First National Bank, Oconomowoc, WI (Charter 5505)

Photo of the First National Bank of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, ca1940s. The bank is located to the right of the hotel. Courtesy of Tom Snyder

Photo of the First National Bank of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, ca1910s. Courtesy of Tom Snyder

First National Bank, Oconomowoc, WI (Chartered 1900 - Liquidated 1932)

Town History

Photo of the First National Bank of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, ca2020. Courtesy of Google Maps

Oconomowoc (/əˈkɒnəməˌwɒk/ ə-KON-ə-mə-wok) is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The name was derived from Coo-no-mo-wauk, the Potawatomi term for "waterfall." The population was 15,712 at the 2010 census.

Oconomowoc was incorporated as a town in 1844, although residents had to go to Summit to get their mail until 1845. Travel and communication links between the new town and nearby cities were quickly established. The Watertown Plank Road was extended to connect Oconomowoc to the nearby towns of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Pewaukee, and Watertown in 1850. Such infrastructure encouraged further settlement, and by 1853 the town grew to a population of 250, with ten stores, three hotels, one gristmill, and one sawmill (both located near the present Lake Road bridge), and a schoolhouse. The first passenger train from Milwaukee arrived in Oconomowoc on December 14, 1854, as part of the Milwaukee and Watertown Railroad Company's rapidly expanding Milwaukee & Mississippi line.

In the 1870s, Oconomowoc started to become a summer resort town for wealthy families from the Midwest. Large houses were established around the town's lakes, particularly Oconomowoc Lake and Lac La Belle. The population grew so much that Oconomowoc incorporated as a city in 1865, and by 1880 it had a population of 3,000.

Oconomowoc had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes. Oconomowoc also had one Obsolete Bank that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).

Bank History

Organized July 3, 1900
Chartered July 19, 1900
Receivership February 4, 1932
Restored to solvency June 6, 1932
Liquidated September 30, 1932
Succeeded by 13616 (Oconomowoc National Bank, Oconomowoc, WI)
Circulation assumed by 13616 (Oconomowoc National Bank, Oconomowoc, WI)

On May 8, 1917, former cashier, Charles D. Probert, and former assistant cashier Ernest C. Theobald, indicted in the fall of 1916 on charges of misappropriating bank funds, pleaded guilty in federal court in Milwaukee. Probert was sentenced to serve a term of five years in the federal prison at Leavenworth and to pay a fine of $500. Theobald was fined $500. According to the grand jury's indictment, the sum misappropriated was upward of $1,000 and the offense was to have taken place around July 18, 1914.

In April 1920, the Whitewater Register reported that A.R. Lappnow, cashier, was sent to jail for four months for misappropriating $350.65. The paper thought the directors of the bank ought to go with him for paying Lappnow only $85 per month and working him sixteen hours a day.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The First National Bank of Oconomowoc, WI

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Plain Back $20 bank note with with stamped signatures of W.J. Counsell, Assistant Cashier and M.R. Wilkinson, Vice President. Courtesy of Tom Snyder

1929 Type 1 $10 bank note with printed signatures of J.F. Kettenhofen, Cashier and L.J. Flotow, President. Courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions, www.lynknight.com

A total of $805,950 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1900 and 1932. This consisted of a total of 73,770 notes (60,660 large size and 13,110 small size notes).

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

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
1882 Brown Back	3x10-20	1 - 1400
1882 Date Back	4x5	1 - 2330
1882 DB/VB	4x5	2331 - 2630	Type uncertain
1882 Value Back	4x5	2631 - 3680
1882 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 1460
1882 DB/VB	3x10-20	1461 - 1700	Type uncertain
1882 Value Back	3x10-20	1701 - 2320
1902 Plain Back	3x10-20	1 - 7765
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 1735
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 450

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1900 - 1932):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

Wiki Links

Sources

Oconomowoc, WI, 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
The Watertown News, Watertown, WI, Wed., May 9, 1917.
The Blanchardville Blade, Blanchardville, WI, Thu., Apr. 15, 1920.