National Tradesmens Bank, New Haven, CT (Charter 1202)
National Tradesmens Bank/National Tradesmens Bank & TC, New Haven, CT (Chartered 1865 - Liquidated 1934)
Town History
New Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Connecticut after Bridgeport and Stamford, the largest city in the South Central Connecticut Planning Region, and the principal municipality of Greater New Haven, which had a total 2020 population of 864,835. Prior to 1960, it was the county seat of New Haven County until the county governments were abolished that year.
New Haven was one of the first planned cities in the U.S. A year after its founding by English Puritans in 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four grid, creating the "Nine Square Plan". The central common block is the New Haven Green, a 16-acre square at the center of Downtown New Haven. The Green is now a National Historic Landmark, and the "Nine Square Plan" is recognized by the American Planning Association as a National Planning Landmark.
New Haven is the home of Yale University, New Haven's biggest taxpayer and employer, and an integral part of the city's economy. Health care, professional and financial services and retail trade also contribute to the city's economic activity.
The city served as co-capital of Connecticut from 1701 until 1873, when sole governance was transferred to the more centrally located city of Hartford. New Haven has since billed itself as the "Cultural Capital of Connecticut" for its supply of established theaters, museums, and music venues. New Haven had the first public tree planting program in America, producing a canopy of mature trees (including some large elms) that gave the city the nickname "The Elm City".
New Haven had nine National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all nine of those banks issued National Bank Notes. New Haven also had nine Obsolete Banks that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).
Bank History
- Organized May 25, 1865
- Chartered June 2, 1865
- Succeeded Tradesmens Bank
- 2: Receivership July 7, 1932
- 2: Restored to solvency June 15, 1933
- 2: Liquidated January 15, 1934
- 2: Succeeded by 13704 (Tradesmens National Bank, New Haven, CT)
In August 1854, the books for subscription to the capital stock of the Tradesmens Bank were opened at the New Haven County Bank. The commissioners were Green Kendrick, John C. Palmer, Dwight Morris, Chauncey Jerome, and Stephen W. Kellogg.[1] In May 1855, Mr. Belden from the committee on banks, on the petition of Tradesmens Bank for an extension of time for subscription to capital, reported favorably. An amendment offered by Mr. Alsop passed and the resolution passed.[2] In August 1855, all the stock of the Tradesmens Bank had been taken.[3]
The Tradesmens Bank was organized in 1855 under a charter granted by the General Assembly of the the State of Connecticut. Its first place of business was in an upper rear room of the building on Chapel Street known as the "Bank Building." After a number of years at this location, the business of the bank had grown to such an extent that it was compelled to move to larger quarters. In 1865 it became a national bank and in 1877[4], it removed to its own building. In 1913, this building was remodeled and re-equipped. A trust department was added in 1923 and the name changed to The National Tradesmens Bank and Trust Company.
On Tuesday, November 28, 1899, Wyllys Atwater died in New Haven, aged 78. He was the last survivor of the seven children of Major Lyman Atwater who built the canal on the Connecticut River from Windsor Locks to Enfield Bridge and also several sections of the old Farmington Canal. He was born in New Haven on December 9, 1821; graduated Yale in 1843, ranked fourth in a class of 96 members; taught school for four years at Fairfield, Connecticut, Brooklyn, New York, and Bennington, Vermont; was cashier of banks at Southport and Seymour, 1847-55, and of the Tradesmens Bank in New Haven, 1855-67. For the previous 32 years he lived a retired life at his home on Crown Street.[5]
On August 3, 1920, Thornton P. Duggan, former assistant teller of the National Tradesmens Bank of 96 Orange Street, New Haven, charged with embezzlement of $1,630.53 of the bank's funds was arrested at Rockaway Beach, Long Island. He had been missing for two years and during that time successfully eluded the efforts of detective agencies to locate him. Duggan was secretly indicted May 18, 1920 by a federal grand jury at New Haven. He was brought to New Haven by Agents Hickey and Kelleher of the Hartford Office of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice. Duggan was in charge of the inactive accounts and it was alleged that he would change the figures on accounts under his charge. On August 17, 1918, after spending half the day in his cage, he asked permission to go to a drug store and failing to return, an investigation was started that resulted in the discovery of the shortage charged against him. The National Surety Co. which bonded Duggan placed the case in the hands of a detective agency, but Duggan was not found.[6] On September 28th, Dugan pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement of $1,630 from the bank in 1918. He made restitution in court. A sentence of four mouns in jail was imposed by Judge Edwin S. Thomas, presiding.[7]
In 1923, the directors were George T. Bradley, Clarence E. Thompson, Horace F. Chase, Frederick C. Burroughs, Charles E. Burton, R. Wesley Mills, Jr., Henry Fresenius, George M. Gunn, Eugene DeForest, Frederick C. Russell, and Paul S. Thompson. The officers were George M. Gunn, president; George T. Bradley, vice president; Frederick C. Burroughs, vice president, cashier and trust officer; John E. Coburn, assistant cashier; and Milton M. Pratt, assistant cashier and assistant trust officer.
The bank opened its new quarters at Church and Court Streets, New Haven, to meet the rapidly expanding business of the bank. Alfred Hopkins of New York was the architect. The location was on a prominent corner facing the famous Green. The bank occupied the entire first floor, basement and mezzanine of its modern, fire-proof office building. The floor was of Tennessee marble, selected for its brightness and color which set off the rest of the marble work in the bank. The screen was of Botticino marble, coming from the Northern part of Italy. The marble screen railing of the officers' space and the wainscoting was all of special design and special attention was given to the bronze work. The castings were made from plaster models and were then hand finished, trimmed and colored. In the ceiling panels, the architect fashioned replicas of coins and also designs symbolic of commerce, transportation, industry, thrift, etc. The floors of the officers' quarters, cages, and bookkeeping departments were of a natural colored cork tile manufactured from granulated cork, pressed and cut into the size required with a special design, thus caring for the comfort of the employees. After the cork tiles were laid, the were sanded by machine, hand scraped and finished, then waxed, leaving a soft, flat finish. The safe deposit department was comprised of three vaults with a total of over 500 tons of steel and concrete used in construction. The door to the vault weighed over 22 tons, operating on ball bearing hinges. The vault was equipped with an electrical alarm and all was manufactured and installed by the Herring-hall-Marvin Safe company of Hamilton, Ohio.[8]
On June 29, 1932, the bank was closed by vote of the directors who explained deposits had fallen off. Examiners for the national banking department took over the books. The decision to close followed failed efforts to find a possible merger with some other institution. Thomas E. Dooley of Hartford, a national bank examiner, said heavy withdrawals and fear that demands from depositors would increase had influenced the bank's decision. In its last statement issued December 31, 1931, the bank listed deposits of $3,968,944 and surplus and undivided profits of $363,558.[9] On July 12, H. Marshall Kirkman, was appointed receiver for the National Tradesmens Bank and Trust Company, taking over the affairs from examiners who were in charge since the bank closed.[10]
On February 17, 1933, an announcement that an effort to reorganize the National Tradesmens Bank had reached the point were notices were sent to shareholders asking them to subscribe for stock in the new bank to be known as the Tradesmens National Bank. If formed, it was proposed to have the new bank take over the assets and liabilities of the old bank.[11]
On Monday, June 19, 1933, the Tradesmens National Bank opened with H. Marshall Kirkman, a federal receiver, named as president, and Clifford E. Smith, formerly with the old bank, as cashier. Depositors of the old National Tradesmens had signed waivers on 20% of their deposits. The officers and the following were elected members of the board of directors: George Bedell, general auditor of the Southern New England Telephone, Co.; Attorney David E. Fitzgerald, Jr.; Robert J. Hendrick, president of the H.B. Ives Co.; George E. Thompson, secretary of the Yale Alumni University Fund Assn.; Senator Frank S. Bergin, chairman of the state liquor control commission; Attorney Frederick C. Russell, president of the Russell Brothers and chairman of the reorganization committee; Horace F. Chase, president of Chase & Co.; John Moran, president of the Guilford-Chester Water Co. and the Clinton Electric Light Co.; Edward S. Judge, member of Lathrop & Shea Co. and member of the New Haven Board of Finance, and Henry Fresenius. Capital of the reorganized bank consisted of $150,000 common stock, $200,000 preferred stock sold to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation; and $50,000 surplus.[12]
Official Bank Titles
1: The National Tradesmens Bank of New Haven, CT
2: The National Tradesmens Bank and Trust Company of New Haven, CT (3/15/1923)
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $6,911,940 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1865 and 1934. This consisted of a total of 835,654 notes (749,332 large size and 86,322 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1: Original Series 4x5 1 - 4150 1: Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 7010 1: Original Series 50-100 1 - 314 1: Series 1875 4x5 1 - 6030 1: Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 8888 1: 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 9865 1: 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 12342 1: 1902 Red Seal 4x5 1 - 2500 1: 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 7000 1: 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 21000 1: 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 12000 1: 1902 Plain Back 4x5 21001 - 67500 1: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 12001 - 36400 2: 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 16049 2: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 9442 2: 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 8806 2: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 4084 2: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 1497
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1865 - 1934):
Presidents:
- Matthew Griswold Elliott, 1865-1888
- George A. Butler, 1889-1895
- William Thomas Fields, 1896-1906
- Warren Alphonse Spalding, 1907-1910
- George Miles Gunn, 1911-1925
- Frederick Charles Burroughs, 1926-1930
- Charles Edward Curtis, 1931-1931
Cashiers:
- Wyllys Atwater, 1865-1866
- George A. Butler, 1867-1885
- William Thomas Fields, 1886-1895
- Robert Foote, 1896-1903
- Howard Winthrop Thompson, 1904-1904
- Frederick Charles Burroughs, 1905-1925
- John Edward Coburn, 1926-1931
Other Known Bank Note Signers
Bank Note History Links
- National Tradesmens Bank, New Haven, CT History (NB Lookup)
- Connecticut Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)
Sources
- New Haven, CT, 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
- ↑ Litchfield Enquirer, Litchfield, CT, Thu., Aug. 17, 1854.
- ↑ Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Fri., May 25, 1855.
- ↑ Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Thu., Aug. 2, 1855.
- ↑ The Meriden Daily Republican, Meriden, CT, Fri., Sep. 14, 1877.
- ↑ Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Sat., Dec. 2, 1899.
- ↑ Record-Journal, Meriden, Ct., Thu., Aug. 5, 1920.
- ↑ Norwich Bulletin, Norwich, CT, Wed., Sep. 29, 1920.
- ↑ The Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 107, July 1923-Dec. 1923, pp 1049-1055.
- ↑ The Journal, Meriden, CT, Wed., June 29, 1932.
- ↑ The Journal, Meriden, CT, Wed., July 12, 1932.
- ↑ Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Sat., Feb. 18, 1933.
- ↑ Hartford Courant, Harford, CT, Mon., June 19, 1933.