Citizens National Bank, Marshfield, WI (Charter 14125)
Citizens National Bank, Marshfield, WI (Chartered 1934 - Closed (Merger) 1994)
Town History
Marshfield is a city in northwest Wood and southwest Marathon counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 10, Highway 13 and Highway 97. The largest city in Wood County, its population was 18,929 at the 2020 census.
In 1872 the Wisconsin Central Railway was building the leg of its line from Stevens Point through the forest to what would become Colby, heading north for Lake Superior. The railway needed a supply depot between those two towns, and Marshfield was about midway. At the railroad's request, Louis Rivers, his wife and child, and his brother Frank came to the area and started cutting an opening in the forest. They built a two-room log hotel at what is now the corner of Depot and Chestnut streets, with bunks in the west room and tables, benches, bar and store in the east room. That crude building between the stumps was the first permanent structure in Marshfield.
Marshfield's name is explained two ways. It might have been named for John J. Marsh, one of the original owners of land in the area. Marshfield might also have been named after Marshfield, Massachusetts, since the Wisconsin Central Railway was financed with money from Massachusetts and other stops along the WC's line were named after towns in Massachusetts, including Amherst, Medford and Chelsea.
The first industry was a stave and spoke factory located near the railroad. In 1878 William H. Upham, a "Yankee" migrant of English descent from Massachusetts and later president of The First National Bank of Marshfield and governor of Wisconsin, built a sawmill near the railway, with a millpond. By 1885 he had added a general store, a planing mill, a furniture factory and a flour and feed mill. Other businesses started, too: an alcohol factory, hotels, saloons, stores, newspapers, blacksmith, and a milliner. There were also churches and schools. The city was incorporated in 1883. By 1885 the population exceeded 2,000, ranging from the Uphams in their fine Italianate homes to laborers living in shacks along the railroad.
In 1887, a fire started and got out of control. On June 27, after a dry three weeks, fire broke out among the drying piles in the Upham mill's lumberyard, ignited by a spark from a train. The fire spread, consuming the sawmill and flour mill, and headed south into homes and the business district. Men tried to stop the inferno, even dynamiting stores to create a fire break, but the updraft lifted embers and dropped them onto more buildings. When it was over, 250 buildings were destroyed, but no lives were lost. The next day, Upham announced he would rebuild his businesses. Neighbors in Stevens Point, Spencer and Wisconsin Rapids sent trainloads of supplies. The city ruled that buildings on Central should henceforth be built from brick, even though Marshfield had been largely built on wealth generated by lumber.
Marshfield had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, The First National Bank (Charter 4573), The American National Bank (Charter 5437), and The Citizens National Bank (Charter 14125), and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized February 21, 1934
- Chartered April 30, 1934
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into Associated Bank North in Wausau, WI Sep 1, 1994
On February 10, 1934, refinancing arrangements expected to give Marshfield a bank for the first time since the national moratorium last March were approved in Washington by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, according to a telegram received by John L. Stauber, conservator of the American National Bank, from Congressman Gerald J. Boileau. Boileau said the Reconstruction Finance Corporation agreed to a loan of $125,000 secured by non-liquid assets of the closed American National bank. The new bank, to be known as the Citizens National Bank of Marshfield, would be capitalized at $100,000, of which $25,000 will be preferred stock purchased by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The bank's plan of reorganization was previously approved by the comptroller of currency. All the forms in connection with distribution of a 60% cash dividend were completed. Articles of incorporation were being forwarded from Washington and as soon as they arrive, Mr. Stauber planned to call a meeting of stockholders of the bank to ratify the articles of incorporation. "Our work now is nearing completion and we can expect to open for business within a week or ten days," said Mr. Stauber. "It has been a long, tedious grind, and we appreciate the patience of our depositors, stockholders and community in general." At a stockholders meeting held in the city hall February 21, directors of the new bank were Attorney Wayne E. Deming, Louis Hartl, E.P. Umhoefer, E.M. Lee and August Mews. These men were recommended in the articles of association and their names were approved by stockholders after it was explained by Mr. Stauber that the new banking laws required that all directors had to qualify for approval by the federal reserve board and the comptroller of the currency. The directors elected the following officers: Louis Hartl, president; Attorney Wayne E. Deming, vice president; and John L. Stauber, cashier.
The Citizens National Bank, successor to the American National Bank, would open at 9 o'clock Tuesday, May 1, 1934, it was announced by John L. Stauber on April 30. The opening of the new bank made available to depositors 60% of the amount they had on deposit in the American National Bank when it was closed by the state banking holiday on March 3, 1933. From this would be deducted the amount depositors subscribed as capital stock for the new bank. In most instances, this was 15%. The total amount made available was $575,585.13, to both secured and unsecured creditors.
On Tuesday, January 13, 1959, stockholders of the Citizens National Bank re-elected directors at their annual meeting. The meeting was held in the recently completed new bookkeeping department with more than 12.000 of the 15,000 shares represented, either in person or by proxy. Re-elected directors were J.P. Adler, Carroll H. Blanchar, Thornton A. Green, Edward A. Kalsched, Lawrence M. Lee, Jacob Leinwander, Henry J. Maurer, John L. Stauber and Ivo A. Umhoefer. The directors re-elected all officers as follows: John L. Stauber, president; J.P. Adler and Jacob Leinwander, vice presidents; M.A. Hansen, Jr., executive vice president; C.J. Kohl, cashier; and Oscar Ruder and Ted Schultz, assistant cashiers. Marshfield's very first drive-up service window came in 1959 at the bank, which was located on Central Avenue at the time. When new in 1971, the current bank building at 400 S. Chestnut Avenue was the community's first with a four lane drive-up facility. That year, the opening of a trust department at the bank prompted a change in name to Citizens National Bank & Trust. Eight years later, the bank was the area's first to install automated teller machines, which were aimed at customer convenience.
The merger of the Marshfield bank with Associated Banc-Corp of Green Bay late in 1984 resulted in another name change to Associated Citizens Bank the following year. To help identify the institution as an Associated Bank, the name Associated Bank Marshfield, National Association, was taken in 1992. In April 1994, the bank was one of more than 75 located in Wisconsin and Illinois with Associated Banc-Corp, the fifth largest bank holding company in Wisconsin. The bank reported $118,796,000 in total assets with deposits of over $105 million and the Marshfield Trust Office had over $120 million in assets under management.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Citizens National Bank of Marshfield, WI
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $76,500 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1934 and 1994. This consisted of a total of 6,140 notes (No large size and 6,140 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 4630 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1510
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1934 - 1994):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Wisconsin Bank Note History
- General information on Marshfield (Wikipedia)
- General information on Wood County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Wisconsin (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Marshfield, WI, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshfield,_Wisconsin
- 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
- Marshfield News-Herald Marshfield, WI, Sat., Feb. 10, 1934.
- Marshfield News-Herald Marshfield, WI, Mon., Apr. 30, 1934.
- Marshfield News-Herald Marshfield, WI, Wed., Jan. 14, 1959.
- Marshfield News-Herald Marshfield, WI, Sat., Apr. 16, 1994.