Butler County National Bank, Butler, PA (Charter 4374)

The Butler County Court House and Butler County National Bank ca1909. Courtesy Adam Stroup

Butler County National Bank/Butler County NB & TC, Butler, PA (Chartered 1890 - Open past 1935)

Town History

The LaFayette Building in Butler, Pennsylvania, the old Butler County National Bank ca2020. Courtesy Google Maps

Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania. It is located 35 miles north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh Region. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,757. Butler incorporated into a city in 1918.

Butler was named for Maj. Gen. Richard Butler, who fell at the Battle of the Wabash, also known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair%27s_defeatSt. Clair's Defeat, in western Ohio in 1791.

In 1803 John and Samuel Cunningham became the first settlers in the village of Butler. After settling in Butler, the two brothers laid out the community by drawing up plots of land for more incoming settlers. By 1817, the community was incorporated into a borough. The first settlers were of Irish or Scottish descent and were driving westward from Connecticut. In 1802 the German immigrants began arriving, with Detmar Basse settling in Jackson Township in 1802 and founding Zelienople the following year. After George Rapp arrived in 1805 and founded Harmony, larger numbers of settlers followed. John A. Roebling settled Saxonburg in 1832, by which time most of the county was filled with German settlers.

In its heyday, the city of Butler was a "Steel Belt" manufacturing and industrial area. It remains home to an AK Steel factory. In 1902, the Standard Steel Car Company opened one of its largest railcar manufacturing facilities in Butler. It was here that some of the first all-steel rail cars were built. Diamond Jim Brady, the legendary financier, gourmand and gemophile, established the Standard Steel Car Company in 1902, which merged with the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1934, creating Pullman-Standard, a monopoly that was eventually broken by the government.

The American Austin Car Company (1929–1941) was headquartered in the area. Later the firm changed its name to American Bantam Car Company. Bantam was an early producer of small fuel-efficient vehicles through the 1930s. In 1940, lead engineer Karl Probst led Bantam design team to create what later was termed the iconic WWII Jeep. Sizeable military contracts eventually went to Willys and Ford, as the Bantam factory had floundered. Today, a controversial monument stands near the courthouse commemorating Bantam's "creation of the Jeep".

Like most of the region, by the end of the 1970s, the local economy changed dramatically. Manufacturing virtually ended and good-paying jobs became scarce.

The Butler Armory is a National Guard armory located on Washington Street. Built in 1922, it was designed by architect Joseph F. Kuntz with W.G. Wilkins, Co. and expanded in 1930.

The Butler County Courthouse is a government and judicial building located in the heart of the city. The plaza across the street, Diamond Park, displays various war memorials.

The Butler County National Bank, also known as the Lafayette Building and Butler Branch Mellon Bank, it is considered the first "skyscraper" in Butler. It was built in 1902–1903, and is a six-story, five bay by five bay, brick and stone building in the French Renaissance Revival style. A two-story addition was built in 1929. The building housed Butler's post office from 1903 to 1913. The building was rehabilitated into an apartment building in 1992–1993.

Butler had six National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and four of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Organized April 1, 1890
Chartered July 19, 1890
1: Absorbed 5391 July 15, 1927 (Farmers National Bank, Butler, PA)
1: Assumed 13447 and Butler County Trust Company, Butler by consolidation June 3, 1930 with title change (Union National Bank (No Issue), Butler, PA)
Bank was Open past 1935

In 1890, The Butler County National Bank of Butler, Pennsylvania opened with paid up capital of $100,000. The Directors were Jos. Hartman, H. McSweeney, E.E. Abrams, C.P. Collins, C.D. Greenlee, Leslie Hazlett, O.M. Russell, J.V. Ritts, I.G. Smith, W.S. Waldron and D. Osborne and they selected the following officers: Jos. Hartman, president, J.V. Ritts, Vice President, D. Osborne, Cashier, and C.A. Bailey, Assistant Cashier. At the end of 1890, D. Osborne, Cashier reported among resources, Loans and Discounts of $166,870.35, U.S. Bonds of $25,000 and $34,843.47 Cash on hand against liabilities including $100,000 Capital stock, $6,259.36 Undivided profits, Circulation of $22,500 and deposits of 163,417.60. The balance sheet worked out to totals of $292,378.95.

On June 6, 1927, consolidation of the Butler County National Bank and the Farmers National Bank with combined resources of $13,500,000 was announced. This action eliminated Butler's second National Bank while the Merchants National Bank involved in the alleged fraudulent actions by cashier J.H. Hutzler and vice president Thomas M. Baker was taken over by the Butler Savings and Trust Company in May 1927. Hutzler and Baker were tried in federal court and each was sentenced to three years in the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta.

In May 1930, The Mellon National Bank of Pittsburgh secured $200,000 worth of stock in the Butler County National Bank and The Union National Bank of Butler was organized to bring about a merger of Butler banking institutions. Stockholders of the Butler County National Bank voted to increase the capital stock to $600,000, take over the "paper" institution and consolidate both banks with the Butler County Trust Co, owned by the Butler County National Bank. The new bank would be known as the Butler County National Bank and Trust Company. J.V. Ritts was president of the combined financial institutions. The bank had just completed a $300,000 addition to the bank building to provide new quarters for the trust department.

The president of the Union National Bank of Butler, PA, Charter 13447, was Butler lawyer Zeno F. Henninger. He was also chairman of the Peoples-United Telephone Company and an adviser for the Mellon National Bank & Trust Co. The cashier, Frank Richard Denton, began his banking career in 1922 as a clerk for Home National Bank in Arkansas City, Kansas. His father, Albert H. Denton was president of the bank (1909-1925). At a very young age, Frank R. Denton was a national bank examiner from 1923 to 1928 in Washington, DC. There he met Pittsburgh industrialist Andrew W. Mellon, President Herbert Hoover's treasury secretary who recruited him to organize the Mellbank Corp., a forerunner of Mellon Bank. Denton would become the Chief Executive Officer of Mellon Bank.

Funeral services were held for Dr. John V. Ritts who died Wednesday, June 23, 1937. He had been a member of the board of trustees of Allegheny College since 1900. He had been in failing health since a fall suffered several months earlier at his winter home in Florida. Dr. Ritts' length of service as a trustee was second only to that of Capt. Wesley B. Best of Meadville. A number of years ago, Ritts established a $35,000 scholarship fund to aid worthy and needy students from Butler County. In 1929 Allegheny conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of business administration. As former president of the Butler County National Bank, Dr. Ritts passed the reins to his son Elias who became president in 1935; his son Leonard, also a Pennsylvania banker and oil man moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to continue oil business pursuits.

On July 13, 1948, The five offices of the Butler County National Bank began their first day of business as branches of the Mellon National Bank & Trust Co. The Butler group with offices at Butler, Lyndora, Harrisville, Chicora, and Saxonburg was acquired as of the close of business on Saturday, July 10, 1948 following approval of the Butler Bank's stockholders. All the banks were members of the Mellbank Corp. formed in 1930 to coordinate functions between members of the group. At the time there were seven banks left in the Mellbank group including Charleroi, Donora, Latrobe, Ligonier, Connellsville, Uniontown, and Washington, Pennsylvania with branches at Claysville and Burgettstown.

Elias Ritts retired after a banking career of 43 years. He was honored with a dinner party in the Nixon Hotel and was presented with a television set by the employees and officers of the bank. He continued to serve as chairman of the advisory committee of the local branch.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The Butler County National Bank of Butler, PA

2: The Butler County National Bank and Trust Company of (6/3/1930), Butler, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Date Back $50 bank note with stamped signatures of J.G. McMarlin, Cashier and J.V. Ritts, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctioins, www.ha.com

1929 Type 1 $100 bank note with printed signatures of J.G. McMarlin, Cashier and J.V. Ritts, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $3,912,750 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1890 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 127,682 notes (117,620 large size and 10,062 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
1: 1882 Brown Back	3x10-20	1 - 16150
1: 1882 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 4599
1: 1902 Date Back	50-100	1 - 3000
1: 1902 Date Back	3x50-100	1 - 5580
1: 1902 Plain Back	3x50-100	5581 - 7156
1: 1929 Type 1	6x50	1 - 716
1: 1929 Type 1	6x100	1 - 240
2: 1929 Type 1	6x50	1 - 517
2: 1929 Type 1	6x100	1 - 204

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1890 - 1936):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

David Osborne, 1890-1890
C. A. Bailey, 1891-1899
John Gilmore McMarlin, 1900-1935

Other Bank Note Signers

There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.

Wiki Links

Sources

Butler, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler,_Pennsylvania
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 Warren Tribune, Warren, PA, Mon., June 6, 1927.
The Warren Tribune, Warren, PA, Wed., Feb. 1, 1928.
The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., May 14, 1930.
The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Fri., June 25, 1937.
The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Sat., July 17, 1948.
The Daily Republican, Monongahela, PA, Tue., Aug. 3, 1948.
Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia, PA, Thu., Nov. 11, 1982.
The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Thu., July 10, 1969.