Union National Bank, Elgin, IL (Charter 7236)
Union National Bank, Elgin, IL (Chartered 1904 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Elgin (/ˈɛldʒɪn/ EL-jin) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the state of Illinois. Elgin is located 35 mi northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797 making it the sixth-largest city in Illinois.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832 led to the expulsion of the Native Americans who had settlements and burial mounds in the area and set the stage for the founding of Elgin. Thousands of militiamen and soldiers of Gen. Winfield Scott's army marched through the Fox River Valley during the war, and accounts of the area's fertile soils and flowing springs soon filtered east.
In New York, James T. Gifford and his brother Hezekiah Gifford heard tales of this area ripe for settlement, and they travelled west. Looking for a site on the stagecoach route from Chicago to Galena, Illinois, they eventually settled on a spot where the Fox River could be bridged. In April 1835, they established the city, naming it after the Scottish tune "Elgin".
Early Elgin achieved fame for the butter and dairy goods it sold to the city of Chicago. Gail Borden established a condensed milk factory here in 1866, and the local library was named in his honor. The dairy industry became less important with the arrival of the Elgin Watch Company. The watch factory employed three generations of Elginites from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, when it was the largest producer of fine watches in the United States and the operator of the largest watchmaking complex in the world (the factory ceased production in 1965 and was torn down in the summer of 1966). Today, the clocks at Chicago's Union Station still bear the Elgin name.
Elgin had four National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all four of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized Jan 25, 1904
- Chartered Apr 29, 1904
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Bank still in business as Union National Bank & Trust Co. (February 2022)
Official Bank Title
1: The Union National Bank of Elgin, IL
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $1,506,390 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1904 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 121,137 notes (101,060 large size and 20,077 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 - 4800 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 6400 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 6401 - 20465 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 2484 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 658 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 936 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 289
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1904 - 1936):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- Alexander L. Metzel signed notes as vice president.
- There are currently no known Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Illinois Bank Note History
- General information on Elgin (Wikipedia)
- General information on Kane County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Illinois (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Elgin, IL, 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