First National Bank, McKeesport, PA (Charter 2222)
First National Bank, McKeesport, PA (Chartered 1875 - Closed (Merger) 1993)
Town History
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census, and it is Allegheny County's second biggest city, after Pittsburgh.
David McKee emigrated from Scotland and was the first permanent white settler at the forks of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers, the site of present-day McKeesport, in 1755. Around the time of the French and Indian Wars, George Washington often came to McKeesport to visit his friend, Queen Alliquippa, a Seneca Indian ruler. The Colonial Government granted David McKee exclusive right of ferriage over those rivers on April 3, 1769, called "McKee's Port." His son, John McKee, an original settler of Philadelphia, built a log cabin at this location. After taking over his father's local river ferry business, he devised a plan for a city to be called McKee's Port in 1795. John set out his proposal in the Pittsburgh Gazette, as part of a program under which new residents could purchase plots of land for $20. A lottery was used to distribute the plots to avoid complaints from new land owners concerning "inferior" locations.
McKeesport rose to national importance during the 1900s as a center for manufacturing steel. In 1899, the National Tube Works Company was consolidated with twenty other pipe-making firms in the northeastern United States to form the National Tube Company. In 1901, the National Tube Company and nine other major American steel companies merged to form U.S. Steel. The city's population continued to grow steadily, reaching a peak of 55,355 in 1940. National Tube closed in the 1980s, along with other U.S. Steel plants in the Mon Valley. The subsequent decline since then is attributable to the general economic malaise that descended upon the region when the steelmaking industry moved elsewhere.
McKeesport had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all five of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 29, 1875
- Chartered February 10, 1875
- Succeeded Commercial Banking Co.
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged with the First National Bank of Smithton (Charter 5311), May 30, 1953
- Merged with the First National Bank of Braddock (Charter 13866), July 16, 1956
- Merged into Integra Bank/Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA, April 23, 1993
On February 17, 1875, the United States Comptroller of the Currency reported the following statement of National Bank organized the past week: National Bank of McMinnville, Tenn., Charter 2221. Authorized capital $50,000; paid in capital $45,500, Philip L. Marbury, Cashier. Authorized to commence business February 4, 1875. First National Bank of McKeesport, Pa., Charter 2222. Authorized capital, $50,000; paid in cappital 35,000, William Whigham, President; Thomas Penney, Cashier. Authorized to commence business February 10, 1875.
In June 1881, Wm. Nelson of Nelson & Sons, Monongahela, just finised the foundation, all cut stone work and pavement for the First National Bank of McKeesport.
On January 10, 1888, stockholders elected the following directors: W.E. Harrison, W.P. Wampler, John F. Neel, H.B. Cochran, E.C. Converse, B. Coursin, James S. Kuhn, H.B. Sinclair, R.G. Wood, Jas. Wilson, J.W. Bailie, and John H. Flagler.
On September 19, 1890, James H. Kuhn, a Leading; Financier, Elected President of the First National Bank of McKeesport. At a meeting of the directors of the First National bank of McKeesport, held last Friday afternoon to fill the position of president, made vacant by the death of Captain Sinclair, Mr. James S. Kuhn, the former cashier, was unanimously elected to that position, and Mr. Homer Stewart was chosen to fill the position of cashier. Mr. Kuhn was widely known in banking and financial circles in McKeesport, he having been connected with the McKeesport bank for the past 16 years. Prior to that he was prominently identified with the First National bank of Pittsburgh. In addition to his banking interests, Mr. Kuhn has for years past been the city treasurer of McKeesport and also treasurer and principal stockholder of the American Water Works and Guarantee Company, the largest company of that character in the United States, they having at least 40 plants scattered in different sections of the country. In connection with Mr. W. S. Kuhn, E. C. Converse and others of the National tube works, the American company was organized by Mr. Kuhn some fifteen years ago, and since that time he has been its leading financier. Ridgeview Park, a charming suburb of McKeesport, owed its origin to Mr. Kuhn, he having purchased a large tract of land there a few years ago, and opened up a nucleus for a thriving settlement. Mr. Homer Stewart, the recently elected cashier, was also well and favorably known in Pittsburgh financial circles, he having been connected for a number of years with the Tradesmen National Bank.
In January, 1891, the First NB of McKeesport elected the following directors: J.W. Bailie, Esq., Benjamin Coursin, E.C. Converse, general manager of National Tube Works, James S. Kuhn, President of the bank; W.E. Harrison, W.P. Wampler, John F. Neel, T.L. White, MD; P.G. Wood, W.S. Kuhn, and T.H. Pierce.
In 1895, the officers were James S. Kuhn, president; W.E. Harrison, vice president; and Homer C. Stewart, cashier. Capital was $250,000 and Surplus was $115,000.
In July 1905, the Officers were James S. Kuhn, president; J.W. Bailie, vice president; Charles A. Tawney, cashier; and William Nagel, assistant cashier. The directors were James S. Kuhn, John F. Neel, M.R. Murphey, Jno. K. Skelley, J.L. Hammitt, D.L. Clark, Geo. G. Crawford, J.W. Bailie, W.S. Kuhn, Taylor Allderice, Charles A. Tawney, and William Nagel. The capital was $250,000, surplus $250,000, undivided profits $92,519.17, and deposits $2,499,716.47.
At the August 30, 1911 meeting of the directors, Charles R. Shaw, Carl G. Hofman, and John A. Kelso were promoted from tellers to assistant cashiers and Thomas Harry, Jr., was elected to a clerkship. The changes followed the resignation of William Nagel, assistant cashier and connected with the bank for 26 years.
On July 5, 1912, a freight train and a passenger train carrying about 60 persons met with a terrible crash at the slight grade at Denny curve, one mile north of Ligonier on the Wilpen branch of the Ligonier Valley railroad. Twenty-one were dead and of the 17 injured taken to the Latrobe hospital, one died and doctors stated most were in danger of death. Others were taken to hospitals in Pittsburgh and McKeesport. Walter Serena, 32, bookkeeper for the First National Bank who resided in McKeesport died the next morning in McKeesport Hospital.
On July 7, 1913, The First-Second National Bank closed its doors by order of the assistant comptroller of the currency. The bank was a recent consolidation of the First and Second National Banks of Pittsburgh and the second largest bank in the city. The First National Bank of McKeesport closed its doors a few minutes after the Pittsburgh institution closed. This was necessary because both banks were Kuhn institutions and a receiver was to be appointed for the American Water Works Company, a $24 million concern. J.S. Kuhn was president of the McKeesport bank and W.S. Kuhn was president of the Pittsburgh bank.
An amount totaling between $155 million and $175 million in bank resources, bonds and stocks of over 40 public utility companies and the finances of a private banking house were involved in the failure of the Kuhns of Pittsburgh through the suspension of the two national banks they controlled and the receiverships for their private banking firms and the great American Water Works and Guarantee Company, one of the most hugely capitalized concerns in the country which the Kuhns controlled. American Water Works and Guarantee Company, the largest company in the country engaged in constructing and operating other water works companies, gas, electric light, heat and power concerns, irrigation plants and electric interurban lines, controlled over 40 such companies whose securities aggregated the sum of $110,718,800 of which $73,128,800 consisted of stocks of the subsidiaries held by the controlling company. The controlling company had capital stock of $10 million common and $10 million 6% preferred. The announcement of the suspension of the big Pittsburgh bank was not a surprise. The history of the bank over the past three years spelled trouble. Lawrence O. Murry, Comptroller of the Currency was offered the presidency of the First National Bank of Pittsburgh. It was then in bad condition and Mr. Murray refused. Oscar L. Telling, an examiner who had been closely associated with Mr. Murry in Treasury accepted the presidency. The affairs of the bank did not improve. Injudicious loans were made. Comptroller Murray nursed the bank along and finally just before leaving office, he approved the merger with the Second National solely as a means of pulling up the condition of the First and making a combined institution sufficiently strong. Oscar Telling ceased to be president after the merger, becoming vice president and then dropped from office on July 15 1912. An engineer said that the irrigation scheme put through by the Kuhns was really responsible for their downfall. The securities of the American Water Works and Guarantee Company had been salable with difficulty. The $10 million preferred stock was listed on the stock exchange, the last sale at $95 recently. There was no bid for the stock on the exchange on July 13th.
Secretary of the Treasury, McAdoo, issued a statement on the closing of the First-Second National Bank of Pittsburgh and the First National Bank of McKeesport. "The acting Comptroller of the Currency took charge of the First-Second National Bank of Pittsburgh today because its directors in a meeting held at Pittsburgh yesterday expressed their inability to make good on an impairment of its capital and decided that the wise thing for all interests was for the acting Comptroller to take the situation in hand. The Pittsburgh Clearing House Association, which has had the matter under consideration for several days, had in the meantime also decided that it was inexpedient to furnish the amount of assistance required to keep the bank going. The general banking situation in Pittsburgh is sound and no further trouble with banks is expected."
On Tuesday, July 15, 1913, The First National Bank of McKeesport which closed its doors as a precautionary measure, resumed business.
On January 13, 1914, the directors elected were: Charles A. Tawney, J.L. Hammitt, J.S. Neel, Samuel B. Reed, D.J. Clark, W.A. Cornelius, A.R. May, H.K. Watson, Charles R. Shaw, Harry Milligan, C.O. Fulmer and C.M.C. Harper. On January 16th, the directors elected the following officers: Charles A. Tawney, president; J.L. Hammitt, vice president; Charles R. Shaw, cashier. The bank accepted the reserve banking act and Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo was so notified.
In January 1926, the directors were Charles R. Shaw, J.L. Hammit, D.L. Clark, W.A. Cornelius, Arthur R. May, H.K. Watson, Harry Milligan, Charles O. Fulmer, C.M.C. Harper, Harry C. Neel, C.H. Wisser, and W.D. Mansfield.
M.A. Cancellier went to work in 1935 at the little bank on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street in McKeesport of which his father-in-law, Charles R. Shaw, was president. He worked as file clerk, messenger, assistant bookkeeper, bookkeeper, teller and in the note department handling commercial loans. He became an assistant cashier in 1942 and was named president Oct. 23, 1952. The Western Pennsylvania National Bank's expansion can be traced almost to the day that Cancelliere became president. He had provoked some interest among board members of the First National Bank of McKeesport in the First National Bank of Smithton, an institution with $3.5 million in total resources. "If you approve acquisition of the Smithton bank you'll be approving more than acquiring one bank. You'll be approving a policy of expansion. If we don't expand, our territory will diminish and it's questionable if we'll do more than stand still. In that case management would be better off to be absorbed by a bigger bank and our future growth would be limited. It's a matter of survival." On May 30, 1953, seven months after Cancelliere had become president of the McKeesport bank, the Smithton bank was acquired. By 1962 Western Pennsylvania National Bank (WPNB) was third largest in Western Pennsylvania, ninth in the state and 139th in the nation.
On September 1, 1954, The First National Bank of Monongahela became The First of Monongahela office of the First National Bank of McKeesport. The merger was approved previously by the stockholders of both institutions. A division of the stock proportional to assets of the institutions was effected. Harry F. Larimer, cashier of the Monongahela bank became vice president of the McKeesport First National and bank manager of the Monongahela office. President M.A. Cancelliere of McKeesport called the merger another important milestone in the growth of the Mon-Yough area. By June 1959, it had 16 branches at Monongahela, McKeesport, Belle Vernon, Braddock, Brentwood, California, Dravosburg, Finleyville, Forest Hills, Boston, Roscoe, Shady Side, Sharpsburg, Smithton, Washington First (Pittsburgh), and White Oak. Total capitalization of the bank at the end of 1958 was $14,797,152.
In June 1956, Preliminary approval of the merger of the First National Bank of McKeesport and the First National Bank of Braddock was granted by the comptroller of the currency. The McKeesport bank planned to change its name to the Western Pennsylvania National Bank. Stockholders of both institutions voted on the consolidation on July 10th. The combined banks had total resources of $105 million with the Braddock bank contributing $11 million. On July 16, the Western Pennsylvania National Bank (WPNB) announced its new name and the 11th community office to join the family; it was formerly the First National Bank of Braddock. WPNB had branches in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Washington Counties.
On February 1, 1980 the Western Pennsylvania National Bank changed its name to Equibank. On April 23, 1993, it merged and became part of Integra Bank/Pittsburgh (FDIC #7948) in Pittsburgh, PA.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of McKeesport, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $6,492,650 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1875 and 1993. This consisted of a total of 750,597 notes (657,828 large size and 92,769 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 - 450 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 360 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 3913 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 1713 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 14875 1882 Brown Back 4x10 1 - 4500 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 7022 1882 Brown Back 50-100 1 - 826 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 23358 1882 Date Back 4x10 1 - 20665 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 500 1882 Date Back 50-100 1 - 100 1882 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 256 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 5000 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 4000 1902 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 1167 1902 Plain Back 4x5 5001 - 53464 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 4001 - 31181 1902 Plain Back 3x50-100 1168 - 1737 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 8234 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 3996 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 1100 1929 Type 1 6x50 1 - 356 1929 Type 1 6x100 1 - 116 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 4476 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 3828 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1653
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1875 - 1993):
Presidents:
- William Whigham, 1875-1884
- Hiram B. Sinclair, 1885-1889
- James Speer Kuhn, 1890-1912
- Charles A. Tawney, 1913-1920
- Charles Robert Shaw, 1921-1935
Cashiers:
- Thomas Penney, 1875-1885
- James Speer Kuhn, 1886-1889
- Homer Clark Stewart, 1890-1901
- Charles A. Tawney, 1902-1912
- Charles Robert Shaw, 1913-1920
- John Alexander Kelso, 1921-1935
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Pennsylvania Bank Note History
- General information on McKeesport (Wikipedia)
- General information on Allegheny County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- McKeesport, PA, 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
- Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, Wed., Feb. 17, 1875.
- The Daily Republican, Monongahela, PA, Fri., Nov. 11, 1881.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Jan. 11, 1888.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., Sep. 22, 1890.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Jan. 17, 1891.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., May 1, 1895.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., July 2, 1905.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Thu., Aug. 31, 1911.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., July 6, 1912.
- The Daily Notes, Canonsburg, PA, Mon., July 7, 1913.
- The Evening Republican, Meadville, PA, Tue., July 8, 1913.
- The Conneautville Courier, Conneautville, PA, Wed., July 16, 1913.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Jan. 14, 1914.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Jan. 17, 1914.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Jan. 13, 1926.
- The Daily Republican, Monongahela, PA, Tue., June 23, 1959.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Thu., June 7, 1956.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Mon., July 16, 1956.