:
- Charles Hugo, 1891-1906
- John Nicolas Brown, 1907-1921
- Ernest Steves, 1922-1928
- Walter Pharo Napier, 1929-1935
Cashiers:
- John Nicolas Brown, 1891-1906
- Otto Meerscheidt, 1907-1917
- Albert Wadsworth Wilkerson, 1918-1918
- Ernest Lee Brown, 1919-1919
- Thomas Rogers Lentz, 1920-1934
- Thomas Harvey Harvin, 1935-1935
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- San Antonio, TX, 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
- ↑ he Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 81, July-Dec 1910, p. 523.
- ↑ The Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 81, July-Dec 1910, p. 532.
- ↑ San Antonio Light, San Antonio, TX, Thu., Feb. 13, 1947.
- ↑ The Times-Democrat, New Orleans, LA, Fri., Dec. 5, 1890.
- ↑ Freie Presse Fur Texas, San Antonio, TX, Mon., Jan. 9, 1905.
- ↑ The Waco Times-Herald, Waco, TX, Fri., June 2, 1905.
- ↑ Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, Sat., Oct. 27, 1906.
- ↑ The Houston Post, Houston, TX, Thu., May 15, 1930.
- ↑ Corpus Christi Times, Corpus Christi, Tue., Jan. 8, 1935.
- ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., Jan. 20, 1946.
- ↑ Abilene Daily Reporter, Abilene, TX, Tue., July 5, 1932.
- ↑ The Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, Thu., Sep. 29, 1932.
- ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Mon., Feb. 2, 1948.
- ↑ Express-News, San Antonio, TX, Tue., Nov 1, 1977.
- ↑ Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, Sun., Sep. 20, 1992.
- ↑ The Odessa American, Odessa, TX, Thu., Aug. 16, 1984.
- ↑ The Houston Post, Houston, TX, Thu., Mar. 30, 1989.
- ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Thu., Mar. 30, 1989.
- ↑ Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, Mon., July 24, 1989.