First National Bank, Ashland, VA (Charter 11978)
First National Bank, Ashland, VA (Chartered 1921 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Ashland is a town in Hanover County, Virginia, located 16 miles north of Richmond along Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 7,225, up from 6,619 at the 2000 census.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad initially developed the town in the 1840s as a mineral springs resort with a racetrack. The town was named "Ashland" after native son Henry Clay's estate in Kentucky and was officially incorporated on February 19, 1858. The area had been known as "The Slashes", sometimes translated as "swamp", but which also reflected the small ravines that formed in the sandy clay soil after hard rains.
Confederate troops trained on the former racetrack early in the American Civil War, but the war and its aftermath devastated Ashland. Randolph–Macon College (founded 1830) moved to Ashland in 1868 and began using buildings of the bankrupt hotel as well as building additional structures.
The railroad lines rebuilt and the town continued to expand. Even before the war, the railroad began offering monthly passes to Richmond to people buying lots and building houses in Ashland. When tycoon Jay Gould established an electrified interurban line between Ashland and Richmond in 1907, the town became an early streetcar suburb of Richmond. The Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway, as it came to be called, was abandoned in 1938. A former car barn in Ashland is one of the few remaining vestiges of the line.
Ashland had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and one of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized June 14, 1921
- Chartered June 17, 1921
- Conversion of The Peoples Bank of Ashland
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Merged with First and Merchants National Bank of Richmond, December 31, 1959
On June 19, 1920, the People's Bank of Ashland with resources of $16,500 opened its doors for business. On June 17, 1921, the bank received the first charter ever issued in Hanover County and converted to the Frist National Bank of Ashland. By December 1924, the bank had grown to $33,000 in capital, surplus and undivided profits.
Late on April 2, 1936, Virginius Nelson Vaughan, aged 49, cashier of the First National Bank, died at his home in Ashland. He was born in 1886 at Locust Grove in Hanover County, the son of Dr. Joseph Henry Vaughan and Mrs. Fanny Bolling Vaughan. He organized the First National Bank, was a Mason, a past president of the local Kiwanis Club and was a former chairman of Group 2, Virginia Bankers' Association. He was succeeded as cashier by Lynwood E. England.
In November 1953, L.E. England was elected president and J.E. Swift was elected chairman of the board. Directors also elected Burley P. Loving a director to fill the unexpired term of the late W.K. Saunders. H.B. Gillespie was elected vice president and John T. Lucy became cashier of the Hanover County Bank.
On November 17, 1959, stockholders of First and Merchants of Richmond, the state's largest bank, approved overwhelmingly the merger with the First National Bank of Ashland. Stockholders of the Ashland bank did likewise that same night. The merger would be effective at the close of business Dec. 31st. It would mean two more offices for First and Merchants which had 11. As of Sept. 30, First and Merchants had $264 million in resources, and $242 million on deposit. First National of Ashland had resources of $6,990,000 and deposits of $6,447,000.
On September 23, 1967, Lynwood Earl England, aged 62, of Ashland, president of the First National Bank of Ashland, died. Mr. England began his business career with the Montague Manufacturing Co. and his banking career in 1922 with the Bank of Commerce & Trusts. He joined the First National Bank of Ashland in 1935 and was named cashier in 1936, vice president and cashier in 1946, and president in 1953. He also served as director of the Merchant and Farmers Telephone Co., board member of the Virginia Bankers' Association and vice president and director of Virginia Forests Inc.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Ashland, VA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $246,940 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1921 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 49,388 notes (25,028 large size and 24,360 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 6257 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 2264 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 10776
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1921 - 1935):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
- Virginius Nelson Vaughan Sr., 1921-1935
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Virginia Bank Note History
- General information on Ashland (Wikipedia)
- General information on Hanover County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Virginia (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Ashland, 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
- Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA, Wed., Dec. 3, 1924.
- Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA, Fri., Apr. 3, 1936.
- Richmond News Leader, Richmond, VA, Thu., Nov. 19, 1953.
- The Daily News Leader, Staunton, VA, Wed., Nov. 18, 1959.
- Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA, Sun., Sep. 24, 1967.