California National Bank, Sacramento, CA (Charter 8504)
California National Bank, Sacramento, CA (Chartered 1907 - Receivership 1933)
Town History
Sacramento (Spanish for 'sacrament') is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 population of 524,943 makes it the fourth-most populous city in Northern California, sixth-most populous city in the state, and the ninth-most populous state capital in the United States. Sacramento is the seat of the California Legislature and the Governor of California.
In 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga encountered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River.
John Sutter Sr. first arrived in the area on August 13, 1839, at the divergence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of 50,000 acres. The next year, he and his party established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls 18 feet high and three feet thick.
Representing Mexico, Sutter Sr. called his colony New Helvetia, a Swiss-inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west. Within just a few short years, Sutter Sr. had become a grand success, owning a 10-acre orchard and a herd of 13,000 cattle. Fort Sutter became a regular stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter Sr. received 2,000 fruit trees, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. Later that year, Sutter Sr. hired James Marshall to build a sawmill so he could continue to expand his empire, but unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on thin margins of credit.
In 1848, when James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma (some 50 miles northeast of the fort), numerous gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. In August 1848, Sutter Sr.'s son, John Sutter, Jr., arrived to assist his father in reducing his debt. The Sutter's struggled to contain the effects of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many of whom squatted on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands or stole various unattended Sutter properties or belongings. For Sutter, his employee's discovery of gold in the area turned out to be a bane.
By December 1848, John Sutter Jr., in association with Sam Brannan, began laying out the City of Sacramento, 2 miles south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr., but the father, being deeply in debt, was unable to stop it. For commercial reasons, the new city was named "Sacramento City" after the Sacramento River. Sutter Jr. and Brannan had United States Army Captain William H. Warner assigned to draft the official layout of the city, which included 26 lettered and 31 numbered streets (today's grid from C St. to Broadway and from Front St. to Alhambra Blvd.) Relations between Sutter and his son became embittered after Sacramento became an overnight commercial success. (Sutter's Fort, Mill, and the town of Sutterville, all founded by John Sutter Sr., eventually failed).
Residents of Sacramento adopted a city charter in 1849, which was recognized by the state legislature in 1850. Sacramento is the oldest incorporated city in California, incorporated on February 27, 1850.
Sacramento had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all five of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized December 18, 1906
- Chartered January 5, 1907
- Opened for business January 7, 1907
- Succeeded California State Bank
- Absorbed 2014 April 10, 1926 (National Gold Bank of D.O. Mills, Sacramento, CA)
- Receivership January 21, 1933
On April 10, 1882, the California State Bank, incorporated under the laws of California with capital of $500,000, opened its doors for business. The officers were N.D. Rideout, president; Albert Gallatin, vice president; A. Abbott, cashier. The business was conducted in the old Capital Savings Bank building at the corner of Fourth and J. Streets. Mr. Rideout was well-known throughout the state. He first engaged in the banking business in 1855 in Camptonville and had been continuously successful ever since, acquiring the reputation of a careful, experienced and sagacious financial manager. H was the owner of the Bank of Rideout & Smith of Marysville which was founded in 1861. Mr. Smith died a number of years ago and Mr. Rideout has conducted the business alone. He was also proprietor of the bank of Rideout, Smith & Co. of Oroville which was established in 1865. He was president of the Bank of Butte County at Chico and the president of the Bank of Willows, established at Willows, Colusa County, September 1880. Mr. Abbott, the cashier of the new bank, had been employed by Mr. Rideout in the banking business since he was 17 years old and for the previous four years had been manager of the bank at Marysville. The directors of the new bank were Albert Gallatin, Fred Cox, N.D. Rideout, C.W. Clark, J.R. Watson, George C. Perkins, and A. Abbott.
The California National bank organized under the name of the California State Bank, was started by Norman D. Rideout, who had opened his first bank in Marysville in 1850 followed by several others in Yuba and Butte counties and one in Auburn. He was known as a fearless frontiersman, riding the stages that conveyed gold dust from the mines with a rifle across his knees.
The Sutter Club was established on January 22, 1889 by a group of nine businessmen desiring camaraderie and a place to meet. It was the oldest men's club in California and was first lodged in the top two floors of the California National bank, affectionately called the "pink bank building" by locals, located at Fourth and J Streets. The club's first president was co-founder Newton Booth, former California Governor and United Stated Senator.[1]
In October 1920, the California National took over the the California Trust & Savings Bank, formerly the Sacramento Valley Bank & Trust Company at 800 J Street, which it had purchased several months earlier. The Bank of Ione was also bought by the California National and would be operated as a branch of the California Trust and Savings Bank. The Eighth and J Street bank would be under the direct supervision of the officers and directors of the parent institution and would be designated as the central branch with William Skeels as manager. R.H. Frost would continue as the manager of the Ione Bank. The combined resources of the California Trust & Savings Bank and Ione Institution were given as $12,000,000 and that of the California National as $16,000,000.
In the Spring of 1927, the California National Bank moved from the familiar old "pink bank building" at Fourth and J Streets to the former home of the Mills Bank at Seventh and J Streets which had been greatly enlarged.
On January 21, 1933, the California National Bank and the California Trust and Savings Bank failed to open for business. Heavy withdrawals during the past several days was given as the reason for the closing. The national bank had about 9,000 commercial accounts, while the California Trust and Savings Bank had about 36,000 accounts. Branch banks in North Sacramento, Loomis, Ione, and Arbuckle also were affected by the closing order. The report as of the end of 1932 showed total deposits amounting to $32,045,847.95 and total resources of $39,607,890.81. C.E. Lowell, chief examiner of the California State Banking Department assumed personal charge of the bank that morning. Later in January, examiners began a second week on the audit of the assets of the suspended California National Bank and California Trust and Savings Bank. H.W. Douglas, receiver for the national bank pointed out that he would need considerably more time than the state audit. A.Q. Robinson, deputy superintendent of banks and receiver for the trust and savings bank said examiners were studying an enormous list of securities owned by that institution including those held by the trust department. Any plan for reorganization by Fred W. Kiesel, president of the California National, and his associates, had to wait until an accurate picture of the financial condition of the suspended institutions could be drawn.
In 1933, Fred W. Kiesel had been president since 1924. He was the one who conceived of putting together the Sacramento Valley Bank and Trust Company with the California National Bank in 1920. He joined the former California State Bank in 1898. Officers re-elected at the annual meeting on January 12, 1933, were C.F. Dillman, chairman of the board; A.B. Carter, vice president and cashier; Fred H. Pierce, Fred L. Martin, J.I. Brunschwiler, Mark Skinner, C.C. Cotter, J.F. Azevedo, H.M. Weston, and Charles S. King, vice presidents; F.A. Roblin, D.A. Sherwin, E.J. Rader, W.J. Kamenzind, J.W. Haley, Darrell Hodge and T.V. Dunn, assistant cashiers; Roy W. Blair and C.M. Adams, trust officers; H.R. Parker, bond officer; W.S. Guilford and Ralph H. Morrill, trust extension department; A.V. Chargin, manager of the North Sacramento branch; E.D. Dunton, manager of the Loomis branch; R.H. Frost, manager of the Ione branch, and J.E. Cain, manager of the Arbuckle branch. The directors were Clarence H. Breuner, John S. Brown, Carter, John Clauss, Robert T. Devlin, Dillman, H.B. Drescher, Scott F. Ennis, W.F. Geary, Marshall Hale, Kiesel, J. Roy Kruse, C.J. Matthews, George J. Meister, Arthur E. Miller, J.L. Nagle, Emery Oliver, William Mr. Pentz, F.J. Ruhstaller, E.L. Shelley, Robert Swanston, F.F. Thomson, and W.C. Wright.
In February 1934, indictments were dropped against Fred W. Kiesel and A.B. Carter, president and vice president of the defunct California National Bank, respectively. The dismissal of the indictments would terminate a year long investigation into the affairs of the California National and the California Trust and Savings Banks and the conduct of their officers.
Official Bank Title
1: The California National Bank of Sacramento, CA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $14,726,190 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1907 and 1933. This consisted of a total of 1,356,556 notes (1,146,328 large size and 210,228 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1902 Red Seal 4x5 1 - 23125 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 11910 1902 Red Seal 50-100 1 - 2280 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 68830 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 51000 1902 Date Back 50-100 1 - 1000 1902 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 1000 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 51001 - 180077 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 27647 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 7391
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1907 - 1933):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
- California National Bank, Sacramento, CA History (NB Lookup)
- California Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)
Sources
- Sacramento, CA, 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 Sacramento Union, Sacramento, CA, Sat., Apr. 1, 1882.
- The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Thu., Oct. 7, 1920.
- The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Sat., Jan. 21, 1933.
- The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Mon., Jan. 30, 1933.
- The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Sat., Jan. 12, 1933.
- The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Sat., Feb. 17, 1934.
- ↑ The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Sun., Nov. 25, 1979.