USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 52
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* The vote at the election, November 3, 1868, refusing ap- proval of these savings bank charters was as follows:
State Savings Bank-Whole state, for approval, six thou- sand three hundred and fourteen; against approval, six thousand five hundred and eighty-one. Milwaukee county, for approval, three thousand two hundred and seventy-three; against approval, fifty-two.
Milwaukee Savings Bank-Whole state, for approval, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine; against approval, six thousand four hundred and eighty-three. Milwaukee county, for approval, four hundred and ninety-eight; against approval, thirty.
276
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
organization of mutual savings banks and sav- ings societies passed the legislature and was ap- proved by the people." The act is chapter 384 of the laws of 1876, and it has continued un- amended until the present time as the law of the state. A large number of the regular banks in the city have now savings departments, but it is not understood that these are constituted under the provisions of the above mentioned chapter, 384.
The following table gives, it is hoped, a complete chronological list of all the banks established in the city of Milwaukee, beginning in 1863. The institu- tions are all state banks, except in cases where the word national appears in the name. This table is supplementary to the one printed hereinbe- fore, and no concerns mentioned therein are re- peated unless reorganized under a different desig- nation :
TABLE OF STATE AND NATIONAL BANKS ORGANIZED IN MILWAUKEE, 1863-1895.
Name.
When Opened
Original Capital.
First President.
First Cashier.
Event.
Ist Nat. Bk. (No.64) Sept.19, 1863 $200,000 Edward H. Brodhead .. Hoel H. Camp.
Still in existence.
Milwaukee Nat. } Bk. (No. 1017); )
March 2,1865
250,000 Eliphalet Cramer
Theophilus L. Baker. .
Still in existence.
Nat. Exchange Bk.
1865
200,000 Charlea D. Nash.
William G. Fitch
Still in existence.
Merchants' Nat. Bk.
1865
100,000 Edwin H. Goodrich
Samuel B. Scott.
Second Ward} Savings Bank. §
Feb. 1, 1866
25,000 Valentine Blatz
William H. Jacobs.
j In voluntary liquidation June 14, 1870. Still in existence.
Fifth Ward Bank .. Feb. 15, 1866
25,000 Philip Best.
Christian Salentine ..
Became, February 12, 1868, South Side Savings Bank. Closed, 1868.
Wisconsin State Bk May 1, 1866
50,000 James B. Martin.
Eugene R. Leland.
National City Bk.
1866
100,000 Anthony Green.
James A. Pirie.
In voluntary liquidation February 24, 1875.
South Side Sav- ings Bank.
Feb. 12, 1868
25,000 Gustav C. Trumpff
John B. Koetting.
Home Savinga Bk.
April 4, 1870
25,000 Ferdinand Kuehn
Rudolph Nunnemacher
Bank of Commerce June 23, 1870
100,000 Edward O'Neil.
Albert B. Geilfuss.
German Ex-} change Bank .. §
Oct. 31, 1870
30,000 Moritz von Baumbach ...
Rudolph Nunnemacher
Manufacturera' Bk. Nov. 1, 1873
36,000 Isaac A. Hasbrouck.
William S. Candee
Failed June 16, 1884.
Merchanta' Ex- } change Bank .. $
Aug. 13,1879
100,000 Edward O'Neil.
Rudolph Nunnemacher Albert B. Geilfuss.
( Merged January 25, 1894, into First National Bk. Still in existence.
Plankinton Bank . Feb. 9, 1887
200,000 John Plankinton
John P. Murphy
Failed under other officers June 1,1893.
Marshall & Ilsley } Bank . .
Jan. 1, 1888
200,000 Samuel Marshall.
James K. Ilsley
Still in existence.
German Ameri-
Nov. 1, 1892
100,000 Emil Durr.
Charles F. P. Pullen.
Still in existence.
can Bank ...
Central Nat. Bk.
Dee. 1, 1892
300,000 George G. Houghton ..
Herman F. Wolf.
Still in existence.
Wis. Nat. Bk. of Milw'(No.4817) §
Dec. 5, 1892 1,000,000 Frederick Pabst.
Frederick Kasten.
Still in existence.
West Side Bank ..
July 2, 1894|
100,000 Adam Gettelmann.
George Koch.
Still in existence.
Of the above-named persons Eliphalet Cramer died September 19, 1872; William H. Jacoba died September 11, 1882; Edward O'Neil died March 28, 1890; Edward H. Brodhead died December 14, 1890; William G. Fitch died February 3, 1891; John Plankinton died March 29, 1891; Theophilus L. Baker died January 26. 1893; Valentine Blatz died May 26, 1894; James A. Pirie died October 19, 1894; Rudolph Nunnemacher died December 25, 1894; Edward R. Paine died June 9, 1895.
In addition to the private banking institutions already noticed in this article, mention should be made of other like unincorporated companies,
* The vote of the people approving this law at the election, November 7, 1876, was aa follows:
Whole state, for approval, four thousand and twenty nine; against approval, three thousand and sixty-nine. Milwaukee county, for approval, five; against approval, two. Evidently bank legislation had ceased to arouse interest in the minds of voters.
which from time to time have existed in Mil- waukee. Since human memory is fallible, the periods of time given below are doubtless only approximately correct. The old numbering of East Water street is always intended until 1865.
Edwin Townsend, who was a land agent and broker in Milwaukee as far back as 1847, opened about 1850 a loan office in connection with William Finkler, under the designation of Townsend,
Failed disastrously July 22, 1893. Combined October 29, 1870, with firm of M. von Baumbach & Co. to form German Exchange Bk. Consolidated August 13, 1879, with German Exchange Bk. to form the Merchants' Exchange Bk. Consolidated August 13, 1879, with Bk. of Commerce, to form the Merchants' Exchange Bk.
Commercial Bank
July 20, 1885
100,000 Edward R. Paine
(No. 4816) ... .
277
THE EPOCH OF NATIONAL BANKS.
Finkler & Company, in Kneeland's block, on East Water street. Four or five years later Mr. Finkler withdrew and the business of Townsend, Bean & Burlock (Edwin and John G. Townsend, Walker L. Bean and William E. Burlock), bankers and brokers, was established. This firm ceased to exist about 1858. Edwin Townsend died March 9, 1870. Some William Finkler, perhaps a son of the William above noticed, had a banking office in the Walker House in 1860 and 1861.
The Milwaukee City Bank of Kneeland & Hull (James Kneeland and David P. Hull) had offices at No. 217 East Water street in 1854. Two years later this became the Milwaukee City Bank of Hull, Janes & Company-the new partner being Henry W. Janes. In 1858 the firm name was D. P. Hull & Company, William J. Abrams being the un- named partner, and the Newhall House the place of business. Before 1860 Mr. Hull went into other pursuits. He died November 20, 1884.
Another financial concern of the early days was Blossom's Bank (Levi Blossom) situated in 1854 on the corner of Wisconsin street and Broad- way. This was but a short-lived business, and engrossed but little of Mr. Blossom's already much pre-occupied attention. Mr. Blossom died in San Francisco, October 31, 1873.
In or soon after January, 1855, H. C. Adams opened a banking business in the office of the defunct Germania Bank. Here, on October 16, 1855, he was shot by a Bavarian named Feiner and died the next day. Feiner was endeavoring to obtain a deposit which he had in the Germania and the shooting resulted from an attempt to have Feiner arrested. Feiner was sentenced to a life imprisonment, but was pardoned after five years incarceration.
Samuel I. Bridge and Matthew H. Bridge, the latter previously a teller in Mitchell's Bank, established under the name of Bridge Brothers, in or about 1856, a banking house at No. 228 East Water street. Matthew withdrew about 1858 ; Samuel removed to the Newhall House where he was situated until 1863, principally devoted to fire insurance.
Quite a little batch of bankers and brokers started in business in 1857 and 1858. Reeve & Roe (Thomas T. Reeve and George W. Roe) opened an office at No. 210 East Water street, in 1857, but removed the next year to Oshkosh. Bachman & Metz (Herman F. Bachman and
Nathan Metz), began at No. 227 East Water street in 1858 and continued until the early days of the Civil War. Clarke & Company (Charles S. and Byron W. Clarke) were situated about 1858 in the State Bank building, but their career as bankers was not long. John L. Hathaway and Charles O. Belden, as Hathaway & Belden had banking offices also in the State Bank building, in 1858, 1859 and 1860.
Price, Farmer & Company ( Warrick and Wil- liam J. Price and E. J. Farmer) started in the banking business at 10 Newhall House in 1858. This was one of the two unincorporated companies which signed the famous card of June 22, 1861. (See the account of the bank riot of June 24, 1861.) For about three years from 1862 Price Brothers & Company (Mr. Farmer having retired) were on the corner of East Water and Michigan streets. They ceased to do business in Milwaukee about 1866.
There is record of quite a number of bankers and brokers whose financial career began immedi- ately before the war period; Charles R. Austin had an office at No. 52 Wisconsin street for a year or more from 1859. He died March 26, 1863. A. F. Clarke was at No. 14 Young's block for the same or a briefer period. In 1859 Frederick C. Bellinger opened a banking house in the State Bank building; in 1862 and 1863 Judah M. Lawrence was his partner and the firm name was Bellinger & Lawrence; and Mr. Bellinger was again alone until about 1865, and later became cashier and afterward president of the National City Bank. In the same State Bank building was Harvey Terry in 1859, and perhaps until the early war times. As has already been noted, James B. Martin had banking offices in the State Bank building when the rioters made their unwelcome visit, June 24, 1861. He continued the same business about five years longer, and became president of the Wisconsin State Bank in 1866. He died January 18, 1878. John Armstrong and James L. Spink had a partnership as Armstrong, Spink & Company for a short time before they became officers of the Milwaukee County Bank in 1862.
Moritz von Baumbach began banking in Decem- ber, 1860. In 1862 Leopold Melms became his partner under the firm name of M. von Baumbach & Company, and the business was at No. 227 East Water street. This partnership continued
278
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
without interruption about eight years. Mr. Melms then retired and the senior partner became the president of the German Exchange Bank.
The close of the war saw several private banking houses opening in the city. The office of William N. Fairbanks was at No. 368 East Water street, from 1865 until about 1869. Henry Beck was a banker and broker at No. 81 Michigan street until 1868. William S. Candee was at No. 84 Michigan street. He was alone in business until 1868 ; in partnership with John C. Ambler as Candee, Ambler & Company until 1870, and again alone until 1873. In the latter year he participated in the organization of the Manufacturers' Bank. The house of Goodrich, Rumsey & Company (Edwin H. Goodrich, Harvey T. Rumsey and Samuel McCord) was situated at No. 366 East Water street until the dissolution of the firm in 1868. C. J. Hatch & Company (at first Charles J. Hatch alone, later the company was Orlando Alexander) were under Mitchell's Bank for about eight years, that is, until about 1874.
In or about 1868 the lumber firm of Houghton Brothers (Royal P. Houghton and George G. Houghton) formed with the above-named Samuel McCord the banking house of Houghton, McCord & Company. The partnership was successful. Mr. McCord withdrew in 1877, and the business continned under the name of Houghton Brothers & Company. Upon the death of Royal P. Hough- ton, August 16, 1892, the surviving brother be- came the principal founder and president of the Central National Bank.
In 1870 F. H. McClure & Company (Fitz Henry McClure and John F. Cramer) initiated a Banking Exchange at No. 144 Clinton street, which in a year or more they removed to No. 365 East Water street. In or about 1873 the firm became Cramer & Company (John F. and Frank Cramer and Waldemar Hansen). Under that name, but with several different ownerships, this business con- tinued until about 1883.
In 1871 the banking partnership of Sherman & Wells began at No. 416 Broadway. The busi- ness was dissolved by the death of the junior part- ner, William Wells, December 21, 1873. The senior partner, James D. Sherman, died April 12, 1884.
In 1875 and until 1881, Arthur W. Belcher and James F. Tweedy constituted the banking part- nership of Belcher & Company at No. 84 Michi- gan street. Under the designation of Tweedy,
Imbrie, Belcher & Company, Tweedy, Imbrie & Company, and Tweedy Brothers & Company, the same or a similar business was continued until about 1887.
At No. 409 Broadway, James B. Turck ran a short career as banker and broker in 1875 and 1876. At No. 66 Wisconsin street the same remark may be made as to Maxon Hirsch, in 1876 and 1877, and as to Samuel Hirsch in 1878. The latter died August 27, 1883 .*
* * *
. During the sixty years embraced in the fore- going sketch Wisconsin has made rapid progress in population and wealth. No longer is it an almost unbroken wilderness, far removed from the business and markets of the world. Instead, it has become an active partner in the great common- wealth of commerce. Its agriculture has become diversified ; its lumber, mining and manufacturing interests have assumed vast proportions. As a consequence the people had become rich and their riches led to an enormous increase in the deposits and general business of the banks of Milwaukee. Between 1880 and 1893 the annual transactions of the Milwaukee banks had grown from nine hundred and twenty-four million four hundred and sixty thousand nine hundred and forty-two dollars and twelve cents, to one billion eight hundred and six million one hundred and fourteen thousand three hundred and eighteen dollars and sixty-four cents. In less than a quarter of a cen- tury the deposits increased from five million dollars to thirty-three million dollars, being in a far greater ratio than the increase in population. In 1880 the deposits in the banks were thirteen million, while in 1893 they were thirty-three million, which fact indicates an enormous increase in the wealth of the country tributary to this city.
In 1893 the deposits of the Milwaukee banks were larger than those of the whole state of Wisconsin ten years before.
The banking capital of Milwaukee has always been small compared to the size of the city and its business. This, no doubt, arises from the fact that its merchants and manufacturers do business on their own capital and not on that of others.
Some cities not so large as Milwaukee have twice its banking capital; but that, so far from being an index of the prosperity of those cities,
* The remainder of the chapter on banking is from the pen of Mr. Johnston.
279
THE EPOCHI OF NATIONAL BANKS.
is rather the reverse, as it shows that the business men of those cities have to pay tribute to the cap- ital of others. Competition with the banks of the neighboring city of Chicago, as well as with each other, led to the paying of interest on a large portion of their great line of deposits, and laid the banks under the necessity of keeping this money largely loaned out. In 1889 the financial crisis in Argentina brought down the great house of the Barings; later the almost total suspension of the banks of Australia intensified distrust and se- riously affected business in Europe. Legislation regarding silver in this country shook the confi- dence of foreign investors, while a law passed by Congress to stimulate manufactures caused the es- tablishment of many new plants and the extension of many old. This gave a "boom" to real estate and general business, while the output of iron and other mines was increased to an unhealthy extent. The storm of distrust which had swept over Argen- tina, Australia and Europe could not be stopped at the confines of the United States, and it found many of the banks in poor condition to withstand a contraction of credit and the sudden and unrea- soning withdrawal of a large part of their deposits.
In Milwaukee the Plankinton Bank closed its doors on June 1, 1893, the Commercial Bank on July 19th, the South-side Savings Bank on July 22d, the Milwaukee National Bank on July 22d, and the Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Com- pany Bank on July 25th. The suspension of these institutions caused unparalleled excitement, and has made the month of July, 1893, memor- able in the annals of the city. While the insta- bility of the old Mitchell Bank was known in nar- row circles, its staunchness was implicitly trusted by the great public, and the closing of its doors cast an almost impenetrable gloom over the city.
In March, 1880, Alexander Mitchell of the Wis- consin Marine & Fire Insurance Company Bank had procured the enactment by the state legislature of a law (chapter 223, laws of 1880, amended by chapter 451, laws of 1889) authorizing the stock- holders of any state bank to file a declaration in writing with the state treasurer, consenting and agreeing to hold themselves individually responsi- ble for all the debts, demands and liabilities of said bank, as well those then existing and un- paid as those thereafter to be made, created or in- curred, and providing that a stockholder selling his stock shall be individually liable for all the
debts, demands and liabilities of said bank which might be incurred within six months after he sold his stock.
The stockholders of the Wisconsin Marine Fire Insurance Company Bank were the only ones who filed under this law, and although many emi- nent lawyers held the statute to be unconsti- tutional, as it might be regarded as an amend- ment to the banking law which had not been sub- mitted to a vote of the people, yet, on the suspen- sion of this bank, the stockholders did not question their liability, but put up securities and real estate to make good doubtful loans which the bank held. New capital was subscribed and paid in to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars, and the bank resumed. As a consequence all the indebt- ness of this bank was funded into certificates pay- able at five different periods, each of which payment periods has thus far been anticipated. The date of resumption was January 15, 1894.
The Plankinton bank is now going through a tedious process of liquidation. The South-side Savings Bank was irretrievably ruined by the dis- honesty of its officers, one of whom fled the conti- nent and the other is in states prison. The
Milwaukee National Bank, rejuvenated with
fresh capital, resumed Sept. 25, 1893. The Commercial Bank, greatly strengthened and newly officered, reopened March 1, 1894, in the quarters of the former Plankinton Bank.
During the last decade or two, banking methods have changed very much and have become more like those of other kinds of business. Bankers no longer hesitate to solicit accounts, to pay interest on current balances, to make collections for little or no remuneration, and pursue other methods to increase their business which the bankers of a gen- eration ago would have regarded as unprofessional. While this lessens the protits of banking and adds somewhat to its dangers, it is, perhaps, a benefit to those who do business with banks. The nearness of Milwaukee to Chicago, with its immense busi- ness and low rates of interest and exchange, has affected materially the business of banking in Mil- waukee. Numerous trains daily make the journey between the cities in two hours, and the commer- ciał relations between them are yearly becoming more and more intimate, and this intimacy is rapidly assimilating not only the banking busi- . ness of the two cities, but business of all other kinds.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE AND COMMERCE.
BY NICHOLAS SMITH.
I N 1836 there were from twelve to fifteen stores and shops of various sorts and sizes in the village of Milwaukee, which at that time had a population of between three hundred and four hundred. In the following year came the historic panic, widespread and demoralizing, which paralyzed all business, and during those months of depression the growth of Milwaukee was greatly checked. The little boom of 1836 had collapsed, and Mr. Buck, in his early history of the town, says that "many a lot for which the owner had paid five hundred dollars or even one thousand dollars in 1836, was in 1837 given in ex- change for a barrel of pork or flour, or a suit of clothes, and there are persons now (1881), living in the city who hold and occupy lots worth from six thousand dollars to twelve thousand dollars, which they got in exchange for a suit of clothes that could to-day be purchased for thirty-five dollars in any clothing house in the city." The same authority says that the prices in Milwaukee of needful articles were as follows in 1837: "Hay, forty dollars per ton ; wheat, two dollars and fifty cents per bushel; corn, two dollars and fifty cents ; and oats, from two dollars and fifty cents to four dollars per bushel. Potatoes were two dollars and fifty cents per bushel ; sugar was twenty-five cents per pound ; butter, fifty cents ; pork, forty dollars per barrel ; flour, twenty dol- lars per barrel ; and labor was from three dollars to four dollars and fifty cents per day."
With the coming of 1838 came brighter hopes and better days. The population of the village had reached about seven hundred. It was in this year that Harrison Ludington came to Milwaukee and opened a store in connection with Harvey Birchard and Lewis Ludington, on the northeast corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets. Daniel Wells, Jr., came the year previous, and established the first lumber yard on the north- west corner of East Water and Michigan streets. E. D. Holton, who settled in Milwaukee during
the latter part of 1840, was the first president of the Board of Trade, and in sketching briefly the condition of trade and commerce for the year of his arrival, when the population was one thousand seven hundred, once made this statement :
"Maurice Pixley did business just above Luding- ton's block, on the west side of East Water street. The firm of Ludington & Company, composed of Lewis and Harrison Ludington, and Harvey Birchard, did business in the Juneau warehouse, corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets. Going down street was the clothing store of Cary & Taylor, in a wooden building known as Dewey's block. Next were the stores of Higby & Wardner, general merchandise; Cary & Far- well, hardware; J. & Lindsey Ward, who first introduced the transportation of lead across the country in wagons drawn by oxen ; Robert Davis, tailor; George Bowman, Richard Hadley, boots and shoes; these stores being above Michigan street and on the west side of East Water street. Below Michigan and above Huron was the store of Wm. Brown & Company, among the very first to do business in Milwaukee. Next came L. Rockwell & Company, George F. Austin and Coles & Company. Mr. Holton's store was on the corner of Wisconsin and East Water, the only one on the east side of the latter street. These were all the mercantile establishments of any consequence here in 1840."
Speaking about grain warehouses, Mr. Holton says that several had been erected in 1840, one by Captain Sanderson, north of the Kinnikinnic, one by Colonel Walker, near Walker's Point bridge; Talbot C. Dousman, corner of Huron and East Water streets; the Juneau, on the site of the Ludington block, where the Pabst building now stands; the Longstreet warehouse, and possi- bly a few others. The first steam elevator was built in the fall of 1848, by Alanson Sweet, on South Water street. Mr. Buck says there were two warehouses built in 1838, one on the South
280
T. a. chapman,
981
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE AND COMMERCE.
side by H. S. Hollister, and the other by "G. D. Dousman," at the foot of East Water, the warc- house which became famous for having received and shipped the first cargo of wheat that ever left the city, in 1841.
It seems from the most authoritative accounts that no grain had gone out of Wisconsin prior to 1841, and Mr. Holton thinks he is correct in say- ing that in 1840 and 1841, he purchased the first cargo of grain sent from the then territory. James Kneeland came to Milwaukee early in 1841, and states that he bought all the wheat in the market of that year, which aggregated less than one thousand bushels, and shipped it to Black Rock, near Buffalo. The supply of wheat greatly increased during the following five years, and in 1846, the warehouses had become loaded, and to relieve the market, Mr. Kneeland says he bought all the wheat in store in Milwaukee, Racine, and Southport-now Kenosha-the whole making two cargoes, which were shipped to Buffalo.
It is worth while noting the fact that when Holton & Goodall made the first shipment of wheat from the port of Milwaukee, the getting together of four thousand bushels of grain was noeasy matter. In order to make the enterprise successful, they were forced to circulate hand- bills, far and near, Mr. Whitney says, through the country, announcing to the inhabitants thereof the startling and unexpected intelligence that cash was being paid by them for wheat. This was the beginning of great things in the wheat trade. From that time to the close of 1862, for instance, there went out from the port of Mil- waukee fifty-nine million two hundred and eight thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight bushels of wheat and three million eight hundred and seven thousand five hundred and fifty-four bar- rels of flour, which if reduced to bushels gives a total of seventy-eight million two hundred and forty-six thousand five hundred and fifty-eight bushels; and five-sixths of that vast amount were the exports of the four years previous to 1862. But here are more surprises regarding Milwaukee and the exports of wheat: The exports of wheat from the whole United States to Great Britain and Ireland for fourteen years, from September 1, 1846, to September 1, 1860, were but forty-eight million six hundred and twenty-three thousand and fifty- eight bushels; ten million five hundred and eighty- five thousand seven hundred and thirty bushels
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