First National Bank of Bartlesville, OK (Charter 5310)

Postcard of the First National Bank building, (also known as the Sutton-Keeler building), Bartlesville, Oklahoma, ca1920s. . Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

First National Bank of Bartlesville, OK (Chartered 1900 - Liquidated 1920)

Town History

Merger announcement for the First National Bank of Bartlesville and the Bartlesville National Bank. The combined institution opened for business on May 3, 1920, in the former quarters of the First National Bank.

Bartlesville is a city in Washington County and Osage County, Oklahoma. Bartlesville is 47 miles north of Tulsa and 18 miles south of the Kansas border. It is the county seat of Washington County. The Caney River runs through Bartlesville. The population was 37,290 at the 2020 census. In 1900 the population was 698, growing to 14,763 by 1930.

Bartlesville is the primary city of the Bartlesville Micropolitan area, which consists of Washington County and had a population of 51,843 in 2018. A small portion of the city is in Osage County. The city is also part of the Tulsa Combined Statistical Area, with a population of 1,151,172 in 2015.

Bartlesville is notable as the longtime home of Phillips Petroleum Company. Frank Phillips founded Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville in 1905 when the area was still an Indian Territory. The company merged with Conoco as ConocoPhillips and later split into the two independent companies, Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips. Both companies have retained some operations in Bartlesville, but they have moved their corporate headquarters to Houston.

Bartlesville had six National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and four of those banks issued National Bank Notes. The four note issuing banks were First National Bank of Bartlesville, OK (Charter 5310), Bartlesville National Bank/First NB in Bartlesville, OK (Charter 6258), American National Bank, Bartlesville, OK (Charter 7032), and Union National Bank, Bartlesville, OK (Charter 9567).

Bank History

• Organized April 19, 1900
• Chartered April 27, 1900
• Liquidated August 9, 1920
• Consolidated with 6258 (Bartlesville National Bank/First NB, Bartlesville, OK)
• Circulation assumed by 6258 (Bartlesville National Bank/First NB, Bartlesville, OK)

In January 1902, the First National Bank of Bartlesville had paid up capital of $25,000. The directors were S.B. Haynie, Frank Bucher, B.L. Naylor, Dr. G.W. Sutton, and Geo. R Keeler. The officers were G.W. Sutton, president; G.B. Keeler, vice president; and Frank Bucher, cashier.

In February 1914, McGregor & Hinkle were given the contract to erect the Sutton-Keeler building. Work would begin at once excavating for the six-story building at the corner of Johnstone Avenue and Fourth Street. The building would be of re-enforced concrete with outer walls of red and buff pressed brick. The First National Bank would occupy a room on the first floor with a frontage of 50 feet on Johnstone Avenue and a length of 90 feet. Two smaller store rooms would front on Fourth Street. Floors would be tiled for the first story. The upper stories would be for offices exclusively.

In January 1903, the directors were Frank Bucher, B.L. Naylor, G.W. Sutton, G.B. Keeler, and Berdie Bucher. The officers were G.W. Sutton, president; G.B. Keeler, vice president; and Frank Bucher, cashier.

In May 1915, the officers of the First National Bank were: Dr. G.W. Sutton, president; Geo. B. Keeler, and A.D. Morton, vice presidents; Frank Bucher, cashier; and P.O. Bucher, assistant cashier. It had capital and surplus of $100,000 and deposits averaging around $450,000. The Bartlesville National Bank, managed by Frank Phillips, president; H.J. Holm, vice president; L.E. Phillips, cashier; F.J. Spies, Jr., assistant cashier; J.L. Overlees, Frank M. Breene, and J.G. Phillips reported capital, surplus and undivided profits of $199,229.38 and deposits of $1,174,288.93. The Union National Bank officered by M.F. Stilwell, president; R.L. Beattie, H.V. Foster, and J.H. Markham, Jr., vice presidents; H.C. Moore, cashier and F.A. Foster, assistant cashier, had capital $100,000, surplus $50,000, and deposits $994,530.14. The Bartlesville State Bank with Frank C. Raub, president; Wayne Mendell, R.S. Bradley and Dr. O.S. Somerville, vice presidents; G.R. McKinley, cashier; and J.C. Hagerman, assistant cashier, was the largest state bank in northern Oklahoma. It opened in 1908 and had capital $40,000, surplus and profits $1,726.25 and deposits $386,471.52. Bartlesville had a regularly organized clearing house with Frank C. Raub as president, Frank Phillips, vice president; P.O. Bucher, secretary and treasurer; and J.M. Hockensmith, manager.

In January 1920, the officers and directors were Frank Bucher, president; Geo. B. Keeler, vice president; A.H. Boles, Jr., cashier; P.O. Bucher, assistant cashier; W.S. Raydure and Mrs. Kate Sutton, directors. At the close of 1919, the bank had total resources of $1,787,686.42, with capital stock $50,000, surplus $50,000, circulation $49,997.50, and deposits $1,537,684.44. In February 1920, Thomas Arthur Fullen, former teller in the First National Bank of Bartlesville, entered a plea of guilty to a charge of embezzling more than $7,000 when he appeared in United States district court. Fullen was authorized to take care of the bank's mail which included a large number of deposits from firms from out of the state. When these checks arrived, Fullen would keep them and not enter them on deposit.

Official Bank Title

1: The First National Bank of Bartlesville, OK

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Brown Back $20 proof, Bartlesville, Indian Territory, approved August 1, 1900 with a plate date of April 19, 1900. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives

1882 Date Back $5 bank note with stamped signatures of Frank Bucher, Cashier and George B. Keeler, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

1882 Value Back $5 bank note with stamped signatures of A.H. Boles, Jr., Cashier and Frank Bucher, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $408,200 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1900 and 1920. This consisted of a total of 50,716 notes (50,716 large size and No 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	4x5	1 - 875	Territory, Indian
1882 Brown Back	3x10-20	1 - 580	Territory, Indian
1882 Date Back	4x5	1 - 4400
1882 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 3180
1882 Value Back	4x5	4401 - 6650
1882 Value Back	3x10-20	3181 - 4574

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1900 - 1920):

Presidents:

• Dr. George Washington Sutton, 1900-1916
• Frank Bucher, 1917-1919

Cashiers:

• Frank Bucher, 1900-1915
• Alfred H. Boles, Jr., 1916-1919

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• First National Bank of Bartlesville, OK History (NB Lookup)
• Oklahoma Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Bartlesville, OK, 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