Utica City National Bank/Utica NB, Utica, NY (Charter 1308)

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The old Utica City National Bank of Utica, New York, ca2022.
The old Utica City National Bank of Utica, New York, ca2022. Courtesy of Google Maps

Utica City National Bank/Utica NB & TC, Utica, NY (Chartered 1865 - Liquidated 1930)

Town History

Postcard of The Utica City National Bank of Utica, New York, ca1900s.
Postcard of The Utica City National Bank of Utica, New York, ca1900s. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

Utica is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, it is approximately 95 miles west-northwest of Albany, 55 mi east of Syracuse and 240 mi northwest of New York City. Utica and the nearby city of Rome anchor the Utica–Rome Metropolitan Statistical Area comprising all of Oneida and Herkimer Counties.

Formerly a river settlement inhabited by the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Utica attracted European-American settlers from New England during and after the American Revolution. In the 19th century, immigrants strengthened its position as a layover city between Albany and Syracuse on the Erie and Chenango Canals and the New York Central Railroad. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the city's infrastructure contributed to its success as a manufacturing center and defined its role as a worldwide hub for the textile industry. Utica's 20th-century political corruption and organized crime gave it the nickname "Sin City."

Like other Rust Belt cities, Utica underwent an economic downturn throughout the mid-20th century. The downturn consisted of industrial decline due to offshoring and the closure of textile mills, population loss caused by the relocation of jobs and businesses to suburbs and to Syracuse, and poverty associated with socioeconomic stress and a depressed tax base. With its low cost of living, the city has become a melting pot for refugees from war-torn countries around the world, encouraging growth for its colleges and universities, cultural institutions and economy.

Several theories exist regarding the history of the name "Utica". Although surveyor Robert Harpur stated that he named the village, the most accepted theory involves a 1798 meeting at Bagg's Tavern (a resting place for travelers passing through the village) where the name was picked from a hat holding 13 suggestions. Utica was included because Utica (in modern-day Tunisia) is a city of antiquity.  Several other New York cities had adopted classical Mediterranean city names earlier, such as Troy (1789) and Rome (1796), or would later, as with Syracuse (1847).

Utica had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all five of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Utica City Bank Proof $1, Haxby NY-2810, on India paper mounted on a card by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New-York. Ornately framed vignette of Martha Washington is in the center, the bottom left end has the New York Comptroller's die, and a girl at the lower right has perfect curls cascading in front of her.
Utica City Bank Proof $1, Haxby NY-2810, on India paper mounted on a card by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New-York. Ornately framed vignette of Martha Washington is in the center, the bottom left end has the New York Comptroller's die, and a girl at the lower right has perfect curls cascading in front of her. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
  • Organized May 5, 1865
  • Chartered June 20, 1865
  • Succeeded Utica City Bank
  • 2: Liquidated May 31, 1930
  • 2: Absorbed by Citizens Trust Company, Utica

In October 1848, The New York Evening Post reported that a new Free Bank had been opened at Utica called the Utica City Bank. A few weeks later, one dollar notes of the Utica City Bank, altered to fives were in circulation and were well-executed. They were easily identified as the genuine $1 notes had the words "The Utica City Bank" engraved at the top and in the genuine fives, "The State of New York" was placed at the top and "The Utica City Bank" was in the body of the note below the vignette.

In May 1849, the cashier was C.S. Wilson. In January 1852, the bank reported Bonds and mortgages of $43,478, New York State Stock, 6% of $86,000 and circulation of $129,469. 

In 1868, the plate of a $5 on the Utica City National Bank was captured.  The engraver was John McLees a member of the famous family of engravers, but he became disillusioned and fell into partnership with a gang of Italian forgers. Theodore Raffelle was convicted in December, 1868 and McLees and co-criminal Mauritz Kossually pleaded guilty to counterfeiting. McLees turned State's evidence and escaped punishment, but soon thereafter fell down stairs when drunk and killed himself, though some thought that he was murdered by friends of those he betrayed.  He was a wonderfully clever inventor and was the first man to employ the pantograph for engraving purposes.

At 2 o'clock the morning of March 2, 1884, fire was discovered in the new shoe manufactory of H.J. Holbrook & Co. on Catharine Street, and the conflagration which followed proved the most destructive in the history of Utica. The Holbrook buildings, M.B. De Long's furniture house, and James Rockwell's clothing house on Catharine Street, M.C. and E.D. Comstock's large store house, on the Erie Canal, and the Utica City National Bank, Newell & Son's paper and glass store, the Utica Observer building and office, Comstock Bros.' wholesale house, C.H. Sayres' hardware store, and Edward Martin's gas fitting and plumbing store, on Genesee Street, were totally destroyed along with most of their contents. The Utica Observer saved its files, but little else. J.S. & M. Peckman, stoves and mica, adjoining DeLong's building, were damaged to the extent of $1,500. The building occupied by Mr. DeLong was full of furniture, none of which was saved; loss on building and contents, $65,000. H.J. Holbrook & Co.'s loss on stock and building was from $80,000 to $100,000. James Rockwell & Co., loss $110,000 with the building and contents wholly destroyed. The loss on the building was $10,000. The Utica City National Bank building was destroyed; loss, $12,000. Water was poured on the bank safe all day, and its contents were believed to be intact. The total loss would aggregate about $800,000 and the insurance was about $450,000. The safe of the Utica City National Bank contained securities of $1,000,000 in value and a large cash balance. The origin of the fire remained a mystery, but was supposed to have caught in the engine room of Holbrook's building.

On February 23, 1885, Isaac Maynard, 69, died in Utica. He was president of the Utica City National Bank and Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Railroad Co., treasurer of the Utica and Black River Railroad Co., and one of the directors of the Utica Water Works.

In August 1902, the contract for a 10-story bank building was awarded to a New York firm for the sum of $800,000. Mr. Ambrose B. Stannard had carried out a number of large contracts under the Treasury Department, having under contract the federal buildings at Elmira, New York and Newport News, Virginia. In addition to the Utica bank building, he had contracts under the new government printing office and the Library of Congress. Mr. Robert W. Gibson designed the Bank of Buffalo, the Onondago County Savings Bank of Syracuse, and the Utica City National Bank building. He was the architect of the New York clearing house, the United States Trust Company building, and the Greenwich Savings Bank of New York City. 

On June 19, 1908, James Schoolcraft Sherman was nominated for Vice President of the United States.  He was born in Utica, New York, October 24, 1855. He would combined business and finance with his legal and political activities, being at various times president of the Utica Trust and Safe Deposit Company, president of the Utica Ice Company, vice president of the Utica City National Bank, president of the New Hartford Canning Company, director of the Queens County Trust Company, director of the New Hartford Cotton Company, director of the Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Railroad and director of the Utica and Mohawk Valley Railroad. His first political office was that of Mayor of Utica, to which he was elected in 1884. On the expiration of his term as Mayor, in 1886, he was elected to Congress from the Utica district, serving continuously since then with the exception of one term from 1891 to 1893. He would be Vice President from 1909-1912, was re-nominated, but died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election.

In July 1910, J. Howard Lowery, who was arrested in Philadelphia, as a result of the work of Wilmington detectives on the charge of embezzling about $115,000 from the Utica City National Bank, had become resigned to his fate and was anxious for the case to be disposed of as rapidly as possible. Detectives who were working on the case in Wilmington, Delaware prior to the arrest, of Lowery, on several occasions secreted themselves in the Wilmington and Brandywine cemetery, while watching persons supposed to be relatives of Lowery, with a view to ascertaining who they were and where they lived. Strange men, said to be the detectives, were seen in the cemetery at night on several occasions, and they caused alarm to a number of persons living near the cemetery. Lowery was in the Utica jail under $10,000 bail to await the action of the Federal Grand Jury. The United States Grand Jury would meet in Auburn on October 4th and would consider his case. Following his probable indictment, Lowery said he would plead guilty. “I used the bank's money," he said, “and made myself liable. I deserve any punishment that may be meted out to me and will take my medicine like a man. I am resigned to my fate." It was expected that Lowery would be sent to the Federal Prison at Atlanta. Lowery confessed to bank officials that from the time he made the first false entry, four years ago, he had lived a life of anxiety and dread. He dared not leave his desk even for a day. He never took a vacation, and it was this devotion to duty that caused his chiefs to promote him from time to time. The visits of the examiners were occasions of terrible suspense. He said his troubles began when the stock market began to shiver under the impending panic which was to come the year following. During the panic of 1907, Lowery took money in amounts of $10,000. In April 1906, when he began to plunder the bank's vaults, he took $500 at a time. In that year his peculations amounted to $10,500. In 1907 he took $90,000 in $10,000 amounts. In 1908 it was $20,000 and in 1909 $20,000 more. In 1910 the amount was $4,108.19. During the years of his peculations Lowery returned the sum of $29,500. At one time Lowery had paid back all he had taken except $2,000. Then he lost $12,000 in one slump. Two New York firms with whom he dealt failed, and he lost heavily with both. About this time, and to heighten his anxiety, a stranger came to his window in the bank and threatened him. In some manner the stranger had found him out. He followed Lowery for days and tried to blackmail him, but finally was staved off. Lowery said that when he fled from the bank and the bank examiner on April 27th, he started for his cottage, on Oneida Lake, determined to end his life there. He missed his train and went to Syracuse, thence to Philadelphia, where he took a ship for the West Indies, landing at Port Antonio, Jamaica. In Kingston he endeavored to get work. Then he returned to Philadelphia where he was arrested. Lowery’s young wife went to the home of her parents, in Oriskany Falls in a state of collapse. On October 6, 1910, Judge Ray sentenced Lowery on two of the four indictments to twenty years in the Federal Prison at Atlanta. 

Comptroller of the Currency Murray sent to all bank examiners a history of the defalcation in the Utica City National Bank discovered on April 27, 1910 by Examiner Van Vranken.  The discovery was the direct result of the Comptroller's order of January 19 which prohibited national bank examiners from allowing clerks employed in banks under examination to assist in counting the cash, listing and verifying loans and discounts, etc.  Mr. Van Vranken visited this bank and as usual was assisted by J. Howard Lowry, discount clerk.  Instead of accepting the adding machine footings from Mr. Lowry, he examined the work and discovered the shortage.

On April 21, 1930, merger of the Citizens Trust Company of Utica and the Utica National Bank and Trust Company under the name Citizens Trust Company of Utica was ratified by directors of both institutions. The merger, expected about June 1, was subject to the approval of the stockholders.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The Utica City National Bank, Utica, NY

2: Utica National Bank and Trust Company (8/5/1925), Utica, NY

Bank Note Types Issued

Original Series $2 bank note with pen signatures of C.S. Wilson, Cashier and C.S. Symonds, President.
Original Series $2 bank note with pen signatures of C.S. Wilson, Cashier and J.E. Warner, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1882 Brown Back $10 bank note with printed signatures of M.C. Brown, Cashier and C.S. Symonds, President.
1882 Brown Back $10 bank note with printed signatures of M.C. Brown, Cashier and C.S. Symonds, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1902 Date Back $20 bank note with pen signatures of M.C. Brown, Cashier and C.S. Symonds, President. Note the Radar Treasury SN.
1902 Date Back $20 bank note with pen signatures of M.C. Brown, Cashier and C.S. Symonds, President. Note the Radar Treasury SN. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1902 Plain Back $5 bank note with the bank's second title and printed signatures of H.C. Moore, Cashier and M.H. Cahill, President.
1902 Plain Back $5 bank note with the bank's second title and printed signatures of H.C. Moore, Cashier and M.H. Cahill, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
NEEDED: a photo of a small size bank note for the Utica City National Bank.
NEEDED: a photo of a small size bank note for the Utica City National Bank.

A total of $12,095,770 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1865 and 1930. This consisted of a total of 1,467,414 notes (1,425,600 large size and 41,814 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments
1: Original Series 3x1-2 1 - 4600
1: Original Series 4x5 1 - 4601 2001 Not issued
1: Original Series 4x10 1 - 1875
1: Series 1875 4x5 1 - 1000
1: Series 1875 4x10 1 - 5705
1: 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 32580
1: 1902 Red Seal 4x5 1 - 32250
1: 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 16300
1: 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 60500
1: 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 46200
1: 1902 Plain Back 4x5 60501 - 132500
1: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 46201 - 90700
2: 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 20910
2: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 13380
2: 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 4767
2: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1848
2: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 354

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1865 - 1930):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

  • There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.

Wiki Links

Sources

  • Utica, NY, 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 Evening Post, New York, NY, Thu., Oct. 5, 1848.
  • The Buffalo Daily Republic, Buffalo, NY, Thu., Nov. 16, 1848.
  • The Albany Evening Journal, Albany, NY, Mon. Jan. 12, 1852.
  • The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY, Thu., Dec. 10, 1868.
  • The Brooklyn Union, Brooklyn, NY, Fri., Dec. 18, 1868.
  • Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Mon. Mar. 3, 1884.
  • The Champaign Daily Gazette, Champaign, IL, Mon., Mar. 3, 1884.
  • The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tue., Feb. 24, 1885.
  • Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Sat., Sep. 12, 1891.
  • The Weekly British Whig, Kingston, ON, Thu., Aug. 7, 1902.
  • Evening Star, Washington, DC, Mon., Feb. 2, 1903.
  • The Minneapolis Journal, Minneapolis, MN, Sat., June 24, 1905.
  • The Wall Street Journal, New York, NY, Tue., May 17, 1910.
  • The News Journal, Wilmington, DE, Mon., July 25, 1910.
  • Bloomfield Monitor, Bloomfield, NE Thu., Oct. 6, 1910.
  • Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY, Tue., Apr. 22, 1930.
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