Union National Bank, Kewanee, IL (Charter 2501)
Union National Bank, Kewanee, IL (Chartered 1881 - Liquidated 1912)
Town History
Kewanee is a city in Henry County, Illinois. "Kewanee" is the Winnebago word for greater prairie chicken, which lived there. Few performances in the bird world are more memorable than the dawn display of Greater Prairie Chickens at their booming ground, or lek—the traditional spot where males dance, call, and try to impress females with their vigor. The population of Kewanee was 12,916 at the 2010 census, down from 12,944 in 2000. In 1900 the population was 8,382.
Kewanee was once known for its fire-tube boiler industry. The Kewanee Boiler Corporation manufactured and sold boilers throughout the world for over one hundred years. The company shuttered in 2002, however, boilers manufactured in Kewanee are still in common use. The Kewanee High School athletic teams are nicknamed the "Boilermakers" as was the minor league baseball team. The Kewanee Boilermakers minor league baseball team played in the Central Association from 1908–1913. In 1948–1949, the Kewanee A's rejoined the Central Association. Kewanee was an affiliate of the Philadelphia Athletics (1948–1949).
Kewanee had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized December 29, 1880
- Chartered January 8, 1881
- Succeeded D.L. Wiley & Son (Peoples' Bank)
- Liquidated September 3, 1912
- Succeeded by Union State Savings Bank and Trust Company
In May 1896, officers were T.P. Pierce, president; W.H. Lyman, vice president; H.L. Kellogg, cashier; John Green, assistant cashier; and W.W. Calhoun, teller. The directors were T.P. Pierce, W.H. Lyman, N.W. Tibbetts, John Bowen, Fred Gunther, J. Gilfillan, Thomas F. Oliver.
On July 22, 1908, John H. Pierce, president of the Western Tube Manufacturing Company died at Mercy Hospital in Chicago. He started as a hardware merchant in Kewanee in 1870 and became identified with the industry known as Western Tube Co. which employed about 12 men at the time and which he built into a factory covering more than thirty acres. Mr. Pierce represented the Rock Island-Henry district in the state senate (two terms) 1887-1890 and quickly won recognition as one of its ablest members. In 1890 he went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to become manager of the National Tube Company's tube and rolling mills. He was president of the Illinois State Penitentiary commission at Joliet for four years, working to put the great penal institutions on a business basis which attracted attention throughout the state. In later years his attention was given to the Big Creek Coal company which he organized. He was chairman of the board of directors of the Union National Bank of Kewanee and brother of the bank's long-serving president Thomas P. Pierce.
In June 1912, The Union National Bank of Kewanee, established in 1880 with a present capital stock of $75,000 and surplus of $100,000 sold its stock to a new bank organized in Kewanee known as The Union State Savings Bank and Trust Company and headed by J.H. Bennison, recently of the First National Bank of Lenox, Iowa. T.P. Pierce who had been president of the Union National for 32 years resigned. In mid-July, organization of the new Union State Savings Bank and Trust Company, as successor to the Union National Bank, was effected with J.H. Bennison, president; W.H. Lyman and W.W. Calhoun, vice presidents; and Harold Flint, cashier. On August 12, 1912, H.W. Flint resigned as cashier to work for the John Deere Company at Omaha, Nebraska.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Union National Bank of Kewanee, IL
Bank Note Types Issued
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 3564 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 2900 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2709
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1881 - 1912):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Illinois Bank Note History
- General information on Kewanee (Wikipedia)
- General information on Henry County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Illinois (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Kewanee, IL, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kewanee,_Illinois
- 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
- Kewanee Daily Courier, Kewanee, IL, Fri., May 15, 1896.
- Bureau County Tribune, Princeton, IL, Fri., July 31, 1908.