Millikin National Bank, Decatur, IL (Charter 5089)
Millikin National Bank, Decatur, IL (Chartered 1897 - Closed (Merger) 1993)
Town History
Decatur (/dɪˈkeɪtər/ dih-KAY-tər) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. Decatur is the seventeenth-most populous city in Illinois. The city is named after War of 1812 naval hero Stephen Decatur.
The city is home of private Millikin University and public Richland Community College. Decatur has an economy based on industrial and agricultural commodity processing and production, including the North American headquarters of agricultural conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland, international agribusiness Tate & Lyle's largest corn-processing plant, and the designing and manufacturing facilities for Caterpillar Inc.'s wheel-tractor scrapers, compactors, large wheel loaders, mining class motor grader, off-highway trucks, and large mining trucks.
Decatur was the first home in Illinois of Abraham Lincoln, who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1830. At the age of 21, Lincoln gave his first political speech in Decatur about the importance of Sangamon River navigation that caught the attention of Illinois political leaders. As a lawyer on the 8th Judicial Circuit, Lincoln made frequent stops in Decatur and argued five cases in the log courthouse that stood on the corner of Main & Main Streets.
Decatur had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all five of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized September 8, 1897
- Chartered September 28, 1897
- Succeeded J. Millikin & Co.
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see: FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into Magna Bank of Illinois, Belleville, IL June 30, 1993
- Bankers Magazine Succession Info (1863-1909):
This bank had its beginning back in 1860, when over the door of a modest office on Merchant street, in the old Railroad Bank building in Decatur, the Railroad Bank having recently failed, there was hung a sign reading: James Millikin, Banker. Millikin's private bank did considerable business and in 1863 he took J.Q.A. Odor into partnership with him, changing the office sign to read "Millikin & Odor." This firm was soon dissolved and in 1865 Jerome R. Gorin became Mr. Millikin's associate in the private banking business, the two operating as J. Millikin & Company. In 1881 Mr. Gorin withdrew and his son, Orville B. Gorin, who had entered the bank with his father in 1865, was admitted as a partner. Later Milton Johnson was given an interest, but in January, 1892, he sold out to Parke Hammer, who died in 1896 and shortly afterward J.M. Brownback acquired an interest. This was the situation with respect to this thriving old private bank when in 1897 the name of J. Millikin & Company was dropped and the company was incorporated, securing a charter as a national bank. The title of this new institution was The Millikin National Bank of Decatur. This bank became the largest banking institution in Illinois outside of Chicago.
James Millikin died March 2, 1909 while at his winter home in Orlando, Florida. Had he survived but a few more months he would have lived to see the golden anniversary of the bank. Orville B. Gorin, who entered the bank's employ in 1865 when 16 years old, and had filled every position from the lowest to the highest, was president after the death of Mr. Millikin. J. M. Brownback, who acquired his interest in the bank in 1896, was the vice president; J.P. Gorin, second vice president; S.E. Walker, cashier; and G.P. Lewis, W.A. Hammer, C.A. Imboden and Bernard Graliker, assistant cashiers.
In 1915, the Millikin Trust Company was organized as a subsidiary institution for the purpose of taking care of the bank's fiduciary relations to the community. The trust company had the same stockholders and officers as the national bank and was located at 104 North Water Street in Decatur.
The original building on Merchant Street was occupied until 1864 when the bank was moved to the north side of Main Street, one door east of the old Morehouse & Wells store. In 1880 another change was made when much better quarters were occupied at the corner of East Main and Water streets. In 1894, pending the erection of the seven-story bank building on that corner the bank fixtures were moved to temporary quarters. In February 1896, the interior of the new Millikin bank building was nearly complete and workmen were putting on finishing touches. The two elevators were being placed into service.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Millikin National Bank of Decatur, IL
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $7,117,980 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1897 and 1993. This consisted of a total of 902,102 notes (723,096 large size and 179,006 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 - 4250 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 11000 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 15250 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 10600 1882 Value Back 4x5 15251 - 18657 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 10601 - 12041 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 88157 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 46669 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 17216 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 8642 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 2574 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 4934 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 2695 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 785
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1897 - 1993):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
- Orville Browning Gorin, 1897-1897
- Joseph Marion Brownback, 1898-1908
- Smith E. Walker, 1909-1925
- Guy Paul Lewis, 1926-1930
- William Aston Hammer, 1931-1932
- Bernard Graliker, 1933-1935
Other Bank Note Signers
- O.B. Gorin signed notes as Vice President.
- There are currently no known Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Illinois Bank Note History
- General information on Decatur (Wikipedia)
- General information on Macon County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Illinois (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Decatur, IL, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decatur,_Illinois
- 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
- Francis Murray Huston, Financing an Empire: History of Banking in Illinois (4 volumes) (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926), Vol. 2, pp. 527-533.
- Herald and Review, Decatur, IL, Wed., Feb. 26, 1896