J. Millikin & Company (Decatur, IL)

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The Story Of Decatur By E. B. Hitchcock CHAPTER 71. "JAMES MILLIKIN, BANKER" He Had Money When He Came Here in 1856—He Was Decatur's Greatest Benefactor. "I have gone into the banking business. But I have not yet invested one cent of my money, and I don't intend to." This was what James Millikin wrote to the folks back home soon after the firm of Millikin & Odor was established in 1863. Previously, when the Railroad Bank failed in 1860, James Millikin took over the business on Merchant street, with this sign over the door: "James Millikin, Banker." The partnership with J. Q. A. Odor did not last long and the firm name was soon changed to J. Millikin & Co., the "company" part of it being Jerome R. Gorin, whose son, Orville B. Gorin, is now president of the banking business established by Mr. Millikin, now known as The Millikin National Bank. His intentions to the contrary notwithstanding, James Millikin soon found it profitable and desirable to invest money in his own bank, and that letter which had been seen by his erstwhile partner, J. Q. A. Odor, was of no effect. BEST KNOWN NAME The name of James Millikin is today inseparably connected with two great institutions, The Millikin National Bank and The James Millikin University. And the name of Millikin is probably more often heard in Decatur than that of any other former citizen of Decatur. Whence came this man James Millikin, and why? It was in 1848 that James Millikin, son of a well to do father, left his home in Washington county, Pennsylvania, to seek his fortunes in the new west. His father loaned him some money. Illinois was his choice for a location, and he went first to Danville. He engaged in the stock business there. He worked hard and invested his profits. It was in 1856 that he felt he could do better in another locality. He had selected Decatur, and he came here in that year, his capital increased to $75,000. HIS CONFIDENCE The waiting opportunity of central Illinois farm lands had appealed to Mr. Millikin over in Danville where he had rented tracts for the pasturing of his stock. He knew the soil. He was certain that Macon county land would greatly increase in value as time went on. He anticipated the change that was soon to come by making extensive and judicious investments in this county as well as throughout the central counties of the state and even in southwestern Iowa. All of the town of Bement was once his private property. His holdings extended over the entire county from time to time. Much of the land was unimproved when he bought it. Some of it he improved and farmed out to tenants. But some of it he simply allowed to be swept along by the rising tide of higher land values. After coming to Decatur, James Millikin continued to deal in livestock, farm lands and town property. HE BECAME A BANKER Because he had ready cash in hand, it was suggested to Mr. Millikin that he ought to become a banker when the old Railroad Bank on Merchant (Bank) street, went to the wall. At that time 800 or more people in Decatur suffered a jolt of their confidence in banks and bankers. But James Millikin saw his opportunity and took over the property. He just put his own name over the door and announced himself as ready to be a banker. It is a remarkable tribute to the man that people rallied to him and put their money into his hands at once, despite the recent bank failure. After Jerome Gorin withdrew from the bank his son, Orville B. Gorin, was admitted to the partnership. Later Milton Johnson was given an interest, which he subsequently sold to Parke Hammer in 1892. Soon after Mr. Hammer's death in 1895, J. M. Brownback bought an interest in the business. Since when there have been no other partners of James Millikin. The bank began operating as a national bank in 1897. LOCATIONS Although the name of the bank, J. Millikin & Co., remained unchanged for so many years, the location of the bank changed several times, first from Merchant street to one door east of the present Morehouse & Wells company's building in 1864; again, in 1880, to greatly improved offices at the corner of East Main and North Water streets, to temporary quarters on South Water street while the old building was being torn down to be replaced by the present bank building in 1894, again temporarily in December 1909 to the corner of East Main and State streets, while the offices were being enlarged, and finally in February 1910 the bank returned to its present quarters. FRIENDS HAD FAITH There were years of stress and strain for James Millikin and his bank during the black days around 1873 when hundreds of banks were forced to close. Because the people had faith in Millikin and Gorin their bank weathered the storm, in spite of those terrible days when there was a run on the bank. The Powers, the Euings, the Barnes and Silas Packard stood with the bank. Many remember how these men took their stations outside the bank's counters and borrowed from the depositors the money they withdrew, gave their notes for the sums and then threw the money back inside the bank's railings. Their confidence saved the bank from ruin. How James Millikin made the James Millikin university possible will have to be told separately from this more personal review. His industrial and manufacturing ventures must also have attention other than is possible in this brief story.