Danville National Bank, Danville, IL (Charter 5812)
Danville National Bank, Danville, IL (Chartered 1901 - Closed 1920)
Town History
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 29,204. In 1900, the population was 16,354 growing to 33,776 by 1920.
Danville was founded in 1827 on 60 acres of land donated by Guy W. Smith and 20 acres donated by Dan W. Beckwith. The sale of lots was set for April 10, 1827 and advertised in newspapers in Indianapolis, Indiana and the state capital of Vandalia. The first post office was established in May of the same year in the house of Amos Williams, organizer of Vermilion and Edgar Counties and a prominent Danville citizen. Williams and Beckwith drew up the first plat map; the city was named after Dan Beckwith at Williams' suggestion, although Beckwith suggested the names "Williamsburg" and "Williamstown". Beckwith was born in Pennsylvania in 1795 and moved to Indiana as a young man; in 1819 he accompanied the first white explorers to the area where Danville later existed because of his interest in the salt springs of the Vermilion River.
Danville became a major industrial city in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. Starting in the 1850s Danville was an important coal mining area; some of the first open pit mining techniques were practiced here. The coal formation underlying eastern Illinois and western Indiana is named the "Danville Member," after the area where it was first discovered. Danville also served as a significant manufacturing center during the early 1900s, and the city's population doubled between 1900 and 1920.
Danville had four National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all four of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized April 30, 1901
- Chartered May 13, 1901
- Succeeded State Bank
- Closed January 3, 1920
- Consolidated with 2584 Jan 3, 1920 (Second National Bank, Danville, IL)
- Circulation assumed by 2584 (Second National Bank, Danville, IL)
In November 1883, it was announced that J.S. McFerren would be president of the new State Bank of Illinois about to open at Danville with Prosper LeSeure, vice president, and Robert McDonald, cashier.
In April 1901, the application to organize a national bank to be known as the Danville National Bank was granted to R.D. McDonald, C.S. McFerren, C.V. McClenathan, J.A. Foster and J.W. Keesler. The capital was $100,000.
On Saturday, June 1, 1901, The Danville National Bank commenced business. It was the successor of the old State Bank. The officers were E.X. LeSeur, president; C.V. McClenathan, cashier; John W. Kessler, C.V. McClenathan, E.X. LeSeur, R.D. McDonald, and Asa Bushnell, directors.
James A. Foster was born at Newark, West Virginia, on the 4th of May, 1873. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Hustead) Foster, the former of English descent and the latter of French Huguenot and Welsh extraction. He pursued his education in the grade and high schools of Elizabeth, West Virginia, and on leaving the state of his nativity made his way westward to Illinois, locating at Ridgefarm, Vermilion county, where he secured a clerkship in the Farmers State Bank, in which institution he rose to the position of cashier. Subsequently he assumed the duties of assistant cashier in the State Bank at Danville, afterward reorganized as the Danville National Bank, and was so serving when in May, 1907, in association with Alonzo L. Lyons and A.M. Bushnell, he established the American Bank & Trust Company of Danville. Mr. Foster was elected cashier of the newly organized institution, and contributed significantly to its material measure. He served as chairman of the Vermilion County Federation.
In April 1919, the consolidation of the Danville National Bank and the Second National Bank of Danville was announced. The Second National bank had as a surviving founder, Representative Joseph G. Cannon, and the Danville National Bank had his son-in-law, Earnest X. LeSeur, as its president.
On January 1, 1920, the consolidation of the Danville National Bank and the Second National Bank of Danville was effected. The banking room of the Second National Bank was enlarged and remodeled to accommodate the business of the two institutions, making it as complete and commodious a banking room as possible. The stockholders of the Danville National Bank were very much gratified by this consolidation to be able to offer to their patrons additional facilities for the transaction of their business, and believe that they would be pleased with it. Customers would find the same people to attend to their business and the only change apparent was that of location and the added convenience of a large and convenient banking room.
On April 3, 1925, Ernest X. LeSeure passed away. At the time of his death, he occupied the presidency of the Second National Bank of Danville and was one of the city's prominent and influential residents as well as esteemed native sons. His birth occurred in Danville on the March 24, 1864, his parents being Prosper and Harriet (Crane) LeSeure, honored early settlers of Vermilion county. His father was born in Nancy, France, May 26, 1820, a son of Pierre and Anne LeSeure, who brought their family to America when Prosper was about ten years of age. They first located in Philadelphia, where they remained a short time and then removed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Subsequently the father purchased an estate in southern Indiana, where he reared his children, giving them good educational advantages in the English language. When a young man Prosper LeSeure came to Danville, where he was soon joined by his brother and together they engaged in general merchandising under the firm name of V. & P. LeSeure, conducting a large and profitable business. In 1867 Prosper LeSeure sold his interest in the store and later embarked in the lumber business in connection with George Yeomans but eventually disposed of his interests to his son-in-law, J.G. Shedd. In 1883, in connection with others, he organized the State Bank, of which he was vice president for some years, but eventually retired in 1889 and in the spring of 1892 removed to Los Angeles, California, where he lived retired. He was visiting his children, however, in Danville when he passed away on the November 23, 1897. Ernest X. LeSeure attended the common and high schools of Danville and in 1882 went to Europe, where he spent two years in travel and study in France and Germany. Returning to his native land, he became identified with the banking business in 1884, accepting the position of bookkeeper in the State Bank in order to become thoroughly familiar with every department of the business. It was not long before he was made assistant cashier and subsequently was promoted to the position of cashier, in which capacity he served until January 1, 1891, when he entered the Second National Bank of Danville as an assistant cashier. He filled that position until 1894, when he was made general manager of the Danville Gas, Electric Light and Street Railway Company, with which he was connected until they sold out to eastern capitalists in the fall of 1900. Mr. LeSeure then purchased the interests of R.D. McDonald and J.S. McFerren in the State Bank, becoming its president on December 1, 1900. On the 1st of January, 1901, however, he reorganized the bank, transforming it into the Danville National Bank, becoming its president and the principal stockholder. This institution was for many years prior to its consolidation with the Second National Bank located in the Plaza Hotel building. With the merger of the two banks Mr. LeSeure continued as an officer of the institution, being chairman of the board and was president at the time of his death.
On January 1, 1939, C.V. McClenathan, 74, dean of Danville bankers and a former state legislator died at the Lake View Hospital, Danville. He was a banker for 45 years, an organizer of the Danville National Bank, and president of the Second National Bank since 1925. McClenathan was born on a farm near Danville of parents descended from colonists who came to this country with William Penn. He was educated in country schools and began his banking career in Wichita Kansas. He was with a bank in Tacoma, Washington before returning to Danville. McClenathan, a Democrat, served two terms in the state legislature from the 2nd district early in the century. He introduced legislation aimed at reform of state penal institutions.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Danville National Bank, Danville, IL
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $1,173,100 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1901 and 1920. This consisted of a total of 93,848 notes (93,848 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 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 7500 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 11600 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 11601 - 15962
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1901 - 1920):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Illinois Bank Note History
- General information on Danville (Wikipedia)
- General information on Vermilion County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Illinois (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Danville, IL, 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
- Francis Murray Huston, Financing an Empire: History of Banking in Illinois (4 volumes) (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926), Volume 2, pp. 454-455 and 460-461.
- The Paxton Record, Paxton, IL, Thu., Nov. 8, 1883.
- The Champaign Daily News, Champaign, IL, Thu., May 3, 1900.
- The Decatur Review, Mon., June 3, 1901.
- Forreston Journal, Forreston, IL, Wed., Apr. 23, 1919.
- The Paxton Record, Paxton, IL, Thu., Jan. 8, 1920.
- Belleville Daily Advocate, Belleville, IL, Mon., Jan. 2, 1939.