First National Bank, Deadwood, SD (Charter 2391)

circa 1915 Postcard of the First National Bank (right).

First National Bank, Deadwood, SD (Chartered 1878 - Consolidated 1935)

Town History

2005 Photo of the old First National Bank building.

The settlement of Deadwood began illegally in the 1870s, on land which had been granted in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie to the Lakota (Sioux) people, who considered this area to be sacred. Everything changed after Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills and announced the discovery of gold in 1874. This announcement was a catalyst for the Black Hills Gold Rush, and miners and entrepreneurs swept into the area. They created the new and lawless town of Deadwood, which quickly reached a population of approximately 5,000. By autumn of 1876, over 10,000 people were living in Deadwood Gulch. Deadwood became known for its lawlessness, and murders were common. The town attained further notoriety when gunman/gambler Wild Bill Hickok was killed on August 2, 1876 by Jack McCall, who was later found guilty of murder and hanged in Yankton, then the capitol of Dakota Territory. Both Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried in Deadwood's Mount Moriah Cemetery.

During the National Bank Note Era, the boom town population had plummeted to 3,770 by 1880, and then further declined to 2,559 by 1930. The highest (post-boom) population was 4,100 in 1940, and the current population is 1264 (2016).

The first bank in Deadwood, established in April 1876, was the Miners and Mechanics Bank owned by James M. Wood. Soon to follow in the late summer or early fall of 1876 was the bank of James K. P. Miller and James McPherson. These short-lived banks were primarily trading centers for handling gold dust and bullion.

In the spring of 1877, the bank of Stebbins, Wood and Post was started by William R. Stebbins, Samuel N. Wood and M.E. Post. In 1878, these 3 men assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Deadwood, Dakota Territory.

Bank History

• Organized Jun 27, 1878
• Chartered Jul 25, 1878
• Succeeded Stebbins, Wood & Post
• Brown & Thum consolidated with it 1879
• Absorbed 2461 Jun 8, 1894 (Merchants National Bank, Deadwood, SD)
• Assumed 4983 by consolidation Jun 30, 1905 (American National Bank, Deadwood, SD)

• Affiliated/Acquired by Northwest Banco on Feb 19, 1929
• Consolidated with First NB of Lead Dec 21, 1935 (OCC-1936 p188)
• Became the Deadwood branch of FNB of the Black Hills in 1938

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The First National Bank of Deadwood, Dakota Territory (and then state of South Dakota)

Bank Note Types Issued

Series 1875 $5 Territorial bank note with pen signatures of S.N. Wood, Cashier and L.R. Graves, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, HA.com

Series 1929 Type 1 $20 bank note with printed signatures of C.O. Gorder, Cashier and W.E. Adams, President

A total of $1,990,640 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1878 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 182,672 notes (164,372 large size and 18,300 small size notes).

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

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
Series 1875	4x5	1 - 6776	Territory
Series 1875	4x5	6777 - 9578
1882 Brown Back	3x10-20	1 - 8725
1882 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 10400
1882 Value Back	3x10-20	10401 - 12389
1902 Plain Back	3x10-20	1 - 10401
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 2174
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 634
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 1223
1929 Type 2	20	1 - 229

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

1881 Territorial Bank Postal Card from First National Bank. M.C. Thum Cashier.

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1878 - 1936):

Presidents:

• Leonard R. Graves, 1878-1878
• Richard Conover Lake, 1879-1882
• Orange James Salisbury, 1883-1901
• Harris Franklin, 1902-1905
• Nathan E. Franklin, 1906-1916
• Donald Andrew McPherson, 1917-1919
• William Emery Adams, 1920-1933
• George Vincent Ayres, 1934-1934

Cashiers:

• Samuel Newell Wood, 1878-1878
• Myron C. Thum, 1879-1881
• E. F. Kellogg, 1881-1881
• Donald Andrew McPherson, 1882-1916
• Milton Major Wheeler, 1917-1929
• Carlton Olaf Gorder, 1929-1934

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• Thomas Johnston Grier, (Sr.) (VP 1894...1914)

Bank Note History Links

• First National Bank, Deadwood, SD History (NB Lookup)
• Dakota Territory (SPMC PM#27)
• South Dakota Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Deadwood, SD, on Wikipedia
• Robert E. Driscoll, Seventy Years of Banking in the Black Hills (1876-1946) (Rapid City, SD: The Gate City Guide, Publishers, 1948).
• 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