Peoples National Bank, Mount Pleasant, OH (Charter 6667)
Peoples National Bank, Mount Pleasant, OH (Chartered 1903 - Closed (Merger) 2020)
Town History
Mount Pleasant is a village in southern Jefferson County, Ohio. The population was 394 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. Founded in 1803 by anti-slavery Quakers, the village was an early center of abolitionist activity and a well-known haven for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. It was named for its scenic landscape.
In 1817, Quaker Charles Osborn established The Philanthropist, the first newspaper in the country advocating the abolition of slavery, in Mount Pleasant. In 1821, the Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lundy started publishing The Genius of Universal Emancipation, another abolitionist newspaper, also in Mount Pleasant. The paper eventually moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Lundy's house is a National Historic Landmark.
Mount Pleasant had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, The First National Bank (Charter 492), the Mount Pleasant National Bank (Charter 6640), and Peoples National Bank (Charter 6667), and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 31, 1903
- Chartered March 12, 1903
- Opened for business April 6, 1903
- Absorbed 6640 January 1, 1905 (Mount Pleasant NB, Mount Pleasant, OH)
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into Consumers National Bank in Minerva, OH, January 1, 2020
In December 1904, it was announced that the two Mt. Pleasant banks, the stock of which was owned now by Michael Gallagher, would be consolidated after the first of the year and the combination known as the Peoples National Bank.[1]
On February 24th, 1923, at 9:15 o'clock in the morning, the Peoples National Bank of Mount Pleasant was robbed. The telephone wires were cut hampering getting the alarm out. The alarm was given from nearby Dillonvale. Two men entered the bank shortly after it opened for business at 9 a.m. while two more waited outside. At the time the men entered the bank, Cashier Jones was in the vault with Ernest Haines, manager of the Clarkson Coal Company. Jones heard the robbers command his assistant to hold up his hands. As one of the bandits attempted to climb over the grating in front of the counters, Cashier Ed Jones, swinging the vault door partly shut, fired from the rear of the bank and one bullet apparently struck the bandit who opened fire, shooting Price through the left kidney. The second bandit hurried his wounded companion into the machine without any further attempt to obtain money and the quartet made their escape. They were traveling in a touring car with a green body. Price's wound was thought to be fatal. Bert Merer who lived next door to the bank and who was first to start in pursuit of the robbers, arrived at the sheriff's office at 11 o'clock.[2]
On February 27, Harry D. Price, 45, assistant cashier of the Peoples National Bank died of his wound in the Ohio Valley Hospital at Wheeling, West Virginia.[3] The car used in the robbery was found abandoned at Dillonvale, the license plates removed and inside were bloody bandages bearing testimony to the belief of Cashier Jones that he hit one of the bandits.[4]
On March 9th, business was suspended in Mt. Pleasant during the funeral of Harry D. Price.[5] He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Price, both of whom were buried in the Gnaddenhutten Cemetery.[6] His brother, Robert "Leroy", was killed in 1907 near Mansfield on the B & O Railway where he was employed as a brakeman.
On March 19, 1923, four of the six suspects in custody were identified with taking part in the hold-up of the Peoples National Bank on February 24th. Two of them were identified as taking part in the Hopedale National Bank hold-up last October when Cashier G.C. Whittaker was shot. Identification was made by Cashier Ed V. Jones and other witnesses from Mt. Pleasant and Cashier Whittaker and two bank directors from Hopedale.[7] The identifications were made in the Jefferson County Jail. Jones, Mrs. Duella Shannon, janitress, and E.H. Haynes, paymaster for a Mt. Pleasant coal company, identified "Jimmy" Rago as one of the men who entered the bank. Joe Petrola was identified as the driver by Miss Elizabeth Griffith. Carl Farring was identified by Miss Griffith as another occupant of the car. The gang was arrested at Newell and Piney Fork. A man giving his name as Nick Piteros of Bradley, who was admitted to a Wheeling hospital suffering from a bullet would in the arm, was believed to have been shot by Jones in the Mount Pleasant Bank.[8] James Rago, 30, alleged ringlearder of a band of gunmen, Joe Pergolima, 31, recently released on $2,500 bond after his arrest for alledged complicity in the murder of Frank Perlin, Jefferson County prohibition officer at Piney Fork in February 1922, Louis Alconte, 33, alledged member the gang and said to be the man who took out the automobile license found on the abandoned automobile were those under arrest. The arrests were made in Newille, a small mining community. County authorities had long suspected this gang for a large part of Jefferson County's crime.[9]
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Peoples National Bank of Mount Pleasant, OH
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $974,950 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1903 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 78,416 notes (65,884 large size and 12,532 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 - 2975 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 4100 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 4101 - 13496 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1324 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 400 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 324 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 1494 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 370
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1903 - 1935):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Mount Pleasant, 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 Times Recorder, Zanesville, OH, Fri., Dec. 30, 1904.
- ↑ Greenville Daily News, Greenville, OH, Sat., Feb. 24, 1923.
- ↑ The Arcanum Times, Arcanum, OH, Thu., Mar. 8, 1923.
- ↑ The Daily Sentinel-Tribune, Bowling Green, OH, Tue., Feb. 27, 1923.
- ↑ The Akron Beacon Journal, Fri., Mar. 9, 1923.
- ↑ The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, OH, Fri., Mar. 2, 1923.
- ↑ Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH, Mon., Mar. 19, 1923.
- ↑ The Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Mon., Mar. 19, 1923.
- ↑ The Daily Sentinel-Tribune, Bowling Green, OH, Thu., Mar. 15, 1923.