Norwood National Bank, Norwood, OH (Charter 8505)
Norwood National Bank, Norwood, OH (Chartered 1907 - Liquidated 1929)
Town History
Norwood is the third most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, and an enclave of the larger city of Cincinnati. The population was 19,043 at the 2020 census. Originally settled as an early suburb of Cincinnati in the wooded countryside north of the city, the area is characterized by older homes and tree-lined streets.
The earliest humans in the area now known as Norwood are believed to have been Pre-Columbian era people of the Adena culture. Norwood Mound, a prehistoric earthwork mound built by the Adena, is located in Norwood and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Adena constructed the mound at the location of Norwood's present-day Water Tower Park, which is the highest land elevation in the city. Archaeologists believe the mound was built at this site due to the high elevation and was used by the Adena for religious ceremonies and smoke signaling.
Native American mounds are not uncommon in Ohio and several were located in Downtown Cincinnati at the time of arrival of the first white settlers. However, by 1895, the Norwood Mound was the only remaining mound in the vicinity of Cincinnati. The mound has never been excavated, but it is reported that many artifacts found in the area by early Norwood settlers in the 1800s made up the original nucleus of the Native American Art Collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum.
In 1869, Sylvester H. Parvin, Col. Philander P. Lane and Lemuel Bolles purchased the William Ferguson farm north of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad tracks and platted an eighty-one-acre subdivision they called Norwood Heights. This was the first recorded use of the name Norwood in the area. It is commonly believed that the person who came up with the name was Sarah Bolles, wife of Lemuel Bolles. In the 1894 book, Norwood, Her Homes and Her People, it was stated that the name "Sharpsburg" was "not considered pretty enough for such a spot, and the suggestion of the Bolles' to call it Norwood (an abbreviation of Northwood) met with endorsement, and so it was that the suburb was christened anew."
Norwood had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized December 27, 1906
- Chartered January 7, 1907
- Opened for business January 9, 1907
- Liquidated April 22, 1929
- Absorbed by Norwood-Hyde Park Bank and Trust Company, Norwood, Ohio
The Norwood Savings Bank and Trust Company filed papers to incorporate in December 1903. The capital of $50,000 was oversubscribed. Mayor Julius Fleischmann and president George Guckenberger of the Atlas National bank were among the shareholders. C.E. Page who was the president of the institution was eager to secure at least 200 shareholders living in Norwood.[1]
In January 1907, Clarence F. Turner, secretary and treasurer of the Norwood Savings Bank and Trust Company which merged into the Norwood National Bank, admitted to the directors of his former bank that he was short about $6,800 in his accounts. He said it was a technical error in bookkeeping which started the shortage which he continued on the books. Turner said that he had known of the shortage since last November. It was his opinion the money had been mislaid. He declared that he had never diverted a cent of the bank's funds to his own use. He visited the office of the bonding company which furnished his bond for $10,000. The bank would not lose anything according to a statement by officials.[2]
In January 1911, John Schulte was elected to succeed the late John M. Kennedy on the board of directors.[3]
In January 1915, the directors were Myers Y. Cooper, Dr. J.C. Cadwallader, John Omwake, W.D. Henderson, W.C. Hattersley, Edward Mills, George E. Mills, C.E. Page, P.J. McHugh, E.C. Cordes, John Schulte, H.W. Hartsough, Henry Feldman, and W.W. Riley. The Officers were Myers Y. Cooper, president; Dr. J.C. Cadwallader, vice president; H.W. Hartsough, cashier; and J. Earl Coad, assistant cashier. Messrs. Hartsough, Feldman and Riley were new members of the board.[4]
In January 1920, Edward B. Denson was elected a director succeeding W.C. Hattersley who retired.[5]
On Saturday, January 20, 1923, Edward Mills, 86, pioneer resident of Nonfood died at his home at Montgomery Avenue. Mills, who had been retired for many years, formerly owned much real estate in Norwood and leaves large tracts of land there. He donated the ground upon which the Carnegie Library in Norwood was built. His son, George E. Mills, was a former mayor of Norwood. The elder Mills was a founder of Norwood National Bank and first president of that institution. He laid out several subdivisions in Norwood, was treasurer of the Norwood Building and Loan Co. 40 years, and in 1888, he and others organized a company which erected the Hopkins Avenue depo used for the free accommodation of commuters in Norwood. He left Mrs. Dr. J.C. Cadwallader, Norwood and Mrs. Dr. W.H. Reynolds, Liberty, Indiana, daughters, the son and widow. His death occurred on his 54th wedding anniversary.[6]
In July 1926, Mrs. J.B. Foraker, wife of the late J.B. Foraker, a former Governor of Ohio and United States Senator, had formed a "Cooper-for Governor" Club. Myers Y. Cooper expected the Republican nomination, and if nominated, he believed he would be elected governor. Mr. Cooper was born and reared on a farm in Licking County. He went to the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, and from there went to Cincinnati. He was in the real estate business and had since built 2,000 homes in Cincinnati, having worked out a plan whereby people of small means could buy their own homes on an easy plan. Mr. Cooper said that it was mostly the wives of the workers who wanted their own homes. He was president of the Norwood National Bank, The Hyde Park Savings Bank, the Hyde Park Lumber Company, and the Ohio Association of Churches having succeeded Harvey S. Firestone, rubber manufacturer of Akron, and W.O. Thompson, former president of Ohio State University. For ten years, he had been president of the Ohio Fair Managers' Association of all counties and independent fairs of the state.[7]
On May 6, 1927, the Norwood National Bank was granted a certificate to do a trust business under the banking laws of Ohio by State Bank Superintendent E.H. Blair.[8]
On March 28, 1929, the consolidation of the Norwood National Bank and the Hyde Park Savings Bank into a state bank known as The Norwood-Hyde Park Bank & Trust Company was effected at a meeting of the directors of the two institutions. The new bank had assets of approximately $7,500,000, capital stock of $300,000, surplus of $300,000 and undivided profits of $150,000. Governor Myers Y. Cooper who had been president of both institutions for a number of years agreed to continue as president of the consolidated bank. Stockholders would be called upon to vote on the merger within the next 30 days. Both banks would continue to operate in their respective buildings with no changes of personnel. The Norwood National was on the northeast corner of Main and Bennett Avenues. The plan called for the Norwood National to surrender its charter and that stockholders of each bank would receive share for share of the common stock of the new institution. Governor Cooper said the merger was prompted by the fact that Norwood and Hyde Park were contiguous and the stockholder of the two banks were similar in large measure. The Hyde Park Savings Bank occupied a building at 2710 Erie Avenue, Hyde Park Square, and had a capital of $100,000 with surplus and undivided profits amounting to $150,394 as of December 31, 1928. Its officers were: Myers Y. Cooper, president; Henry Feldman, vice president; H.W. Hartsough, executive vice president; John H. Rabius, cashier; and E.B. Brown, assistant cashier. The directors were Myers Y. Cooper, Henry Feldman, John Omwake, S.W. Allen, Minto L. Henderson, Edward C. Cordes, A.C. Fry, H.W. Hartsough, Edward G. Schultz, John Schulte, William L. Doepke, George E. Mills and W.H. Merten.[9]
In 1958, the switch to electronics for the Norwood-Hyde Park Bank & Trust Company came at a cost of about $50,000 for the program. Myers Y. Cooper, chairman of the board and former Ohio Governor said the system worked with the speed of electronics, but still preserved all the time-tested advantages of printed records. National Cash's Dayton plant was busy around the clock turning out the Post-Tronic systems for NCR with about 3,400 machines in use across the country with the biggest user, the huge Bank of America.[10]
Official Bank Title
1: The Norwood National Bank, Norwood, OH
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $2,341,050 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1907 and 1929. This consisted of a total of 187,284 notes (187,284 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 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 5000 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 13400 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 13401 - 41821
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1907 - 1929):
Presidents:
- Edward Mills, 1907-1907
- Myers Young Cooper, 1908-1928, and 51st Governor of Ohio
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Norwood, OH, 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
- ↑ The Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati, OH, Wed., Dec. 30, 1903.
- ↑ The Dayton Herald, Dayton, OH, Fri., Jan. 11, 1907.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati, OH, Tue., Jan. 10, 1911.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Wed., Jan. 13, 1915.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Wed., Jan. 14, 1920.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati, OH, Sat., Jan. 20, 1923.
- ↑ Portsmouth Daily Times, Portsmouth, OH, Mon., July 12, 1926.
- ↑ The Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Fri., May 6, 1927.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Sun., Mar. 17, 1929.
- ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, Wed., Aug. 20, 1958.