Citizens National Bank, Great Bend, KS (Charter 5705)
Citizens National Bank, Great Bend, KS (Chartered 1901 - Receivership 1932)
Town History
Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas. It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 14,733. Its population peaked at almost 17,000 in 1960. It is home to Barton Community College.
Prior to American settlement of the area, the site of Great Bend was located in the northern reaches of Kiowa territory. The first settlers of the area arrived in 1870. Living in sod houses and dugouts, they worked as buffalo hunters since trampling by bison herds precluded crop farming. In 1871, the Great Bend Town Company, anticipating the westward construction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, founded Great Bend at a site roughly three miles west of Fort Zarah on the Santa Fe Trail. The railroad reached Great Bend in July 1872, and an election at about the same time declared the town the permanent county seat. Great Bend was incorporated as a city soon thereafter. The county courthouse and the city's first public school were built the following year.
Great Bend became a shipping point for cattle and over the following decades, Great Bend continued to grow and modernize, becoming a center of area commerce. This was despite two disasters which struck the city: a downtown fire in 1878 and a smallpox outbreak in 1882 which resulted in a brief quarantine. In 1886, local speculators began to fund exploration for petroleum in the area. By 1930, the oil and gas industry brought more than $20 million annually to the county. More than 3,000 wells produced during the 1930s, and the influx of workers dramatically increased the city's population.
The U.S. Army Air Forces opened Great Bend Army Airfield west of the city in 1943. The base served as training facility for B-29 bomber aircraft personnel during World War II. After the war, the City of Great Bend acquired the base and repurposed it for civilian use as Great Bend Municipal Airport.
Great Bend had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 31, 1901
- Chartered February 7, 1901
- Opened for business March 11, 1901
- Receivership February 20, 1932
In February 1901, the Citizens National Bank of Great Bend was organized with capital stock of $50,000 paid up and a surplus of $2,500. It was composed of bankers, merchants, farmers, cattle dealers, and manufacturers of the east, western Kansas and Barton County, representing millions of dollars. The stockholders were J.L. Abernaty, E.R. Moses, Louis T. Roenitz, Mrs. Emma Moses, C.F. Hayes, Peter Brack, James E. Savage, Chas. Matz, Robert Merten, Joseph Troillet, M. Sowards, M.F. Sowards, Jno. R. Sterett, David Howell, J.A. Rehn, Geo. N. Moses, H.E. Dean, D.G. Bird, J.R. Baker, M.M. Kimler, N.E. Norris and O.W. Dawson. The directors were E.R. Moses, Robert Merten, Peter Brack, Geo. N. Moses, Joseph Troillet, M.F. Sowards, and Jno. R. Sterett.[1] E.R. Moses, head of the E.R. Moses Mercantile Co. with large establishments at Great Bend, Hoisington, and Clapin, was president, while R.H. Moses, formerly cashier of the Third National Bank of Sedalia, Missouri, was cashier.[2]
In January 1902, the officers were E.R. Moses, president; Robert Merten, vice president and R.H. Moses, cashier.[3]
In August 1906, T.C. Cork had the contract to build the Citizens National Bank at Great Bend at a cost of $10,000 and a new school building at Lyons at a cost of $11,000.[4] The officers were E.R. Moses, president; Robert Merten, vice president; R.H. Moses, cashier; and F.A. Moses, assistant cashier. The bank had capital of $50,000 and surplus of $13,000.[5]
On Friday, October 17, 1913, a telegram was received from LaGrange, Illinois, stating that R.H. Moses had died unexpectedly. For several years Mr. Moses had been a sufferer from diabetes, suffering severely about a year ago but had recuperated from that attack and for some time past seemed to be improving in health. He spent every working day at the Citizens National Bank and was in close touch with all its affairs. A few weeks ago with his wife, he planned a vacation trip to Illinois, to Chicago, to Pecatonica, the old home, and to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to visit his son Charles. They left two weeks ago, October 3, and at that time he was feeling in fine health and anticipated a most pleasant trip. They went first to Chicago and had been visiting at the home of his brother, Chas. A. Moses in LaGrange, a suburb. Last week with Mr. C.A. Moses, he had gone to Pecatonica and visited old friends there. It was from Pecatonica, that he enlisted in the Army during the civil war. Mr. Moses was 75 years, and 22 days of age at the time of his death, having been born in New York state, September 26, 1833. The family moved to Illinois and there as a young man he followed the trade of a mason. Just before the outbreak of the civil war he made a trip to New Orleans following that trade and some of the most interesting of his recollections which charmed so many were about this period of his life and the conditions there. He served with credit throughout the war and after its close moved to Sedalia, Missouri, where the family then lived and for several years followed the trade of contractor and builder. His personality was such that he soon became one of the foremost men of the community and in spite of the fact that the county was overwhelmingly Democratic, he was elected as a Republican for ten years to serve as county clerk and as county collector of Pettis County. Later, he was instrumental in the organization of the Third, National Bank of Sedalia and was cashier of this institution until 1901 when he came to Great Bend to be with his brothers, E. R. Moses and the late G.N. Moses and sisters, Mrs. Laura Townsley and the late Mrs. J.F. Tilton, and organized the Citizens National Bank of which he had since been the cashier and advisory-president. The brother and sister of Great Bend, and a brother, Charles Moses of Chicago, and sister, Mrs. Emma MacKenzie of Bozeman, Montana survived him. He had been twice married, his first wife being Miss Frances DeLaMeter. To the union, four children were born. They were Chas. A. Moses of Sheboygan, Reuben H. Jr., of Trinidad, Colorado, Frank A. of Great Bend and Mrs. Frances Roahen of Washington. The mother's death occurred while the last two named were quite young and a few years later he was married to Miss Louise Stock, and to them one child was born, Miss Louise Moses, who was in San Jose, California attending college. Mrs. Moses was with him at the time of his death. His brother, E.R. Moses, was in New York City.[6]
In June 1921, work began on the remodeling of the Citizens National Bank. Upon completion, the entire building would be occupied by the bank. The firm of Dawson and Zutavern which occupied quarters in the bank for many years found a new hom in the Nimocks Building. The bank building would have an entire front put in and the structure was brick veneered with pressed brick of cream color with appropriate trimming.[7]
On Monday, February 15, 1932, the Kansas State banking department announed the closing of one national bank, three state banks and a trust company with deposits totaling approximately $1,255,000. The banks closed by order of their boards of directors were: Citizens National Bank of Great Bend, The International Mortgage and Trust Company, Topeka; Peoples State Bank, Hoisington; Pawnee Rock State Bank, Pawnee Rock. and Williamsburg State Bank, Williamsburg.[8]
On February 6, 1934, E.R. Moses, 82, financier and businessman of Great Bend since 1876 died after an illness incident to old age. He was president of the Pawnee Rock State Bank at Pawnee Rock, the Peoples State Bank at Hoisington, and the Citizens National Bank of Great Bend. Prior to engaging in banking he was in the implement and hardware business and served one year as president of the Western Retail Implement and Hardware Association. Mr. Moses had served as president of the Trans-Mississippi Irrigation Congress. He was one of the few thirty-third degree Masons in this section of Kansas. A son, E.R. Moses, Jr., Great Bend and one daughter, Mrs. Charles Lee of Salina, survived their father.[9]
Two Barton County banks that closed in 1932 the Citizens National Bank of Great Bend and the Peoples State Bank at Hoisington paid out in full. Final dividend payments were announced in March 1937.[10]
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Citizens National Bank of Great Bend, KS
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $783,950 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1901 and 1932. This consisted of a total of 97,534 notes (85,972 large size and 11,562 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 - 2650 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 2030 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 2875 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2220 1882 Value Back 4x5 2876 - 5190 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 2221 - 3471 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 4865 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 3287 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 1175 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 584 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 168
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1901 - 1932):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Great Bend, KS, 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
- ↑ Barton County Democrat, Great Bend, KS, Fri., Feb. 15, 1901.
- ↑ Sedalia Weekly Democrat, Sedalia, MO, Thu., Feb. 21, 1901.
- ↑ Great Bend Beacon, Great Bend, KS, Fri., Jan. 10, 1902.
- ↑ Barton County Democrat, Great Bend, KS, Fri., Aug. 24, 1906.
- ↑ The Great Bend Weekly Tribune, Great Bend, KS, Fri., Aug. 31, 1906.
- ↑ Great Bend Tribune, Great Bend, KS, Fri., Oct. 17, 1913.
- ↑ The Hutchinson Gazette, Hutchinson, KS, Thu., July 28, 1921.
- ↑ The Weekly Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO, Wed., Feb. 17, 1932.
- ↑ The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, KS, Tue., Feb. 6, 1934.
- ↑ The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO, Tue., Mar. 16, 1937.