First National Bank - San Francisco, CA

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: national
Bank ID: 1741
Charter Number: 1741
Start Date: April 1, 1906*
Location: San Francisco, California (37.780, -122.419)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 179e7858

Response Measures

None

Description

Article describes San Francisco banks being closed temporarily after the 1906 earthquake, with an expectation they will reopen. No run is described; suspension is due to a local shock (earthquake).

Events (1)

1. April 1, 1906* Suspension

Cause: Local Shock
Cause Details: San Francisco earthquake/ calamitous fire damaged operations so banks could not access specie and temporarily closed for a week; government sent $15,000,000 to First National Bank (depository).
Newspaper Excerpt: The San Francisco banks cannot for a time get at their specie and resume business. The fact that the United States government is sending out $15,000,000 to the First National Bank, its depository...
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. April 27, 1906 Weekly Independent Elko, NV

Article from Weekly Independent, April 27, 1906

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Article Text

# Why the Banks Were Closed. Much consterantion was expressed yesterday over the closing up of the banks of Nevada for a week and there was a diaposition to regard the action of the lieutenant governor as an unwise method of showing sympathy for the ruined cities of California It was thought that the holiday had been declared to express Nevada's sorrow at the blow which has fallen on a sister state. The matter was explained yesterday by several of the bankers in Reno who showed that while the sympathy which Nevada feels for California can not be overestimated, the action referred to had its foundation not in sentiment but in finance. "If it were not for the fact that the Nevada banks were temporarily closed down," said a prominent banker yesterday, "there would be such a flood of California checks against them, that in spite of the immense specie reserve now in the vaults, there would be no tiding the difficulty. Not even the Bank of England could pay all the checks from California that would be presented for collection. "There is no financial panic possible," he continued. "The San Francisco banks cannot for a time get at their specie and resume business. But the money of those institutions amounting to $1,000,000,000, is safe in the several vaults, ready for circulation when the accounts can be opened up and a pine board found somewhere in San Francisco over which to transact business, At present this is impossible and Nevada, being the nearest state and Reno its metropolis, it is but natural that here would be where the demands would come. "On the other hand there is no disposition to further cripple our stricken neighbore, and Nevada banks at the end of the week will readily endorse San Francisco vouchers, and hold them for collection. The endorsement will be a guarantee that the paper is good, and in the meantime the banks of the metropolis will be opening up and getting ready for business. "The fact that the United States government is sending out $15,000,000 to the First National Bank, its depository, is evidence of the confidence that may be placed in the future of that city. The biggest banking houses throughout the country are doing likewise and so are private capitalists. This matter is merely a temporary difficulty soon to bo forgotten, but in the meantime the Nevada banks are bound to protect themselves and their depositora for whom they have advantageously placed their money in good and interest earning securities. "The financial situation is sensitive to all shocks, and the San Francisco calamity has temporarily affected the banks througout the world."-Reno Journal.