Wheeling's Banks in 1886

— from THE WHEELING DAILY INTELLIGENCER, " Special Natural Gas Edition", September 14, 1886.
➤ View Special Edition in its entirety.
 

BANKING FACILITIES

Plenty of Money at Low Rates - Sound and Flourishing Institutions

No city of its size in this country has ampler banking facilities or sounder banks than Wheeling. In this essential particular few cities of double the size are so well provided. Wheeling is the financial center not only of the great industrial community which lies about her on both sides of the Ohio river, but as well for contiguous Ohio, Southwestern Pennsylvania, and a considerable part of the State of West Virginia. In all this busy region manufacturers, merchants, farmers, lumbermen, coal, oil and natural gas operators rely upon Wheeling for banking accommodation, and through her they transact their business with buyers and sellers in the great cities of the country.

AN HONORABLE HISTORY

The history of banking in Wheeling is a record of integrity and intelligence unsurpassed. The men who have been, and the men who are, engaged in banking have always stood among the best in the city, level-headed, sagacious, honest men who have placed higher value upon a good name than upon great riches.

With the exception of one savings institution there has never been a bank failure in Wheeling. At no time has a Wheeling bank closed its doors against its creditors. All of them passed safely through the ordeal of 1857, when strong institutions everywhere tottered and fell, and when the most vigorous were thought fortunate to live from day to day.

When civil war came no place was more exposed than Wheeling, situated in a State whose secession was a forgone conclusion, and whose own people were at first hotly divided in sentiment. The war cloud rested upon Wheeling more heavily than the smoke from her mills and furnaces. Property of every kind was in jeopardy, and the general apprehension was even greater than the peril. But not a Wheeling bank fell. The solid men engaged in their management and those at the back of them would not have permitted a suspension.

It is further to be said with regard to the banks of the city that the local pride in them is so strong, and the integrity of their management so confidently believed in, that none of them would be permitted to go to the wall. There is ample capital to sustain them and in a dark hour they would be sustained.

CAPITAL AND OFFICERS

The aggregate capital of the eight banks is $950,000. The deposits are $3,500,000 and the bills discounted will about equal this amount. The supply of money is sufficient for demands and is to be had at six percent on good paper.

The banks, with their officers and capital are as follows:

EXCHANGE BANK, $200,000. J.N. Vance, President; J.J. Jones, Cashier. Surplus $50,000. Correspondent, American Exchange National Bank, New York, First National Bank, Chicago.

CITY BANK OF WHEELING, Henry K. List, President; Robert C. Dalzell, Cashier. Correspondents, American Exchange National Bank, New York; Northwestern National Bank, Chicago.

GERMAN BANK OF WHEELING, $50,000. C.D. Hubbard, President; L.J. Bayha, Cashier, surplus, $15,000. Correspondents, Ninth National Bank, New York; the German National Bank, Pittsburgh.

BANK OF WHEELING, $100,000. D.C. List, President; G. Lamb, Cashier; J. Seybold, Assistant Cashier. Correspondents, Importers and Traders, and Continental National Bank, New York; Bank of Commerce, Pittsburgh.

NATIONAL BANK OF WEST VIRGINIA, $200,000; surplus, $40,000. Earl N. Oglebay, President; J. Wagner, Cashier. Correspondents, National Bank, New York; Commercial Bank, Cincinnati.

BANK OF THE OHIO VALLEY, $175,000. W.A. Isett, President; F.J. Jepson, Cashier. Correspondents, Fourth National Bank, New York; First National Bank, Cincinnati; First National Bank, Chicago.

COMMERCIAL BANK, $100,000. Wm. M. List, President; S.P. Hildreth, Cashier. Correspondents, Third National Bank, New York; National Bank of Illinois, Chicago.

PEOPLE'S BANK, $71,000. Thos. O`Brien, President; G.N. Eckert, jr., Cashier. Correspondents, Third National Bank, New York and Cincinnati, R. Patrick & Co., Pittsburgh.
 

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