Farmers National Bank, Longmont, CO (Charter 4653)
Farmers National Bank, Longmont, CO (Chartered 1891 - Closed 1927)
Town History
Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado. Its population was 98,885 as of the 2020 U.S. Census. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder. Longmont is named after Longs Peak, a prominent mountain named for explorer Stephen H. Long that is clearly visible from Longmont, and "mont", from the French word "montagne" for mountain.
Longmont was founded in 1871 by a group of people from Chicago, Illinois. Originally called the Chicago-Colorado Colony, led by president Robert Collyer, the men sold memberships in the town, purchasing the land necessary for the town hall with the proceeds. As the first planned community in Boulder County, the city streets were laid out in a grid plan within a square mile. The city began to flourish as an agricultural community after the Colorado Central Railroad line arrived northward from Boulder in 1877. During the 1940s, Longmont began to grow beyond these original limits.
In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan gained control of Longmont's City Council in an election. They began construction of a large pork-barrel project, Chimney Rock Dam, above Lyons and marched up and down Main Street in their costumes. In the 1927 election they were voted out of office, and their influence soon declined. Work on Chimney Rock Dam was abandoned as unfeasible, and its foundations are still visible in the St. Vrain River.
In 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 exploded over Longmont, killing 44 passengers and crew.
During the 1960s, the federal government built the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center in Longmont, and IBM built a manufacturing and development campus near Longmont. Longmont Foods was a turkey processor that once supplied turkey products throughout the United States. For example, turkey hot dogs with the Longmont Foods label were sold throughout the US. In 1950 they constructed a large plant on southern Main St. that received trucks full of live turkeys. The company was eventually purchased by Butterball and then closed 2011. As agriculture waned, more high technology has come to the city, including companies like Seagate and Amgen; Amgen closed its Longmont campus in 2015. In April 2009, the GE Energy Company relocated its control solutions business to the area.
T.M. Callahan House, also known as the "Sweeny-Callahan House", at 312 Terry St. in Longmont, is a large Queen Anne-style house built in 1892. It was deemed significant as "one of Longmont's most distinguished houses" and for its association with James Koller Sweeny, its first owner and a banker and flour mill manager. Its association with Thomas M. Callahan, founder of Golden Rule Stores is more significant however. Callahan lived in and had an office in the house from 1897 until 1938. A younger partner of Callahan, eventually, was James Cash Penney, who learned from Callahan and from Guy Johnson and went on to buy them out of their stores in Wyoming and to establish the J.C. Penney Company. J.C. Penney Co. Golden Rule Stores changed its name to J.C. Penney Co. in 1918.[1] During his years in Longmont, Callahan was very active in local civic affairs and fraternal organizations. He served as an officer and/or director of several local banks and was involved in the formation of the Arbuckle Ditch Company, which remains an important water source for Longmont and the surrounding farm community. In 1938 Callahan and his wife moved to Reno, Nevada, at which time they donated their house to the City of Longmont for exclusive use by women's groups and clubs for meetings and special events. The Mutual Improvement Club, founded in 1892 as one of Longmont's first social clubs, holds meetings in the house. Men are seldom allowed in the house and alcohol is prohibited according to the stipulations of Callahan’s gift.
Longmont had four National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, First National Bank, Longmont, (Charter 3354), Farmers National Bank, Longmont, (Charter 4653), Longmont National Bank (Charter 7839) and the American National Bank/First NB, Longmont, (Charter 11253) and all four of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized October 24, 1891
- Chartered November 23, 1891
- Succeeded Bank of Longmont
- Closed March 29, 1927
- Consolidated with 11253 March 29, 1927 (American National Bank/First NB, Longmont, CO)
On November 23, 1891, the Comptroller of the Currency authorized the Farmers National Bank of Longmont, Colorado, to begin business with capital of $50,000.[2]
On November 30, 1915, W.H. Dickens, banker and merchant of Longmont, was shot and killed about 8 o'clock in the evening while seated in the library of his home at Third Avenue and Coffman Street. The bullet, fired from a high-power rifle, came in through a window, went entirely through Dickens' body and imbedded itself in a brick wall. Mrs. Dickens was seated with her husband in the library after supper, both reading. Mrs. Dickens heard the snap of breaking glass, a splinter striking her on the cheek inflicting a slight wound, and at the same instant she heard a slight grown from her husband who died ten minutes later.[3]
On January 19, 1906, on the Coffin Ranch, five miles east of Longmont, Mr. George Coffin, 67 years of age, was found lying on a cot in the bunk house at his ranch with a fractured skull and crushed jaw and he died 6 days later. William Dickens played a leading part in the futile endeavor to find Mr. Coffin's murderer, subscribing liberally to the $1000 reward to hunt down the slayer, but no clue was ever obtained. Mr. Coffin and Mr. Dickens were both members of the group that crossed the plains in 1859 and settled in the Longmont district.[4]
Reinzi Dickens, son banker W.H. Dickens was charged and convicted of his father's murder. An appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court resulted in a retrial six years later in which Rienzi Dickens was found not guilty.[5]
James R. "J.R." Forsyth died on November 19, 1926. He was born on Feb. 19, 1847 in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, Canada, the seventh of 13 children of William Haliburton and Margaret (Tupper) Forsyth. He was known as Richie, and later on as J.R. He resided there until 1869 when he came to the United States. In the following year, 1870, he came west, locating on Ralston Creek, near Golden, Colorado where he engaged in farming. He became interested in the Longmont Milling & Elevator Company and bought two shares of stock. He was made a director of the Company and in 1903 he became the general manager, a position he still held at the time of his death. In 1926 the company was one of the largest independent milling concerns in Colorado, owning mills in Longmont and Denver, and elevators in 16 northern and eastern Colorado towns. Aside from milling interests J.R. was also a director and second vice-president of the Farmers National Bank of Longmont; a director of the American National Bank of Longmont; served as president of a number of large ditch companies of the community; served as a member of the Longmont city council; and held other positions of trust in the community. Grief over the suicide of W.L. McCaslin, president of the Farmers National Bank over alleged irregularities of Walter Coulehan, nephew of McCaslin who was discharged as an officer of the bank, was said to have hastened Forsyth's death.[6]
On Tuesday, March 1, 1927, directors of the recently organized First National Bank of Longmont, formed by the consolidation of the Farmers National and the American National, completed organization by electing officers. The officers chosen were T.M. Callahan, chairman of the board, W.E. Letford, president; J.H. Jones, vice president; D.C. Donovan, vice president; Rae H. Kiteley, trust officer; W.T. Coon, cashier; L.B. Flanders and F.W. Sager, assistant cashiers. The new bank occupied the quarters of the old Farmers National.[7]
Late on Friday, May 3, 1929, a jury out less than an hour acquitted former assistant cashier Walter C. Coulehan of misapplication of funds while working at the Farmers National Bank of Longmont. The change involved a certificate of deposit belonging to A.T. Olson.[8] Coulehan was arrested in December 1926.[9]
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Farmers National Bank of Longmont, CO
Bank Note Types Issued
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 - 2950 Abnormal border variety for $10 plates A-B-C 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 1264 Abnormal border variety for $10 plates D-E-F 1902 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 889
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1891 - 1927):
Presidents:
- Frank Hale Stickney, 1892-1903
- William Henry Dickens, 1904-1915
- Walter Lowrie McCaslin, 1916-1926
- Willard E. Letford, 1926-1927
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- Dennis C. Donovan (VP 1927)
- James H. Jones (VP 1926...1927)
- Walter Carrol Coulehan (Asst Cashier 1920...1926)
- Laurence Burdette Flanders (Asst Cashier 1927)
- A. Holt McKeirnan (Asst Cashier 1927)
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Longmont, CO, 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
- ↑ The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, CO, Wed., May 1, 1918.
- ↑ Oberlin Opinion, Oberlin, KS, Fri., Dec. 4, 1891.
- ↑ Gilpin Observer, Central City, CO, Thu., Dec. 2, 1915.
- ↑ The Longmont Call, Longmont, CO, Fri., Dec. 3, 1915.
- ↑ Elbert County Tribune, Elizabeth, CO, Fri., Oct. 14, 1921.
- ↑ Fort Collins Coloradoan, Fort Collins, CO, Mon., Nov. 29, 1926.
- ↑ Fort Collins Coloradoan, Fort Collins, CO, Wed., Mar. 2, 1926.
- ↑ Fort Collins Coloradoan, Fort Collins, CO, Sun., May 5, 1929.
- ↑ Democrata Del Condado De Costilla, San Luis, CO, Sat., Dec. 4, 1926.