Lewisburg National Bank, Lewisburg, PA (Charter 745)
Lewisburg National Bank, Lewisburg, PA (Chartered 1865 - Closed (Merger) 1980)
Town History
Lewisburg is a borough in and the county seat of Union County, Pennsylvania, located 30 miles south by southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. Found in central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, Lewisburg is home to Bucknell University and is near the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. It is the county seat of Union County. Its 19th-century downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places. Lewisburg is the principal city of the Lewisburg, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area, and is also part of the larger Bloomsburg-Berwick-Sunbury, PA Combined Statistical Area. The population was 5,158 as of the 2020 census.
Lewisburg was founded in 1785 by Ludwig Derr. A settler of the area (since as early as 1763–1769), Derr had purchased several tracts of land from the William Penn family and other neighboring land owners, the largest of which was known as "The Prescott". Having been on the land for such a long time, Derr had befriended the local Native Americans of the area. His relationship with these indigenous peoples was so well founded that, even as many of the other local settlers' homesteads were routinely sacked by Native Americans, Derr's lands remained free from attacks. Subsequently, in 1784, he worked with Samuel Weiser to lay out his combined land tracts, and create Derrstown. The post office was named Lewisburgh when it was established in 1796; in 1893, the name was shortened to Lewisburg.
Lewisburg had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes. Lewisburg also had an Obsolete Bank, the Lewisburg Bank, that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).
Bank History
- Organized January 11, 1865
- Chartered January 24, 1865
- Succeeded Lewisburg Bank
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged Northern Central Bank in Williamsport, PA on August 15, 1980
On July 2, 1847, notice was given of an application to the next Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania for passage of a law to incorporate a bank to be called "The Lewisburg Bank," to be located in the borough of Lewisburg in the county of Union. The subscribers were John Houghton, H.P. Sheller, H.S. Graham, Samuel Wolfe, James F. Linn, S.L. Beck, G.F. Miller, Thomas Hayes, David Reber, Joseph Candor, and Wm. Wilson.
On June 2, 1854, notice was given that application would be made to the legislature to change the name of the Lewisburg Savings Institution, located at Lewisburg in the county of Union to "The Lewisburg Bank," with $100,000 additional capital and authority to issue its own notes for circulation. H.P. Sheller was the Treasurer. The announcement was repeated in June 1855 by the new Treasurer, David Reber. The bill was read in the Senate by Mr. Sellers in January 1856. The bill was taken up by the House in February 1857. In May 1857, some consternation was expressed by The Sunbury Gazette over the number of bank bills, nearly all of which passed both Houses, compelling the Governor to exercise the veto power. It did report the Lewisburg Bank bill as just signed by Governor Pollock and in some measure supplying a deficiency in the area. In August 1857, Wm. Cameron was elected president and F.W. Pollock, cashier of the Lewisburg Bank, a Savings Institution converted into a bank by the Legislature.
On Wednesday, November 11, 1857, the Lewisburg Bank first issued a few thousand dollars of their own paper. It was of a pale reddish color on the face, neatly and elegantly engraved by Bald, Cousland & Co., of Philadelphia & New York. The $10s had a home scene vignette. A blacksmith, mower, girl with rake and child with fruit or flowers and 10 upon each upper corner, a portrait of John P. Anderson of the Juniata on the right lower corner and of U.S. Senator Simon Cameron on the left. The $5s had two dishabille female figures in the vignette, surrounded by agricultural and mechanical implements with a large building, cattle, prow of a vessel and mountain scenery in the background, 5 on each upper corner, a likeness of Colonel Eli Slifer on the right hand lower corner and of Wm. Cameron, Esq., on the left. The following were officers of the bank: William Cameron, President; F.W. Pollock, Cashier; David Reber, Teller; J. Brown McLaughlin, Clerk; and George Schoch, Messenger. The Lewisburg Bank, first applied for a charter ten years earlier was now finally in operation. In January 1858, the bank reported discounted notes in the amount of $118,245.03; amount of notes in circulation $34,405; amount of gold and silver $14,487.83; and deposits of $69,856.53.
Peterson's Detector announced the appearance of a counterfeit $5 on the Lewisburg Bank. The description of it was female on each side of the figure 5, oxen with load of hay on lower left corner, FIVE and figure 5 above, portrait of a child in center on right, and FIVE above and below.
In May 1860, William Cameron, Jr., was taken into the Lewisburg Bank as Assistant Cashier. In December 1862, the following were elected directors of the Lewisburg Bank: Wm. Cameron, John M. Huff, H.G. Wolfe, J.G.L. Shindel, Chas. Wilson, Mark Halfpenny, Benj. Griffey, Solomon Rigger, D.S. Kremer, and Gideon Biehl.
On Wednesday, December 28, 1864, stockholders met to decide whether to convert the bank into a National Bank. On January 24, 1865, the Comptroller of the Currency, Hugh McCulloch, authorized The Lewisburg National Bank to commence business. The bank was ready to go into operation at any time.
On January 9, 1866, the following were elected directors of the Lewisburg National Bank: William Cameron, John Walls, Joseph Meixell, Solomon Ritter, John M. Huff, Benjamin Griffy, Mark Halfpenny, J.D.S. Gast, and George Gross.
On July 7, 1891, in the early morning, Hon. John B. Packer, the distinguished lawyer of Sunbury and former Congressman died at his home. The newspapers of the country were indebted to him for the liberal rates of postage they paid on their subscriptions and for their papers being carried free in the counties of publication. He was a director of the Lewisburg National Bank. NOTE: a featured biography is available for Hon. John B. Packer
On Friday, November 20, 1891, one of the best known bank robbers in the country, Joseph Killoran, alias Joe Howard, was taken from Philadelphia by a Pinkerton detective to Lewisburg, where he is wanted for the robbery of the Lewisburg National Bank on May 1st of several thousand dollars. He was captured in New York, being identified from a picture from the Rogues' Gallery. Killoran was one of the perpetrators of the famous Kensington Bank robbery in Philadelphia a score of years ago. He served time for breaking into the National Bank of Wilmington, Delaware, the First National Bank of Coldwater, Michigan, and other financial institutions. He had twice escaped from jail. The police have succeeded in regaining but little of his booty which figured up into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The trial took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 29 and 30. Mr. Brown McLaughlin, teller of the bank, was the first witness called and he stated he recognized the prisoner as the man who had been in the bank on two different days just prior to the robbery to get some money changed, and also as the man whom he saw standing at the bank step on the day the robbery was committed. He testified that on the first of May, about 10 minutes after 12 o'clock, he was standing at his desk facing Second Street and a dapper looking fellow with a fine large bay horse and side bar buggy drive up to the window and motioned for him to come out. Mr. McLaughlin eventually went out and the man in the buggy said he had some money to deposit and also some bonds in a package which a woman would come and attend to. McLughlin said he was kept out about two minutes and on turning around to go into the bank he saw the prisoner Killoran standing on the step of the bank, who asked him if there was another National Bank in the town. He was referred to the Union National just a half block away. Mr. McLaughlin went into the bank unaware of hat had happened until cashier David Reber came from his dinner and asked whether they had paid out any large sums. Mr. Reber noticed that the $3,500 that had been lying on the counter was gone. Further investigation disclosed the fact that $10,000 had been abstracted from the vault. The Pinkerton Detective Agency were at once employed and they forwarded about 100 photographs among which Mr. Laughlin recognized one as the robber. Joseph Howard Killoran was found guilty and sentenced to a $500 fine and 2 years, 10 months and 21 days at hard labor at the eastern penitentiary.
In January 1923, the directors were W.C. Walls, John W. Bucher, J.N. Glover, C.R. Reagan, R.W. Thompson, J.C. Harrison, William C. Hill, Harry M. Showalter, James F. McClure. The officers were W.C. Walls, president; R.W. Thompson, vice president; and John W. Bucher, cashier.
On January 12, 1943, the directors re-elected were Warren S. Reed, Harry M. Showalter, J.H. Kleckner, William C. Hill, Reno Rossgrove, H.M. Heimbach, Dayton L. Rank, Robert L. Matz, and Frank L. Dershem.
In February 1980, John F. Zeller was re-elected chairman of the board during the annual meeting. Officers re-elected were Cameron E. Baker, Jr., president; William L. Bollinger and Dennis E. Lucas, vice presidents; William O. Smith, cashier; Jean L. Ritter, Ralph A. Simpson, and Gregory L. Walter, assistant cashiers, Nancy C. Wolfe, trust officer, and Rebecca J. Webb, assistant trust officer. In July, Northern Central Bank, headquartered in Williamsport, and the Lewisburg National Bank,, received approval for a merger by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The announcement was made by John B. McMurtrie, president and chairman of the Northern Central's board of directors and Joh F. Zeller, III, Lewisburg National's board chairman. The merger was effective July 31. In March, Northern Central had total assets of $368,864,211 and Lewisburg National Had assets of $35,634,548. The combined assets of the merged institution were in excess of $400 million and marked Northern Central's first entry into Union County. Northern Central was originally formed in 1963 as a result of the merger of the West Branch Bank and Trust Co., chartered in 1835 as the first banking house and Williamsport, and the Bank of Newbery.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Lewisburg National Bank, Lewisburg, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $1,496,350 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1865 and 1980. This consisted of a total of 138,265 notes (109,448 large size and 28,817 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Original Series 3x1-2 1 - 3000 Original Series 4x5 1 - 1600 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 2140 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 1480 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 2200 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 2945 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 1650 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 4800 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 4801 - 12347 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 2864 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 880 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 4885 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1468
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1865 - 1980):
Presidents:
- William Cameron, 1865-1867
- Francis C. Harrison, 1868-1886
- Eli Coulter Slifer, 1887-1887
- Daniel Bright Miller, 1888-1907
- James C. Packer, 1908-1914
- William Cameron Walls, 1915-1935
Cashiers:
- David Reber, 1865-1894
- John Walls Bucher, 1907-1928
- Robert Carle Mahoney, 1929-1932
- Mark Baker Halfpenny, 1933-1935
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
- Lewisburg National Bank, Lewisburg, PA History (NB Lookup)
- Pennsylvania Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)
Sources
- Lewisburg, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisburg,_Pennsylvania
- 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
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Sat., Oct. 9, 1847.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Wed., Oct. 4, 1854.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Fri., Nov. 2, 1855.
- The Sunbury Gazette and Northumberland County Republican, Sunbury, PA, Sat., May 2, 1857.
- Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg General Advertiser, Bloomsburg, PA, Sat., Aug. 8, 1857.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Fri., Nov. 13, 1857.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Fri., Dec. 25, 1857.
- The Sunbury Gazette, Sunbury, PA, Sat., Jan. 16, 1858.
- The Sunbury Gazette, Sunbury, PA, Sat., Nov. 12, 1859.
- The Sunbury Gazette, Sunbury, PA, Sat., May 19, 1860.
- The Sunbury Gazette, Sunbury, PA, Sat., Dec. 6, 1862.
- The Sunbury Gazette, Sunbury, PA, Sat., Dec. 31, 1864.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Fri., Jan. 26, 1865.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Fri., Feb. 10, 1865.
- Northumberland County Democrat, Sunbury, PA, Fri., Jan. 19, 1866.
- Lewisburg Journal, Lewisburg, PA, Wed., July 8, 1891.
- The Tribune, Scranton, PA, Sat., Nov. 21, 1891.
- Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA, Thu., Dec. 24, 1891.
- Northumberland County Democrat, Sunbury, PA, Thu., Dec. 31, 1891.
- The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, Wed., Jan. 13, 1943.
- The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, Fri., Feb. 29, 1980.
- The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, Wed., July 2, 1980.