City National Bank, Roanoke, VA (Charter 8152)

A 1911 advertisement for the City National Bank of Roanoke, Virginia. The capital was $200,000, surplus and undivided profits $65,000.

City National Bank, Roanoke, VA (Chartered 1906 - Liquidated 1915)

Town History

Roanoke is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Southwest Virginia along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanoke is approximately 50 miles north of the Virginia–North Carolina border and 250 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., along Interstate 81. At the 2020 census, Roanoke's population was 100,011, making it the most-populous city in Virginia west of the state capital Richmond. It is the primary population center of the Roanoke metropolitan area, which had a population of 315,251 in 2020.

The Roanoke Valley was originally home to members of the Siouan-speaking Tutelo tribe. However, in the 17th and early-to-mid 18th centuries, Scotch-Irish and later German American farmers gradually drove those Native Americans out of the area as the American frontier pressed westward. In 1882, the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) chose the small town of Big Lick as the site of its corporate headquarters and railroad shops. Within two years, the town had become the City of Roanoke. With a 2,300% population growth rate in the decade from 1880 to 1890, the young city experienced the advantages and disadvantages of its boomtown status. During the 20th century, Roanoke's boundaries expanded through multiple annexations from the surrounding Roanoke County, and it became Southwest Virginia's economic and cultural hub. The 1982 decision by N&W to relocate their headquarters out of the city, combined with other manufacturing closures, led Roanoke to pivot to a primarily service economy. In the 21st century, a robust healthcare industry and the development and increased marketing of its outdoor amenities have helped reverse prior declining population trends.

The railroad built its new depot just south of a small town named Gainesborough, but named the depot after Big Lick, another small community located just to the east, which itself was named after the salt deposits that had drawn game to the area for years.  Gainesborough increasingly became referred to as Big Lick (and later as Old Lick) once development drifted farther south towards the depot. Growth in the area was stalled by the Civil War; Roanoke County voted 850–0 in favor of secession and lost many of its men in the subsequent fighting.  The burgeoning tobacco trade helped the region's recovery during Reconstruction. Within a decade of the war's end, there were no fewer than six tobacco factories near the Big Lick Depot.

In 1874, the community surrounding the depot applied for and received a town charter, and the Town of Big Lick was formally established with John Trout, father of Henry S. Trout, as mayor.[2] Eight years later, efforts by town boosters succeeded in securing Big Lick as the junction of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W).  The two companies also relocated their respective headquarters to the town (the two lines would officially merge in 1890). Big Lick's relatively small size compared to the nearby county seat, Salem, worked in its favor as a draw for the companies. Big Lick's ample farmland and nearby water sources were well suited to the railroads' goal of building much of the town from scratch, including railroad shops, offices, a hotel, and suitable housing for their many employees.

In the early 1880s, Big Lick's residents voted to rename the town "Kimball" after Frederick J. Kimball, an executive for the two railroad companies who played a significant role in their new location.  Kimball turned down the honor, saying, "On the Roanoke River in Roanoke County – name it Roanoke."  The town obliged, officially becoming the Town of Roanoke on February 3, 1882.  The new charter also annexed nearly two and a half square miles of additional land, including the Town of Gainesborough (later shortened to Gainsboro), which by that point had already become the center of the area's African American community.  Kimball chose a wheat field north of the railroad tracks and east of Gainsboro for the N&W's new hotel, and the 69-room Hotel Roanoke – designed originally in the Queen Anne style before numerous rebuilds and expansions gave it its current Tudor Revival appearance – opened its doors in 1882.

Roanoke is known for the Roanoke Star, an 88.5-foot-tall illuminated star that sits atop a mountain within the city's limits and is the origin of its nickname, "The Star City of the South". Other points of interest include the Hotel Roanoke, a 330-room Tudor Revival structure built by N&W in 1882, the Taubman Museum of Art, designed by architect Randall Stout, and the city's farmer's market, the oldest continuously operating open-air market in the state. The Roanoke Valley features 26 miles of greenways with bicycle and pedestrian trails, and the city's location in the Blue Ridge Mountains provides access to numerous outdoor recreation opportunities.

Roanoke had 10 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all 10 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

• Organized March 8, 1906
• Chartered March 31, 1906
• Opened for business April 2, 1906
• Liquidated January 12, 1915
• Consolidated with 4027 (National Exchange Bank, Roanoke, VA)

In February 1906 it was learned the City National Bank had purchased the Southwest Virginia Trust Company building situated on the northwest corner of Campell Avenue and Jefferson Street. The room immediately in the rear of the bank proper occupied by Davis & Stephenson as private offices would be used by the bank's directors. The room second from the bank proper with an entrance from Campbell Avenue was leased to the Southwest Virginia Trust Company and would be used by that institution. The application of Messrs. D. Moss Taylor, Jno. W. Woods, H.T. Hall, Geo. W. Payne, and M.W. Turner to organize the City National Bank of Roanoke with a capital stock of $200,000 was approved by the comptroller of the currency.

The City National was organized and commenced business on May 10, 1906. When the bank opened it had capital of $200,000. The officers were Judge John W. Woods, president; B.P. Huff, vice president; D.M. Taylor, vice president; and N.W. Phelps, cashier. Upon the death of Judge John W. Woods, D.M. Taylor was elected president. The City National occupied one location since it began business on Jefferson Street next to the northwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street.

On Tuesday, January 14, 1908, the stockholders elected the following directors: John W. Woods, B.P. Huff, S.H. Heironimus, George W. Payne, T.R. Tillett, W.S. McClanahan, Charles I. Lunsford, M.W. Turner, H.C. Elliott, J.W. Lynch, J.A. Dove, E.R. Chick, Louis Catogni, H.C. Barnes, G.B. Moomaw, H.T. Hall, J.R. Gilliam, W.E. McGuire, M.C. Franklin, A.J. Kennard, D.M. Taylor, and N.W. Phelps. The directors met at noon on January 21st and elected the following officers: John W. Woods, president; D.M. Taylor and B.P. Huff, vice presidents; N.W. Phelps, cashier; M.H. Davis, teller, C.P. Huff, bookkeeper; and Fred H. Elliott, runner.

In December 1914, stockholders of the City National Bank and National Exchange Bank of Roanoke authorized their boards to consolidate the two institutions retaining the name of The National Exchange Bank of Roanoke, the consolidation to be effective at the close of business December 31st. The consolidation would make the National Exchange one of the most substantial banking houses in Virginia with capital of $500,000, surplus $500,000, and undivided profits of about $200,000. Officers and employees of the City National would move their offices to the building of the National Exchange Bank, Jefferson Street and Campbell Avenue. In its 25 years, the National Exchange Bank had four homes. When the bank started in 1889 it occupied a store room on Salem Avenue in the rear of the lot on which the First National Bank stood in 1915. In July 1890, the bank moved to larger quarters in the Bear Building on the southeast corner of Salem Avenue and Jefferson Street. After rapid growth, the bank moved to the Terry Building, occupying two additional offices in the Terry building vacated by the First National Bank. On Monday, March 10, 1913, the National Exchange occupied its magnificent new home on the southwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street.

On January 2, 1915, the first business day of 1915 was a strenuous one for the National Exchange Bank which Friday took over the City National Bank. From 9 o'clock until noon, the handsome banking room was crowded and the officers and clerks were kept busy with the usual throng of customers. Added to the crowd in the bank was an additional force of clerks from the City National Bank on hand to transact business with their usual patrons.

Official Bank Title

1: The City National Bank of Roanoke, VA

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Red Seal $20 bank note with pen signatures of N.W. Phelps, Cashier and Jno. W. Woods, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

1902 Date Back $10 bank note with stamped signatures of N.W. Phelps, Cashier and D.M. Taylor, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $1,255,950 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1906 and 1915. This consisted of a total of 128,388 notes (128,388 large size and No 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 - 5000
1902 Red Seal	3x10-20	1 - 4900
1902 Date Back	4x5	1 - 6630
1902 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 15567

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1906 - 1915):

Presidents:

• Judge John W. Woods, 1906-1912
• DeMoss Taylor, 1913-1914

Cashiers:

• Norman Washington Phelps, 1906-1914

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• City National Bank, Roanoke, VA History (NB Lookup)
• Virginia Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Roanoke, VA, 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