Manhattan’s Banks
Manhattan Memories, 2017.
Manhattan Bank
In 1895, Manhattan Bank was started as partnership between brothers, Ben and Frank Jones, and brother-in-law, John Baker. The three men dealt in the grain and coal industry in Manhattan. Both Jones brothers served as a mayor of Manhattan at one time. John Baker is the man who built the round barn (finished in 1895) at the Baker-Koren homestead, now owned by our Park District. Upon starting the Manhattan Bank, John Baker was the president with Ben as vice president and Frank as its first cashier. A cashier was the main financial officer.
The bank was originally a single-story, flatiron-style brick building on the corner of State and Wabash Streets. The addition of second floor occurred before 1925. Upon the death of John Baker, the bank was reorganized under state supervision and operated until its closing in 1938 as the Manhattan State Bank.
After the bank closed, the building was sold in 1940 to the library and used for that purpose until 1968. It later became a gift shop, and in 1977, Century 21 Realty bought it for its offices until 2017 when it closed due to the death of Gregg Hobbs, owner.
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First National Bank of Manhattan.
First National Bank of Manhattan was chartered on May 29, 1907, as an independently owned bank. The first board consisted of: Aaron Greenwood, president; Charles Ingraham, vice president; Edward L. Wilson, cashier; Benjamin Baskerville, assistant cashier; and directors Herbert Smith, Charles Barr, Judd Harvey, Alex Campbell, Alvin Spangler, George Hargraves and Henry Lichtenwalter.
Mr. Ed Wilson, bank’s cashier, was also secretary of the Manhattan School board in 1912. As a widower, he married Eva McClenahan MD, who began as a practicing physician in Manhattan in 1896. Ed owned a farm that was located between Foxford Drive and W. Brookstone Drive, on Rt 52. Wilson Farm was a home to another magnificent round barn in Manhattan that was destroyed in the 1917 tornado.
When the bank first opened in 1907, it had capital of $40,000 and a surplus of $10,000. This bank withstood President Roosevelt’s banking holiday week in 1933, in which all banking transactions were suspended in an effort to stem bank failures. This Manhattan bank opened on an unrestricted basis the day the holiday was officially terminated, thus surviving the Great Depression.
In 1977, the bank started its addition on State Street. The new section replaced Goodwin then Milo grocery store. Before remodeling, the banks interior featured a toy wooden barn with wooden animals for children to play with while their parents banked. The bank also featured one of the most modern safes at the time. This safe was visible from the right window. It was removed when the bank was remodeled. In September of 1994, the First National Bank of Manhattan opened its first full-service branch at 300 Market Place. The new building had four lobby tellers, four drive-up lanes and a drive-up Cash Station. The bank’s total assets in 1994 were $60 million.
The bank’s name was changed in 2005 to First Bank of Manhattan.
In 1986, the bank razed the former Brannon Hospital building it had purchased on the corner of First and State Streets and in 2007, that property became home to the Veteran’s Memorial.
