National Exchange Bank, Roanoke, VA (Charter 4027)

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Postcard of the Terry Building ca1900s. In 1890, the Terry Building Company contracted with F.J. Amweg, engineer and contractor of Philadelphia. The Terry building was seven stories in height with 75 feet on Jefferson Street and 100 feet on Campbell Avenue and cost $90,000.[1] The Roanoke Trust, Loan and Safe Deposit Company was located in the corner bank. In 1892, the First National Bank moved in until 1910. The Exchange National Bank was sharing space with the First National when the Southwest Virginia Trust Company removed there in 1909. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

National Exchange Bank, Roanoke, VA (Chartered 1889 - Closed 1925)

Town History

Postcard showing a sketch of the First National Exchange Bank of Roanoke, Virginia, ca1920s. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
The old First National Exchange Bank of Roanoke, Virginia, ca2019. At left is a clock with Colonial American Bank and a sign for the American National Bank & Trust Company. Courtesy of Google Maps

Roanoke is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Southwest Virginia along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanoke is approximately 50 miles north of the Virginia–North Carolina border and 250 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., along Interstate 81. At the 2020 census, Roanoke's population was 100,011, making it the most-populous city in Virginia west of the state capital Richmond. It is the primary population center of the Roanoke metropolitan area, which had a population of 315,251 in 2020.

The Roanoke Valley was originally home to members of the Siouan-speaking Tutelo tribe. However, in the 17th and early-to-mid 18th centuries, Scotch-Irish and later German American farmers gradually drove those Native Americans out of the area as the American frontier pressed westward. In 1882, the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) chose the small town of Big Lick as the site of its corporate headquarters and railroad shops. Within two years, the town had become the City of Roanoke. With a 2,300% population growth rate in the decade from 1880 to 1890, the young city experienced the advantages and disadvantages of its boomtown status. During the 20th century, Roanoke's boundaries expanded through multiple annexations from the surrounding Roanoke County, and it became Southwest Virginia's economic and cultural hub. The 1982 decision by N&W to relocate their headquarters out of the city, combined with other manufacturing closures, led Roanoke to pivot to a primarily service economy. In the 21st century, a robust healthcare industry and the development and increased marketing of its outdoor amenities have helped reverse prior declining population trends.

The railroad built its new depot just south of a small town named Gainesborough, but named the depot after Big Lick, another small community located just to the east, which itself was named after the salt deposits that had drawn game to the area for years.  Gainesborough increasingly became referred to as Big Lick (and later as Old Lick) once development drifted farther south towards the depot. Growth in the area was stalled by the Civil War; Roanoke County voted 850–0 in favor of secession and lost many of its men in the subsequent fighting.  The burgeoning tobacco trade helped the region's recovery during Reconstruction. Within a decade of the war's end, there were no fewer than six tobacco factories near the Big Lick Depot.

In 1874, the community surrounding the depot applied for and received a town charter, and the Town of Big Lick was formally established with John Trout, father of Henry S. Trout, as mayor.[2] Eight years later, efforts by town boosters succeeded in securing Big Lick as the junction of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W).  The two companies also relocated their respective headquarters to the town (the two lines would officially merge in 1890). Big Lick's relatively small size compared to the nearby county seat, Salem, worked in its favor as a draw for the companies. Big Lick's ample farmland and nearby water sources were well suited to the railroads' goal of building much of the town from scratch, including railroad shops, offices, a hotel, and suitable housing for their many employees.

In the early 1880s, Big Lick's residents voted to rename the town "Kimball" after Frederick J. Kimball, an executive for the two railroad companies who played a significant role in their new location.  Kimball turned down the honor, saying, "On the Roanoke River in Roanoke County – name it Roanoke."  The town obliged, officially becoming the Town of Roanoke on February 3, 1882.  The new charter also annexed nearly two and a half square miles of additional land, including the Town of Gainesborough (later shortened to Gainsboro), which by that point had already become the center of the area's African American community.  Kimball chose a wheat field north of the railroad tracks and east of Gainsboro for the N&W's new hotel, and the 69-room Hotel Roanoke – designed originally in the Queen Anne style before numerous rebuilds and expansions gave it its current Tudor Revival appearance – opened its doors in 1882.

Roanoke is known for the Roanoke Star, an 88.5-foot-tall illuminated star that sits atop a mountain within the city's limits and is the origin of its nickname, "The Star City of the South". Other points of interest include the Hotel Roanoke, a 330-room Tudor Revival structure built by N&W in 1882, the Taubman Museum of Art, designed by architect Randall Stout, and the city's farmer's market, the oldest continuously operating open-air market in the state. The Roanoke Valley features 26 miles of greenways with bicycle and pedestrian trails, and the city's location in the Blue Ridge Mountains provides access to numerous outdoor recreation opportunities.

Roanoke had 10 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all 10 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Building showing recent addition made by the National Exchange Bank now used by the consolidated First National Exchange Bank, located on the corner of Jefferson Street and Campbell Avenue.[3]
A view of West Campbell Avenue in 1901 looking west from Jefferson Street showing the old Terry Building on the left hand corner and across the street, the E. Wile corner. At the end of the street stood the old Ponce de Leon Hotel.[4]
  • Organized April 13, 1889
  • Chartered May 6, 1889
  • Absorbed Century Bank April 1905
  • Assumed 6798 by consolidation February 21, 1906 (Peoples National Bank, Roanoke, VA)
  • Assumed 8152 by consolidation January 12, 1915 (City National Bank, Roanoke, VA)
  • Closed December 31, 1925
  • Consolidated with 2737 December 31, 1925 (FNB/First Natl Exchange Bank, Roanoke, VA)
  • Circulation assumed by 2737 (FNB/First Natl Exchange Bank, Roanoke, VA)

The National Exchange Bank of Roanoke, Virginia, was chartered on May 6, 1889, with paid up capital of $100,000. The officers were T.T. Fishburn, president, and J.T. Engleby, vice president. The directors were J.T. Engleby, R.H. Fishburne, Thos. Engleby, John W. Woods, J.M. Harris, W.P. Moomaw, Lee H. Simmons, J.B. Andrews, J.P. Bell, and T.E. Murrell.[5]

In January 1897, the officers were T.T. Fishburne, president; J.B. Andrews, vice president; J.B. Fishburn, cashier; E.W. Tinsley, teller, N.W. Phelps and W.P. McWhorter, bookkeepers; and Kirby Crabill, runner.[6] The Comptroller of the Currency received information that the Commercial National Bank of Roanoke which suspended some time ago had raised sufficient funds with which to go into liquidation without the intervention of a receiver.[7] The institution was liquidated in 1897 by the First National and the National Exchange banks jointly and all depositors were paid in full. The Commercial bank was located on the northwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street with J.W. Coon, president.[8]

In January 1902, officers of the National Exchange Bank were T.T. Fishburne, president; J.B. Andrews, vice president; J.B. Fishburn, vice president and cashier; E.W. Tinsley, teller; M.W. Phelps, assistant teller and general bookkeeper; W.B. McWhorter, first individual bookkeeper; Chas. M. Pace, second individual bookkeeper; Walter D. Fishburn, runner; T.L. Engleby, auditor; Messrs. T.T. Fishburn, J.B. Andrews, R.H. Fishburn, J.B. Fishburn, W.C. Stephenson, W.K. Andrews, and F.B. Thomas, directors.[9]

In January 1905, the officers were T.T. Fishburne, president; J.B. Andrews, vice president; J.B. Fishburn, vice president and cashier; and E.W. Tinsley, assistant cashier. The bank had capital $100,000, surplus and undivided profits $75,000, and deposits of over $1 million. The Century banking and Safe Deposit Co. located on the corner of Jefferson Street and Salem Avenue had capital and surplus of $120,000.[10] Officers of the Century Banking Co. were elected as follows: Edward L. Stone, president; L.H. Cocke, vice president; T.W. Goodwin, secretary and treasurer; and G.N. Dickinson, teller.[11] The National Exchange Bank and the Century Banking and Safe Deposit Co. would consolidate on April 1st, retaining the name of The National Exchange Bank of Roanoke. The new bank had capital of $200,000, surplus and undivided profits of $200,000, and total resources of nearly $2 million.[12]

On January 30th, 1906, the Peoples National Bank announced their purchase of stock of the National Exchange Bank leading to the consolidation of the two banks. A.E. King was president of the Peoples National and E.B. Spencer, cashier and they could be found at the National Exchange Bank.[13] The officers of the consolidated bank were as follows: J.B. Fishburn, president; E.W. Tinsley, cashier; N.W. Phelps, assistant cashier; T.T. Fishburne, vice president and chairman of the board; Edward L. Stone and L.H. Cocke, vice presidents; and E.B. Spencer, fourth vice president and auditor.[14]

The National Exchange Bank would, on opening their new building, install dining rooms for the entire force in the bank, in which lunch would be served free from 12 to 2 o'clock each day to all of the employees of the bank. This was possibly the first bank in the State to inaugurate free dining rooms for its employees, outside of Richmond, where one bank had worked such a plan for a number of years. The new bank will not only have a dining room for the employees, but also a private dining room for the officers, as well as a small one for the ladies; and in addition, an up-to-date kitchen, with large gas range, kitchen pantry, butler's pantry, locker room, dumb waiters, refrigerators, telephones, push buttons, etc.; also toilet rooms, bed rooms, and all conveniences for the employees and the cook.[15]

On Tuesday, January 14, 1908, the officers and staff elected were J.B. Fishburn, president; E.B. Spencer, vice president and auditor; E.W. Tinsley, cashier; T.T. Fishburne, vice president and chairman of the board; Edward L. Stone and Lucien H. Cocke, vice presidents; T.L. Engleby, bank teller; George N. Dickenson, receiving teller; Miss J.B. Ellwood, manager of savings department; D.T. Moore, note clerk; A.H. Dudley, general bookkeeper; W.P. Gregor, J.H. Huff, F.M. Mahood, and J.E. Gilliam, individual bookkeepers; F.M. Kulp and W.D. Fishburne, assistant bookkeepers; Walter Camp, collector; and Miss Reba Sales, stenographer. The directors were J.B. Andrews, W.K. Andrews, Jas. C. Cassell, L.H. Cocke, J.B. Fishburn, T.T. Fishburne, R.H. Fishburne, F.E. Foster, T.W. Goodwin, Frank A. Hill, L.E. Johnson, A.E. King, W.H. Lewis, I.J. Meals, S.B. Pace, E.B. Spencer, W.C. Stephenson, Edward L. Stone, F.B. Thomas, J.L. Vaughan, J.R. Weaver, E. Wile, James P. Woods, and E.M. Tinsley.[16]

In December 1909, the Southwest Virginia Trust Company would relocate in the National Exchange Bank Building, corner of Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street. The National Exchange Bank and the First National Bank occupied the front part of this well-known structure. Several offices and a barber shop were to be torn out and converted into a home for the trust company; the barber shop would not be molested and would remain intact. The contract was awarded to Mr. R.A. Figgatt, a well-known contractor and the improvements would cost about $10,000. The main entrance for the new office would be on Campbell Avenue. The floor would be lowered to the level of Campbell Avenue. Statuary marble was to be used for the columns and for all the inner work. The flooring was to be marble tiling. When the First National moved to its new home on the corner of Salem Avenue and Jefferson Street, the National exchange Bank would use the entire front part of the National Exchange building.[17]

On Thursday, March 6, 1913, the new building of the National Exchange Bank was thrown open for public inspection at 2 o'clock and between that hour and 10 o'clock when the doors were closed, more than 1,500 persons passed through the magnificent banking room, inspected the vaults, fixtures and private offices.[18] The property on which the bank stood covered an area of 50 by 100 feet and this together with the completed building represented an outlay of about $300,000. Messrs. Wyatt and Nolting, architects of Baltimore, competed successfully for the contract. They were architects of national reputation and would supervise the construction of some of the largest buildings in the North. The construction contract was awarded to Thompson, Starrett, & Co. of Pittsburgh, who built the Woolworth building in New York and many others. Ground was broken for the foundation May 1, 1912. The building was in an ionic style, built of Georgia white marble with a base of Mount Airy granite.[19]

In December 1914, stockholders of the City National Bank and National Exchange Bank of Roanoke authorized their boards to consolidate the two institutions retaining the name of The National Exchange Bank of Roanoke, the consolidation to be effective at the close of business December 31st. The consolidation would make the National Exchange one of the most substantial banking houses in Virginia with capital of $500,000, surplus $500,000, and undivided profits of about $200,000. Officers and employees of the City National would move their offices to the building of the National Exchange Bank, Jefferson Street and Campbell Avenue. In its 25 years, the National Exchange Bank had four homes. When the bank started in 1889 it occupied a store room on Salem Avenue in the rear of the lot on which the First National Bank stood in 1915. In July 1890, the bank moved to larger quarters in the Bear Building on the southeast corner of Salem Avenue and Jefferson Street. After rapid growth, the bank moved to the Terry Building, occupying two additional offices in the Terry building vacated by the First National Bank. On Monday, March 10, 1913, the National Exchange occupied its magnificent new home on the southwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street.[20] 

The City National was organized and commenced business on May 10, 1906. When the bank opened it had capital of $200,000. The officers were Judge John W. Woods, president; B.P. Huff, vice president; D.M. Taylor, vice president; and M.W. Phelps, cashier. Upon the death of Judge John W. Woods, D.M. Taylor was elected president.  The City National occupied one location since it began business on Jefferson Street next to the northwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street.[21]

On January 2, 1915, the first business day of 1915 was a strenuous one for the National Exchange Bank which Friday took over the City National Bank. From 9 o'clock until noon, the handsome banking room was crowded and the officers and clerks were kept busy with the usual throng of customers. Added to the crowd in the bank was an additional force of clerks from the City National Bank on hand to transact business with their usual patrons.[22]

In September 1920, Roanoke had five national banks all members of the Fifth Federal Reserve District. The National Exchange led in resources and was considered one of the strongest financial institutions in the country with resources exceeding $12 million. The officers were J.B. Fishburn, chairman of the board; E.B. Spencer, president; T.T. Fishburne, Lucian H. Cocke, D.M. Taylor, Edward L. Stone, and B.P. Huff, vice presidents; N.W. Phelps, cashier; T.L. Engleby, F.M. Kulp, A.F. Rawson, and C.W. Beerbower, assistant cashiers.[23]

On October 14, 1925, the directors of the First National Bank and the directors of the National Exchange Bank voted to consolidate the two institutions under the name of the First National Exchange Bank of Roanoke. This would bring together the two oldest and largest banks in Roanoke, making one of the strongest as well as one of the largest financial institutions in the State. The consolidated bank would have a capital of $1,000,000 a surplus of $1,000,000, undivided profits and reserves of more than $250,000, deposits of around $18 million and total resources in excess of $21 million. E.B. Spencer was slated to be president and J. Tyler Meadows, chairman of the board.[24] The First National Bank and the National Exchange Bank of Roanoke consolidated on January 1st, 1926 under the title of The First National Exchange Bank of Roanoke. Patrons of the First National Bank would find a change in the location of their bank to the quarters recently enlarged by the National Exchange Bank.[25]

Official Bank Title

1: The National Exchange Bank of Roanoke, VA

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Brown Back $10 bank note with stamped signature of J.B. Fishburn, Cashier and pen signature of J.B. Andrews, Vice President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1902 Plain Back $10 bank note with stamped signatures of E.B. Spencer, Cashier and J.B. Fishburn, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $5,968,750 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1889 and 1925. This consisted of a total of 477,500 notes (477,500 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 3x10-20 1 - 17720 $10s with abnormal border variety
1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 36000
1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 36001 - 101655

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1889 - 1925):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Known Bank Note Signers

Bank Note History Links

Sources

  • Roanoke, VA, 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
  1. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Fri., Sep. 26, 1890.
  2. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Wed., Aug. 4, 1915.
  3. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Thu., Jan. 14, 1926.
  4. ↑ The World-News, Roanoke, VA, Mon., Nov. 30, 1936.
  5. ↑ Roanoke Daily Herald, Roanoke, VA, Tue., July 16, 1889.
  6. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Thu., Jan. 7, 1897.
  7. ↑ The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA, Sat., Jan. 9, 1897.
  8. ↑ The World-News, Roanoke, VA, Mon., Nov. 30, 1936.
  9. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Wed., Jan. 15, 1902.
  10. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Thu., Jan. 26, 1905.
  11. ↑ The World-News, Roanoke, VA, Tue., Jan. 17, 1905.
  12. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Fri., Mar. 31, 1905.
  13. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Tue., Jan. 30, 1906.
  14. ↑ The World News, Roanoke, VA, Sat., Feb. 10, 1906.
  15. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Fri., Feb. 14, 1913.
  16. ↑ The World News, Roanoke, VA, Tue., Jan. 14, 1908.
  17. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Tue., Dec. 21, 1909.
  18. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Sat., Mar. 8, 1913.
  19. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Sun., Mar. 9, 1913.
  20. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Tue., Dec. 29, 1914.
  21. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Tue., Dec. 29, 1914.
  22. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Sun., Jan. 3, 1915.
  23. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Wed., Sep. 8, 1920.
  24. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Thu., Oct. 15, 1925.
  25. ↑ The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, Wed., Dec. 30, 1925.
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