First National Bank, Danville, IL (Charter 113)

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Photo of the First National Bank of Danville, Illinois, ca2022.
Photo of the First National Bank of Danville, Illinois, ca2022. Courtesy of Google Maps

First National Bank, Danville, IL (Chartered 1863 - Failed (Merger) 2009)

Town History

Postcard of the First National Bank of Danville, Illinois, ca1930s.
Postcard of the First National Bank of Danville, Illinois, ca1930s. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

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

  • Chartered October 26, 1863
  • Bank was Open past 1935
  • For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
  • Failed. Merged with government financial assistance into First Financial Bank, N.A. in Terre Haute, IN, July 2, 2009

The First National Bank of Danville had its inception in a private financial concern which was established by John L. Tincher and Joseph G. English in 1857.[1]

On December 26, 1871, Senator John L. Tincher died at the Revere House in Bloomington. He was born in Indiana in 1821, but had been a resident of Illinois for 27 years, settling in Vermillion County. For several years he had been successfully engaged in the business of banking at Danville. In 1864 he was elected Representative in the General Assemble. In 1866 he was elected State Senator and was re-elected in 1870. In the committee room and on the floor he was ever ready to maintain what seemed to hem the right, and he left the impress of his convictions upon the statue books of the State and upon many of the most important provisions of the new Constitution.[2]

In 1927, the officers were J.L. Tincher, president; E.R.E. Kimbrough, vice president; James A. Meeks, vice president; C.P. Nelson, cashier; C.E. Olmsted, assistant cashier; J.E. Whitman, assistant cashier; and W.J. Raman, assistant cashier. The directorate was composted of E.R.E. Kimbrough, D.W. Bell, J.L. Tincher, James A. Meeks, B.C. English, C.P. Nelson, and E.G. Stephens. The home of the FNB was erected in 1917.[3]

Official Bank Title

1: The First National Bank of Danville, IL

Bank Note Types Issued

Original Series $5 bank note with pen signatures of E.H. Palmer, Cashier and J.G. English, President.
Original Series $5 bank note with pen signatures of E.H. Palmer, Cashier and J.G. English, President. Courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions, www.lynknight.com
1882 Brown Back $50 bank note with pen signatures of L.D. Gass, Cashier and C.L. English, President.
1882 Brown Back $50 bank note with pen signatures of L.D. Gass, Cashier and C.L. English, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1902 Date Back $50 bank note with pen signatures of C.E. Olmstead, Assistant Cashier and J.L. Tincher, Vice President.
1902 Date Back $50 bank note with pen signatures of C.E. Olmstead, Assistant Cashier and J.L. Tincher, Vice President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1902 Plain Back $50 bank note with printed signatures of C.P. Nelson, Cashier and J.L. Tincher, President.
1902 Plain Back $50 bank note with printed signatures of C.P. Nelson, Cashier and J.L. Tincher, President. Courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions, www.lynknight.com
1929 Type 1 $100 bank note with printed signatures of W.J. Ramm, Cashier and C.P. Nelson, President.
1929 Type 1 $100 bank note with printed signatures of W.J. Ramm, Cashier and C.P. Nelson, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $3,184,910 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1863 and 2009. This consisted of a total of 83,091 notes (70,494 large size and 12,597 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments
Original Series 4x5 1 - 5500
Series 1875 4x5 1 - 3143
1882 Brown Back 50-100 1 - 2317
1902 Red Seal 50-100 1 - 2300
1902 Date Back 50-100 1 - 2000
1902 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 4550
1902 Plain Back 3x50-100 4551 - 5672
1929 Type 1 6x50 1 - 1170
1929 Type 1 6x100 1 - 372
1929 Type 2 5 1 - 2040
1929 Type 2 10 1 - 900
1929 Type 2 20 1 - 405

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1863 - 2009):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

  • John Lackey "Jack" Tincher, Jr., signed notes as Vice President
  • Charles Emory Olmstead, Assistant Cashier 1927

Wiki Links

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
  1. Francis Murray Huston, Financing an Empire: History of Banking in Illinois (4 volumes) (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926), Volume Two, pp 462-3.
  2. The Weekly Leader, Bloomington, IL, Wed., Dec. 27, 1871.
  3. Francis Murray Huston, Financing an Empire: History of Banking in Illinois (4 volumes) (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926), Volume Two, p. 463.