First National Bank, Gentry, AR (Charter 12340)

The historic Bank of Gentry building, ca2022. Courtesy of Google Maps

First National Bank, Gentry, AR (Chartered 1923 - Liquidated 1934)

Town History

Gentry branch of Arvest Bank, ca2022. Arvest Bank, headquartered in Bentonville, is almost entirely owned by the Walton Family. Courtesy of Google Maps

Gentry is a city in Benton County, Arkansas. The population was 3,790 as of the 2020 census. The city was founded in the Ozark Mountains in 1894 along what would become the Kansas City Southern Railroad. The city's prior prosperity in the orchard industry, especially apples, was further strengthened by the rail connection. Following the decline of the apple industry in the 1930s, Gentry shifted its economy towards poultry along with many other areas of Northwest Arkansas.

Gentry began as a rural Ozark agricultural community named Orchard City. Located in western Benton County, it was known for its apple orchards and other produce. The town began to grow when the Kansas City Southern Railroad was constructed through the town. In 1894, residents of the community petitioned the county to officially incorporate, and the city's name was changed to Gentry, after an official in charge of the construction of the railroad.

The railroad proved important to Gentry, and by 1903 the town had grown to a population of 1,000. The railroad company built a new depot in Gentry in 1926–1927. It was known as one of the nicest depots on the railway line. A banquet was held for the grand opening, and railway officials arrived on a special train to commemorate the event. Four to six passenger trains a week came through Gentry until passenger service was discontinued in 1964.

Gentry had one National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, and it issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

• Organized March 13, 1923
• Chartered March 24, 1923
• Conversion of The Citizens Bank of Gentry
• Liquidated June 15, 1934
• Absorbed by Bratt State Bank, Siloam Springs

In April 1913, J. Nap Covey, assistant cashier of the Benton County National Bank of Bentonville, was elected cashier of the Citizens Bank of Gentry.

In December 1921, Marion Wasson, president of the bank in Gentry, Arkansas, in company with a merchant there on their way home from a picture show stopped at the merchant's store and found that it was being robbed by two men. Both were soon captured. On returning home, Mr. Wasson found that his house had been robbed. The two robbers confessed that they had broken jail at Westville, Oklahoma, and that they had taken part in the robbery of the Harl Chapman Mercantile Co. and the George Tatum Mercantile Co. stores and also of stealing Bert Dunn's and Price Langley's cars, all of Anderson. They were removed to the jail at Bentonville.

The night of March 31, 1923, scores of citizens headed by county officers were scouring Northwest Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Eastern Oklahoma for four men who held up the First National Bank of Gentry that morning making off with $1,400 in currency and silver. The bandits, apparently four young men, drove up to the bank at 10 o'clock in an automobile bearing an Oklahoma license, one man remaining in the car keeping the engine running. Three men entered the bank and covered the six persons inside with revolvers and forced all into the vault. Marion Wasson, president; A.G. Wasson, vice president; J. Nap Covey, cashier; Misses Sadie Monroe and Elsie Sumner, bookkeepers, and a customer, A.B. Johnson, were forced into the vault, but the safety latch prevented locking of the vault door. According to Cashier Covey, the robbers were in the bank not more than two minutes and gathered up funds in sight on the counters and fled, securing none of the money or bonds in the safe and vault. The bank's burglar alarm sounded the alarm in three business houses, the Steele Drug Store, Gentry Mercantile Co., and Brogden Mercantile Co., and citizens quickly gathered and 25 or more left at once in pursuit of the robbers who headed west toward the Oklahoma line 12 miles distant. As they left the bank, J. Brogden who assisted in the capture of the Decatur Bank robbers a few weeks earlier fired on the party and his fire was returned, but as far as known, no one was injured. The party went through Bloomfield about five miles away shortly after the robbery and was fired on there. Gentry was on the Kansas City Southern Railway, 22 miles southwest of Bentonville. It was about five miles from Decatur where a similar robbery had recently taken place. Two men in the Decatur heist were captured after an exciting chase and were awaiting sentencing.

On April 22nd 1923, Johnny "Nick" Lemar was identified as the member of a gang of bandits who held a pistol pointing at officers of the First National Bank while his confederates looted the cash drawers. The identification was made by Marion Wasson, president and J. Nap Covey, cashier of the bank. In May, Nick Lemar and Jessie D. Paul identified as two of the men who robbed the First National Bank of Gentry were brought to Bentonville by Sheriff George Maples and Deputy Joe Galley. Lemar had wounds in the right hand and arm said to have resulted from shots into the bandits by the citizens of Bloomfield as the party was speeding towards the Oklahoma line. He was captured near Bartlesville by Sheriff Henderson and posse of Washington County. Paul, known also as J.C. Berry, was arrested in Amarillo, Texas, charged with stealing an automobile in Bartlesville and with him was Goldie Holmes, one of two women suspected of connection with the bandits and held for some time after the robbery. She was said to have gone to the neighborhood just before the robbery with Paul and was found by officers in the cabin used by the robbers as headquarters before the robbery. Paul, a.k.a. Berry, was about 28 and was said to have admitted to the Oklahoma sheriff his part in the Gentry robbery. He had wounds in his back probably inflicted by Gentry citizens as the bandits left the bank. Marion Wasson accompanied Sheriff Maples to Oklahoma and identified both men. Sheriff Henderson's efforts were expected to result in the capture of Al Spencer, alleged leader of the gang, according to Benton County officials.

On September 7, 1925, Jesse Paul, known as "Big Boy" Berry, was arrested at Burbank and brought to Oklahoma City where he was held for investigation in connection with the robbery of the Caddo and Carney banks in 1922. He was alleged to have been a member of the old Al Spencer Gang.  He was asleep in bed when officers found him and when he awoke the handcuffs had been fastened and he was a prisoner. "Well, this is a good one on me," Paul said with a smile when he awoke and found handcuffs on him. He had served terms in the Arkansas and Oklahoma penitentiaries. In 1961 at McAlester, Jesse D. Paul, a member of the notorious Al Spencer bank-robbery gang of the 1920s, was recommended for parole from a life sentence for murder. Paul, 72, related some of the Osage Hills gang's experiences in his appearance before the state pardon and parole board.  Convicted of the slaying of Herb Marlow, city marshal at Dewey during an attempted bank robbery, Paul said the Spencer gang first tripped up in the attempted holdup of a bank in Arkansas. Paul was the only one of the Osage Hills Gang to serve time for this crime.  The bank robber escaped from the McAlester state prison in August 1933, and in October of that year received a life sentence in Oregon for robbery with firearms.  Returned to prison in Oklahoma in November 1933, Paul was offered parole in order to serve his sentence in Oregon, but authorities there relinquished their claim against him to Oklahoma.  Prison records showed Paul was paroled in January 1948, and that parole was revoked on May 11, 1950 because he absconded from supervision. In recommending parole, the clemency board pointed out that he had been offered a job as a newspaper circulation man at Enid.

In February 1930, the officers were Marion Wasson, president; Vol Wasson, vice president; Sadie Monroe, vice president; and Tom Whiteside, cashier.

In January 1933, the stockholders re-elected the same officers and directors as follows: Marion Wasson, president; Vol Wasson, vice president; Tom Whiteside, cashier; Elsie Sumner, bookkeeper and stenographer. Marion Wasson, Vol Wasson, Sadie Monroe, E.R. Wasson, H.S. Wasson, Chas. L. Diven, and Tom Whiteside, directors.

In January 1934, the bank reported capital $25,000, surplus and undivided profits 5,070.57, deposits of over $275,000, and circulation $20,000. Directors attesting to the correctness of the report were Vol Wasson, Sadie Monroe, and Chas. L. Diven. Tom Whiteside was cashier.

In March 1934, the Journal-Advance staff was J.H. White, publisher; Eva Maye Roberts, reporter; Clyde English, linotype operator. The Journal-Advance was established in 1894. For years, Marion Wasson, State Bank Commissioner, gave personal attention to it doing most everything except set type which he left to more skilled hands. The First National Bank where Marion Wasson began, was serving town and country well even with scarce money. State Bank Commissioner Marion Wasson was president, Vol Wasson, vice president; Sadie Monroe, vice president; Tom Whiteside cashier; and Elsie Sumner, bookkeeper.

In June 1934, announcement was made that the First National Bank of Gentry and Bratt State Bank, Siloam Springs had merged under the name of the Bratt-Wasson Bank. The Bratt State Bank was opened by J.E. Bratt and Marion Wasson about two years earlier and had made a splendid record in the volume of business that developed in this short time. Mr. Bratt was retiring from active participation in the management which would be assumed by the former First National Bank organization. Both towns would receive banking service as in the past. The officers would be Vol Wasson, acting president; Sadie Monroe, vice president; Shelby Ford, vice president; Tom Whiteside, cashier; Eva Gravett, assistant cashier; and Elsie Sumner, bookkeeper.

On October 1, 1968, the Bratt-Wasson Bank of Siloam Springs converted to a national bank, changing its name to First National Bank. The Bratt-Wasson Bank was formed in 1934 when the stockholders of the First National Bank of Gentry acquired the stock of the Bratt State Bank of Siloam Springs and merged the two under a state charter. The First National Bank traced its beginning to the Citizens Bank of Gentry which was purchased by Marion A. Wasson in 1916 and converted to the First National Bank of Gentry in 1923. The bank increased its capital to $250,000 and surplus of $250,000.

In January 1991, Richard Gillham, manager of the Huntsville branch of First Savings of Arkansas since 1978, resigned to accept a position with the Walton Banking Group to manage the First National Bank of Gentry, Arkansas.

Official Bank Title

1: The First National Bank of Gentry, AR

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Plain Back $10 bank note with pen signatures of Sadie Monroe, Cashier and Marion A. Wasson, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

1929 Type 1 $20 bank note with printed signatures of Tom Whiteside, Cashier and Marion Wasson, President. The Government Printing Office (GPO) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

1929 Type 2 $5 bank note with printed signatures of Tom Whiteside, Cashier and E.R. Wasson, President. Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (BBS) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $146,250 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1923 and 1934. This consisted of a total of 18,957 notes (10,756 large size and 8,201 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 - 1695
1902 Plain Back	3x10-20	1 - 994
1929 Type 1	6x5	1 - 840
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 390
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 108
1929 Type 2	5	1 - 128
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 45

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1923 - 1934):

Presidents:

• Marion Abner Wasson, 1923-1932
• Elizabeth Rebecca (Steele) Wasson, 1933-1934

Cashiers:

• John Nap Covey, 1923-1924
• Sadie Emily Monroe, 1924-1925
• Thomas C. Whiteside, 1926-1926
• Sadie Emily Monroe, 1926-1928
• Thomas C. Whiteside, 1929-1934

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• First National Bank, Gentry, AR History (NB Lookup)
• Arkansas Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Gentry, AR, 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