National Bank, Topeka, KS (Charter 12740)

Postcard of the National Bank of Topeka Building, ca1930s. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

National Bank, Topeka, KS (Chartered 1925 - Open past 1935)

Town History

A November 1868 advertisement for the Topeka Bank of George C. Corning, located on the corner of Kansas Avenue and Fifth Street.

Topeka is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 126,587. In 1910 the population was 43,684, growing to 64,120 by 1930.

The city, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.

The name "Topeka" is a Kansa-Osage word that means "place where we dig potatoes", or "a good place to dig potatoes". As a placename, Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for what is now called the Kansas River. Topeka's founders chose the name in 1855 because it "was novel, of Indian origin, and euphonious of sound". Mixed-heritage Kansa Native American Joseph James, called Jojim, is credited with suggesting Topeka's name.

In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a journey of 2,000 miles, following what came to be known as the Oregon Trail. About 60 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half-Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river, but little else was in the area.

In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through Topeka to the newly established Fort Riley. In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the Topeka Town Association. The group included Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man", who became mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub that offered many Victorian era comforts.

Topeka had 11 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all 11 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

A 1927 photo of the National Bank of Topeka, one of Topeka's oldest and largest banking institutions, located at Sixth and Kansas Avenue.

• Chartered May 18, 1925
• Conversion of The Bank of Topeka, Kansas
• Absorbed 10390 September 3, 1931 (Farmers National Bank, Topeka, KS)
• Bank was Open past 1935
• Merged with 3078 September 1957 (Central National Bank & Trust Company, Topeka, KS)

George W. Veale of Topeka was born in 1833 in Daviess County, Indiana. He was brought up in Southern Indiana and educated in the district school and at Wabash College. He was clerk on a river boat running to New Orleans then went into a dry goods store for several years, afterwards a traveling salesman for a wholesale house and finally a Kansas pioneer, arriving in Kansas Territory in the spring of 1857. In 1858 he started a store in Topeka under the name of Hamilton & Co., Mr. Veale being the company. When the war broke out he raised a company of cavalry which was assigned to the Fourth Kansas as company E. in June 1861. In March 1862 he was transferred to the Sixth Kansas cavalry and promoted to major. He served in this regiment until the beginning of 1864 when he returned home and engaged in business with Mr. Hamilton again. In the fall of 1864, he was commissioned colonel of the Second Kansas militia and led that regiment into the fight against Price when he attempted to invade Kansas. In the spring of 1865, Colonel Veale closed out his business and crossed the plains in charge of transporting government supplies to Fort Laramie and he continued to freight across the plains until 1869, clearing lots of money in this business. On one of his trips, he was drawn into one of Custer's fights at Horse Shoe Creek near Fort Laramie. Finally, Colonel Veale sold out his freighting business and went into real estate and banking in Topeka. He organized the Topeka Bank and Savings Institution, later the Bank of Topeka. Colonel Veale was elected a member of the first legislature under the Leavenworth Constitution. Then he was elected to the state senate in 1865 and again in 1867. Since then he served in the lower house of the state legislature.

In July 1879, the Topeka Bank & Savings Institution reported capital $100,000, surplus 9,698.09, profit and loss $3,417.28 and deposits of $126,356.59. John R. Mulvane was president, J.W. Thurston, assistant cashier and J.R. Swallow, notary.

In January 1884, the officers of the Topeka Bank were J.R. Mulvane, president; A.W. Knowles, vice president; Byron Roberts, cashier; and J.W. Thurston, assistant cashier. The bank had capital of $100,000 and surplus of $65,000.

In July 1897, the officers of the Bank of Topeka were John R. Mulvane, president; A.W. Knowles, vice president; John W. Farnsworth, secretary, J.W. Thurston, cashier; and Speed F. Hughes, assistant cashier. The bank had paid in capital and surplus of $412,000. The directors were Edward Wilder, A.W. Knowles, Joab Mulvane, J.P. Griswold, John W. Farnsworth, A. Washburn, John R. Mulvane, J.W. Thurston, Henry Taylor, M.A. Low, and T.B. Sweet.

On Tuesday night, October 22, 1901, George Card Corning, an old settler in Topeka, and one of the founders of the Bank of Topeka, died of diabetes at Joplin, Missouri. Mr. Corning had an eventful career, and was well-known in both Kansas and Colorado. He had no relatives living in Topeka. His first wife died in Topeka while living there, and his second wife, grown son and daughter, survived him. Around 1868 Mr. Corning came to Topeka. He became prominent in the business life of the young city and organized the Bank of Topeka in a building at 501 Kansas Avenue. That building was then occupied by A.F. Horner as a grocery store, and Mr. Horner moved out to accommodate the new bank. About 1870, Mr. Corning went to Boulder, Colorado Territory, and started a bank. Several years later in September 1874 he was elected territorial treasurer of Colorado on the Republican Ticket and served one term. His financial affairs became very much involved, and he lost most of his property. His bank in Boulder failed. In about 1887, Mr. Corning returned to Topeka, living on his farm southeast of town. On January 13, 1896, the large house, Glanmire, on his farm located about 5 miles south of town which he was occupying as a dwelling, burned to the ground and all his household goods were destroyed. Mr. Corning lived in Potwin for several years after this, and about three years ago went to Chicago. From Chicago he moved to Missouri and engaged in business at both Carthage and Joplin. He was about 65 years old and had long been a sufferer with the disease which caused his death.

On Friday, September 30, 1921, Speed F. Hughes, cashier of the Bank of Topeka resigned and was succeeded by Harry D. Wolf, assistant cashier. Mr. Hughes was in the grocery business with D.J. Dickenson, operating the Shawnee Grocery at 112 East Sixth Avenue. He had been connected with the Bank of Topeka since around 1885 serving in various capacities.

In November 1922, it was announced by the officers and directors of the Bank of Topeka that Carl W. McKeen, vice president of the Western Exchange Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, would move to Topeka soon to become active vice president of the Bank of Topeka. He brought to the capital city a rich experience in both country and city banking. For many years he was cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Russell, Kansas from which position he was called to the presidency of the Merchants National Bank at Lawrence in 1915. After six years in Lawrence, he went to the Western Exchange Bank of Kansas City, the oldest financial institution in the city. Mr. McKeen was born in Russell, Kansas in 1883 and graduated from the Kansas State Agricultural College in 1902 and went immediately to the Farmers State Bank of Russell. He remained a director of the Farmers State Bank of Russell, vice president of the Merchants National Bank of Lawrence and vice president of the Kaw Valley State Bank of Eudora.

Every month an attractive, well-printed four-page, two-column "house organ" came out from Topeka. It set forth ideas of thrift, care, economy, protection, and wise planning for the future. It was called the Trust News and was issued by the National Bank of Topeka and it urged care as to wills, estates, executors, administrators, and investments. Its editor was C.W. McKeen, president of the bank.  Mr. McKeen was born and reared in Russell and for years was cashier of the Farmers State Bank.

David W. Mulvane, vice president of the National Bank of Topeka and Republican national committeeman for Kansas, received word of the death of his father, Joab Mulvane, 92, millionaire banker and philanthropist, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Speed Hughes, in Los Angeles on December 26, 1929. Mr. Mulvane had been a resident of Topeka for 54 years. He went to Los Angeles November 30th to spend the winter with his daughter and her husband. Mr. Mulvane was widely known throughout Kansas for his many charitable gifts and was regarded as "Topeka's greatest philanthropist."

On March 3, 1952, Harry D. Wolf, 68, Topeka banker died after an illness of several months. He was vice president of the National Bank of Topeka having worked there since he was 16 years old.

On May 27, 1953, Harrison S. Morgan, Jr., wealthy Topeka banker, died in that city. His will consisted of 30 articles and six codicils, providing $200,000 plus the reside for Washburn University. Morgan was a director of the National Bank of Topeka of which is father-in-law, Joab Mulvane was a founder.

A 1957 advertisement for stock in the new First National Bank of Topeka.

On August 13, 1957, the first public offering of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Topeka, which emerged as the third largest commercial bank in Kansas when the National Bank of Topeka and the Central National Bank & Trust Co. consolidated the following month, was quickly oversubscribed. An issue of 40,000 shares of the new bank was offered by E.F. Hutton & Co. and group of Kansas dealers at $34 a share. The stock immediately went to a premium and was quoted at $34.50 bid and $35.50 asked at the close yesterday. The new bank would have capital of 2.5 million dollars consisting of 250,000 shares of stock. The present stockholders of the National Bank of Topeka would receive three shares and holders of Central National would receive two shares of the new bank's stock for each share held. The 40,000 shares of stock sold came from the estate of J.R. Burrow, former president of the Central National Bank. J.E. Merriam, Central National president, became chairman of the new board and R. Charles Clevenger, president of the National Bank of Topeka would be president of the consolidated firm. The consolidated bay would have resources in excess of $77 million. E.T. Beck, formerly of Dwight, would be an active vice president of the new First National Bank of Topeka. He had been a vice president of the Central National Bank & Trust.

• 09/14/1970 First National Bank of Topeka main office moved to 536 Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS 66603.
• 03/31/1986 Changed Institution Name to Bank IV Topeka, National Association.

Official Bank Title

1: National Bank of Topeka, KS

Bank Note Types Issued

1929 Type 2 $20 bank note with printed signatures of H.D. Wolf, Cashier and C.W. McKeen, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $892,530 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1925 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 110,227 notes (No large size and 110,227 small size notes).

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

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
1929 Type 1	6x5	1 - 3088
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 1544
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 526
1929 Type 2	5	1 - 45356
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 26111
1929 Type 2	20	1 - 7812

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1925 - 1935):

Presidents:

• Carl Wilbur McKeen, 1925-1935

Cashiers:

• Harry Delmar Wolf, 1925-1935

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• National Bank, Topeka, KS History (NB Lookup)
• Kansas Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Topeka, KS, 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