Continental National Bank, Fort Worth, TX (Charter 11997)

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The W.T. Waggoner Building, located at Houston and 8th Streets, Fort Worth, Texas. Courtesy of Google Maps ca January 2017

Continental National Bank (No Issue), Fort Worth, TX (Chartered 1921 - Failed (Merger) 1989)

Town History

An advertisement from July 1921 for the Continental National Bank of Fort Worth, Texas.[1]

Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in Texas and the 12th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly 350 square miles into four other counties: Denton, Parker, Wise, and Johnson. According to the 2020 U.S. census, Fort Worth's population was 927,720. Fort Worth is the second-largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, which is the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the United States.

The city of Fort Worth was established in 1849 as an army outpost on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. Fort Worth has historically been a center of the Texas Longhorn cattle trade. It still embraces its Western heritage and traditional architecture and design. Nearby Dallas has held a population majority since the 1950s, and Fort Worth has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States in recent years, particularly in the 21st century, and has more than doubled its population since 2000.

As a stop on the legendary Chisholm Trail, Fort Worth was stimulated by the business of the cattle drives and became a brawling, bustling town. Millions of head of cattle were driven north to market along this trail. Fort Worth became the center of the cattle drives, and later, the ranching industry. It was given the nickname of Cowtown.

During the Civil War, Fort Worth suffered from shortages of money, food, and supplies. The population dropped as low as 175, but began to recover during Reconstruction. By 1872, Jacob Samuels, William Jesse Boaz, and William Henry Davis had opened general stores. The next year, Tidball and Wilson established a private banking house which became Tidball, Van Zandt, and Company in 1874.

Fort Worth had 14 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and 12 of those banks issued National Bank Notes. North Fort Worth had 1 National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, The Exchange National Bank of North Fort Worth, Charter 8287, and it issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

A 1926 advertisement for the Continental National Bank.[2]
Continental Bank & Trust Company stock certificate issued January 26, 1912 to C.F. Strong, signed by J.E. Willis, Cashier and J.G. Wilkinson, President. Courtesy of Adam Stroup
In May 1903, the Continental Bank and Trust Company, recently organized by D.T. Bomar, was located at the corner of Third and Houston Streets.  Its capital stock was $150,000. The president was J.G. Wilkinson, formerly of Manchester, Tennessee, and the cashier, A.M. Young, formerly of War Trace, Tennessee.[3] The directors were E.H. Carter, Morgan Jones, George Thompson, E.P. Bomar, J.V. Goode, R.W. Flournoy, and W.C. Stripling.  D.T. Bomar was 1st vice president; and D.B. Keeler, 2d vice president.[4] In January 1905, the officers were Morgan Jones, chairman of the board, Joseph G. Wilkinson, president; David T. Bomar, first vice president; David B. Keeler and Joseph E. Willis, vice presidents; and Ben W. Fouts, cashier.  At the close of business, December 31, 1904, the total resources were $1,148,372.11, capital $227,000, and deposits $862,078.84.  The bank declared a 17% dividend and had banks at the following Texas locations:  Alto, Cherokee County, Anna, Collin County, Archer City, Archer County, Blanket, Brown county, Bowd, Wise County, Big Sandy, Upshur County, Blue Ridge, Collin County, Burleson, Johnson County, Groesbeeck, Limestone County, Iredell, Bosque County, Krum, Denton County, Leonard, Fannin County, Prosper, Collin County, Roanoke, Denton County, Rising Star, Eastland County, Randolph, Fannin County, Tolar, Hood County, Thornton, Limestone County, and Quinlan, Hunt County.[5]

On Monday, July 25, 1921, the Continental National Bank of Fort Worth, Texas, received a charter, succeeding the Continental Bank and Trust Company with capital of $750,000. J.G. Wilkinson was president and Ed H. Winton, cashier.[6]

On Wednesday morning, July 27, 1921, Fort Worth's newest banking institution, the Continental National Bank, opened for business under auspicious conditions. The new bank was a consolidation of the Continental Bank and Trust Company, one of Fort Worth's oldest, with the National Bank of Commerce which started in business in August of 1919. The Continental National occupied the quarters formerly occupied by the National Bank of Commerce in the W.T. Waggoner building at Eighth and Houston Streets. All Wednesday morning the lobby of the bank was crowded with businessmen and financiers who came to extend congratulations and give expressions of good will and confidence. Hundreds of congratulatory messages were received from banks in all parts of the country. Floral offerings were also sent. Officers and directors appeared particularly pleased with expressions of confidence received from out-of-town banks. During the day several out-of-town financiers called. Among these were Jack Gillespie, vice president of the Dallas National, and A.A. Kuehn, president of the Farmers State Bank of Burkburnett. In addition to opening with the combined deposits of two banks, the Continental National began with approximately 100 correspondence accounts. It was said Wednesday that it will be the policy of the new institution to extend its country banking relations as well as the ordinary commercial lines of business. "We literally have been showered 'with congratulations and expressions of good will and confidence" said J.G. Wilkinson, president. “Having only one day from the time the charter was issued till the time of opening the bank in which to discuss the consolidation with the friends of the two institutions and the public in general, we are extremely gratified with the expressions that have come from every source," he added.[7]

In July 1921, the directors were J.H. Barwise, Jr., Thomson, Barwise, Wharton & Hiner, attorneys; Geo. Beggs, Jr., real estate and insurance; Sam Daube, Westheimer & Daube, Ardmore; R.W. Flournoy, Flournoy & Smith, attorneys; G.W. Haltom, jeweler; L.W. Huckins, Westbrook Hotel; Morgan Jones, chairman of the board; S.S. Lard, Mistletoe Creameries; Dan Levy, Casey-Swasey Co.; C.D. Lusk, Texas & Pacific R.R.; Geo. A. Lock, vice president; L.H. McKee, Waples-Platter Grocery Co.; Ray Nixon, president, The Fair Store; C.H. Pattison; W.C. Stripling, W.C. Stripling Co.; A.E. Thomas, vice president; J.G. Wilkinson, president; E.M. Perkins, vice president; J.I. Staley, president, Security National Bank, Wichita Falls; W.K. Stripling, W.C. Stripling Co.; Geo. Thompson Sr., Thompson, Barwise, Wharton & Hiner, attorneys; H.H. Wilkinson, vice president; E.T. Renfro, Renfro Drug Stores; and Ed H. Winton, cashier. The officers were Morgan Jones, chairman; J.G. Wilkinson, president; A.E. Thomas, H.H. Wilkinson, Geo. A. Lock, E.M. Perkins, vice presidents; Ed H. Hinton, cashier; C.E. Gillham, H.C. Wallenberg, O.F. Macon, L.E. Winter, C.C. Benton, John H. Eriksen, and O.P. Newberry, assistant cashiers.[8]

Affiliates of the Continental National Bank of Fort Worth under the terms of the Banking Act of 1933† reported balance sheet amounts as of June 30, 1933 as follows:[9]

  • First State Bank, Big Sandy, Texas. J.G. Howell was cashier. Total assets $98,431.97
  • Continental State Bank of Crowley, Texas. W.S. Horn was cashier. Total assets $43,925.81
  • Continental State Bank of Groesbeck, Groesbeck, Texas. A.G. Easterling was cashier. Total assets $74,820.21
  • Continental State Bank, Gunter, Texas. A.M. Beeman was cashier. Total assets $114,413.16
  • Continental State Bank, Rising Star, Texas. F.V. Tunnell was cashier. Total assets $321,366.54
  • Continental State Bank, Tolar, Texas. Frank Curl was cashier. Total assets $122,262.15. FNB of Tolar (Charter 8001) absorbed by Continental Bank and Trust Company of Fort Worth December 29, 1907.[10]
  • Continental State Bank, Beckville, Texas. Herman Jacobs was vice president and cashier. Total assets $58,089.55
  • Continental Bank and Trust Company of Fort Worth, Texas. J.H. Eriksen was cashier. Total assets $660,751.75
  • First State Bank of Polytechnic, Fort Worth, Texas. E.M. Perkins was vice president. Total assets $177,616.47

†The Banking Act of 1933 gave tighter regulation of national banks to the Federal Reserve System, requiring holding companies and other affiliates of state member banks to make three reports annually to their Federal Reserve Bank and to the Federal Reserve Board. Furthermore, bank holding companies that owned a majority of shares of any Federal Reserve member bank had to register with the Fed and obtain its permit to vote their shares in the selection of directors of any such member-bank subsidiary.

In January 1935, the officers were H.H. Wilkinson, president; Ed. H. Winton, vice president; J.E. Willis, vice president and trust officer; H.C. Burke, Jr., H.C. Wallenberg, and Zeta Gossett, assistant vice presidents; John H. Ericksen, cashier; and Oscar Vogel, assistant cashier. The bank had total resources of $11,889,562.39 at the end of 1934.[11]

On Tuesday, October 26, 1971, stockholders of the Continental National Bank of Fort Worth approved a merger into a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Bancshares, Inc., a multibank holding company based in in Houston, subject to approval by the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve System. Other subsidiaries of Southwest Bancshares included the Bank of the Southwest in Houston, First National Bank of Longview and Village National Bank of Houston. Southwest Bancshares also had interest in South Park National Bank, Commercial State Bank, Gulf Coast National bank, Western Intercontinental National Bank, all of Houston and Kilgore National Bank. Robert Gerrard, president of Continental and A.G. McNeese Jr., president of Southwest Bancshares, said Continental would remain a separate bank with a high degree of autonomy, but that the merger would enable Continental to meet the growing needs of its customers by colling upon the parent company for any additional capital as needed. As of September 30th, Southwest Bancshares had $857 million in assets and $708 million in deposits, while Continental had $219 million in assets and $182 million in deposits.[12]

A new sign goes up in Fort Worth due to the Continental National Bank's name change to MBank in October 1984.[13]

On October 15, 1984, Continental National Bank changed its name to MBank Fort Worth, National Association. In the last 10 years, Fort Worth's big three banks had changed addresses and built or added new buildings and in just the past year and a half, all three had changed their names. Fort Worth National moved to Throckmorton Street and became Texas American Bank and First National moved into a new building across Seventh Street and became Interfirst. Continental moved east on Seventh and became MBank.[14]

On March 23, 1989, First City Bancorporation of Texas, the Houston bank company that was rescued in April with $1.5 billion in federal assistance and investor capital, was interested in making a bid for MCorp. FDIC spokesman Alan Whitney said that generally a bank that received assistance from the FDIC or was partially owned by the agency was not precluded from bidding on a troubled bank. Analysts said the FDIC would continue to have difficulty in attracting bank companies to buy MCorp unless regulators were able to seize MCorp's insolvent subsidiary banks and wipe out the interests of bondholders and shareholders. In July 1988, a record $4 billion in federal aid was used to implement a "bridge bank" when First Republic's 40 banks were seized. A record loss of $902 million in 1988 was reported by MCorp's subsidiary banks with only one, MBank Abilene, as insolvent at year end with negative primary capital of $3.1 million. Under current standards, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency could declare a bank insolvent and put it into the hands of the FDIC only when it had negative primary capital or when the bank was unable to meet the demands of creditors and depositors. Primary capital was composed of equity capital and loan-loss reserves. But Robert Clarke, comptroller of the currency, proposed a change in the rule to allow his agency to declare a bank insolvent once it reported negative equity capital. Of the 25 subsidiary banks owned by MCorp, seven, including MBank Fort Worth, reported negative equity capital at the end of 1988. The others were MBank Dallas, MBank Houston, MBank Austin, MBank Greenville, MBank Round Rock and MBank Abilene. MCorp Chairman Gene Bishop had submitted a recapitalization plan for MCorp that included raising $300 million in fresh capital plus an estimated $1 billion in federal aid.[15] On Tuesday night, March 28, at 8:15, the FDIC declared MBank Fort Worth a failure along with 19 others in the MCorp system. The banks were now branches of the Deposit Insurance Bridge Bank Dallas, wholly owned by the FDIC. The Fort Worth bank was in the towering green Continental Plaza office building at Seventh and Main Street (now 777 Main) in downtown Fort Worth.[16]

BancOne entered the state of Texas in 1989 through the acquisition of a number of failed banks that were seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as a result of the late 1980s banking crises in Texas that was caused by the defaulting of a large number of real estate and energy sector loans when energy prices dropped and large numbers of people lost their jobs as a result. Although Banc One could obtain failed banks at a discount that were subsidized by the Federal government, they could also be stuck with loans in which borrowers could later default on if the economic crises worsen. BankOne Corporation's expansion into Texas was through Bank One Texas, a state holding company. The first banks to be acquired were 20 banks that were formerly owned by MCorp, which the FDIC had consolidated into a single bank that they named the Deposit Insurance Bridge Bank. The FDIC had seized the banks in March 1989. The failure of 20 of MCorp's 24 banks cost the FDIC $2.8 billion. MCorp was the second largest bank holding company in Texas at the time of its failure. MCorp was formed in 1984 through the merger of Mercantile National Bank of Dallas with Bank of the Southwest of Houston with Mercantile becoming MBank Dallas and Southwest becoming MBank Houston.

Official Bank Title

1: The Continental National Bank of Fort Worth, TX

Bank Note Types Issued

No National Bank Notes were issued by this bank.

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1921 - 1935):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Known Bank Note Signers

Bank Note History Links

Sources

  • Fort Worth, TX, 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
  1. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., July 31, 1921.
  2. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., Jan. 31, 1926.
  3. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., May 17, 1903.
  4. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Tue., May 19, 1903.
  5. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., Jan. 8, 1905.
  6. ↑ Times Record News, Wichita Falls, TX, Fri., July 29, 1921.
  7. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Wed., July 27, 1921.
  8. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., July 31, 1921.
  9. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sat., Aug. 12, 1933.
  10. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Mon., Dec. 31, 1906.
  11. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Sun., Jan. 6, 1935.
  12. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Wed., Oct. 27, 1971.
  13. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Thu., Dec. 6, 1984.
  14. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Thu., Dec. 6, 1984.
  15. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Fri., Mar. 24, 1989.
  16. ↑ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, Thu., Mar. 30, 1989.
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