State National Bank of Saint Joseph, MO (Charter 1667)
State National Bank, Saint Joseph, MO (Chartered 1867 - Liquidated 1871)
Town History
St. Joseph is a city in Andrew and Buchanan counties and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Buchanan, Andrew, and DeKalb counties in Missouri and Doniphan County, Kansas. As of the 2020 census, St. Joseph had a total population of 72,473, making it the 8th most populous city in the state, and the 3rd most populous in Northwest Missouri. St. Joseph is located roughly 30 miles north of the Kansas City, Missouri, and approximately 125 miles south of Omaha, Nebraska. The city was named after the town's founder Joseph Robidoux and the biblical Saint Joseph. St. Joseph is home to Missouri Western State University.
St. Joseph was founded on the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader of French Canadian descent. It was officially incorporated in 1843. In its early days, it was a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, serving as a last supply point and jumping-off point for travelers on the Missouri River toward the "Wild West". It was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail until after the American Civil War. The main east–west downtown streets were named for Robidoux's eight children: Faraon, Jules, Francois (Francis), Felix, Edmond, Charles, Sylvanie, and Messanie. The street between Sylvanie and Messanie was named for his second wife, Angelique.
St. Joseph, or "St. Joe", as it was called by many, was a "Jumping-Off Point" for those migrants headed to the Oregon Territory in the mid-1800s. Such cities, including Independence, and St. Joseph, were where pioneers would stay and purchase supplies before they headed out in wagon trains across the Great Plains. The town was a very lively place.
Between April 3, 1860, and late October 1861, St. Joseph was one of the two endpoints of the Pony Express, which operated for a short period over the land then inaccessible by rail, to provide fast mail service. Today the Pony Express Museum hosts visitors in the former stables of the company. St. Joseph is identified by the slogan, "Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended."
Outlaw Jesse James lived here under the alias "Mr. Howard". The song, "Jesse James", includes the lines, "...that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard has laid poor Jesse in his grave." On April 3, 1882, James was killed at his home, originally located at 1318 Lafayette. It has been relocated next to the Patee House and still has the visible bullet hole from the fatal shot. It is now operated as the Jesse James Home Museum.
Saint Joseph had ten National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all ten of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized December 8, 1866
- Chartered Feb 12, 1867
- Succeeded Bank of the State of Missouri
- Liquidated March 31, 1871
- Succeeded by State Saving Bank of St. Joseph
- Notation on Organization Report:
- Note: Special: "This Bank waives all right to circulation until Congress authorizes such increase of the National Currency as will enable the Comptroller of the Currency to supply the Bank with circulating notes".
Robert W. Donnell and Albe M. Saxton organized a branch of the Bank of the State of Missouri in 1859, locating it in the rear of their general store at Fourth and Francis Streets. In 1860 this bank went into its new home at the southeast corner of Fourth and Felix Streets. Five years later it became a national bank called the State National Bank of St. Joseph. It changed back to a state bank in 1871 as the State Savings Bank. Then in 1890 it again became a national bank, the State National Bank (Charter 4228). In 1897 it liquidated.[1]
On Saturday, June 18, 1859, the directors of the Branch Bank of the State of Missouri at St. Joseph organized by electing the following officers: R.W. Donnell, president; A.M. Saxton, cashier; A.P. Goff, teller and clerk; J.C.C. Thornton, bank attorney; and A.J. McCormac, notary. The bank planned to commence business around July 1st at the office occupied by Donnell and Saxton in the Union Block.[2]
In February 1860, the Bank of the State of Missouri, St. Joseph, was open for business with Robert W. Donnell, president and Albe M. Saxton, cashier. The directors were John Corby, Wm. K. Richardson, Geo. I. Gibson, Jno. E. Barrow, Isaac Curd, Joseph C. Hull, D.M. McDonald, and David Brown.[3]
In January 1870, the stockholders elected the following board of directors: A.M. Saxton, R.W. Donnell, L.M. Lawson, C.B. France, and D.C. Ewing. At a meeting of the board held subsequently, the following officers were elected: L.M. Lawson, president; A.M. Saxton, cashier; and C.B. France, assistant cashier.[4]
In 1879, the State Saving Bank, established in 1857, had capital and surplus of $150,000. A.M. Saxton was president and C.B. France, cashier. It was located on the southeast corner of Fourth and Felix Streets.[5]
Leonidas Moreau Lawson was born in New Franklin, Missouri in 1837 and died at St Joseph, Missouri, March 29th, 1909. He was educated at the University of Missouri, A.B. 1853, A.M. 1855, LL.D. 1908. He was Salutatorian of the class of 1853. After graduation he was a successful teacher at William Jewell College. Later, as a lawyer, he became junior member of a firm of which General Doniphan of Mexican War fame was the head. As a member from Platte County in 1860 of the Missouri General Assembly, he introduced the bill which kept Missouri in the Union and carried it to its passage. He enlisted and became Colonel of the 12th Missouri Cavalry in the Union Army. After the war, as a member of the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri, he introduced the resolution calling for the establishment of the College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, and was the author of the bill before the General Assembly which established this Department of the University. For many years in New York City, he was a member of the well-known banking firm of Donald, Lawson and Simpson. From the foundation of the Alpha of Missouri, Phi Beta Kappa, he was an earnest and loyal member of the society. He was unanimously elected President of the Missouri Alpha in 1907 and unanimously re-elected to that office in 1908. He had planned to be present at Commencement in 1909.[6]
Official Bank Title
1: The State National Bank of St. Joseph, MO
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $94,200 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1867 and 1871. This consisted of a total of 29,340 notes (29,340 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 Original Series 3x1-2 1 - 3500 Original Series 4x5 1 - 3835
No notes are known to have survived (as of June 2024).
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1867 - 1871):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Saint Joseph, MO, 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
- ↑ St. Joseph Gazette, St. Joseph, MO, Sun., Apr 12, 1925.
- ↑ St. Louis Globe-Democrat, St. Louis, MO, Thu., June 23, 1859.
- ↑ The Weekly West, St. Joseph, MO, Sat., Feb. 25, 1860.
- ↑ St. Joseph gazette, St. Joseph, MO, Sat., Jan. 15, 1870.
- ↑ St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO, Mon., Dec. 29, 1879.
- ↑ Columbia Daily Tribune, Columbia, MO, Wed., Apr. 7, 1909.