4582. Bank of Illinois (Shawneetown, IL)

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PAGE CLUB MEMBERS SHAWNEETOWN Nearly 100 Years Old STARTED MOVE HAD THE FIRST FOR MONUMENT ILLINOIS BANK Establishment Was Authorized on December 28, 1816 -The first bank in the territory of Illinois was established at Shawneetown, the act authorizing its establishment having been ap proved Dec. 28. 1816. It was amed the Bank of Illinois. John Marshall, who had conducted a private bank in connection with his merchandise business as early as 1813, was its first president. In 1823 or 1824 this bank suspended operations and on Feb. 12. 1835. an act was passed to extend the charter for 20 years. The name was to be the State Bank of IIIInois. This bill was approved by Joseph Duncan. governor. First Officers The first officers of the bank were John Marshall. president, and John Siddall. cashier In 1853, when the Civil war broke, fearing that the southern part of the state would be overrun with the rebel hordes. the bank was liquidated and the building sold to Thomas S. Ridgway, who used it as residence until 1865. when he and his partner. oJhn McKee Peoples, decided to establish the first National bank of Shawneetown. which was liquidated in 1911-13. The Gallatin National bank was established in Shawneetown February. 1871. with capital of $250,000 with Orval Pool as itt first Built in 1838 Owing to excessive taxation this bank was voluntarily liquidated Upon closing out the affairs the national bank. private bank was organized under the firm name of M. M. Pool and company This bank failed about 1887. The National Bank of Shawneetown was organized in May. 1905. with capital of $25,000. It now building built by the state in 1838. which is in splendid state of preservation and is expected to give another century of service to this community. Newspaper Writers Directed Attention to Nancy Hanks Park Special Correspondence BOONVILLE. Ind., April The Boonville Press club may lay claim to being the instigator of the fund of million and half dollars now being raised for the purpose of moving a railroad track a church and a school building to enable the Nancy Hanks park at Lincoln City to be enlarged and beautified and monument erected In fact. the Boonville Press club was really organized for that purpose. On Sunday. July 13. 1924, group of newspaper workers and writers from Boonville gathered at the Nancy Hanks park for a Sunday evening pienie dinner and supper. A short patriotic address was given by Judge Roscoe Kiper in which he called attention to the fact that the sacred ground upon which the picnickers were holding their meeting was unknown to millions of people in the United States- people who thought of Abraham Lincoln as being product of Kentucky and Illinois alone, and ignorant of the fact that the martyred president had spent the formulating years of his life in Indiana. Pass Resolutions Philip Lutz Jr., recently elected president of the Boonville Press club. drew up resolutions while Kiper was speaking and presented them to the meeting before it closed. The resolutions read in part: "We memorialize the Lincoln Memorial commission and the governor of Indiana to visit this sacred spot and learn the beauty that abounds in this section where Lincoln spent his early boyhood days that we urge the purchase by the commission of surrounding points of historical interest connected with the early life of Lincoln. and urge the location of the Lincoln Memorial at this point of Indiana. where Lincoln received his early training at the knee of his saintly At the time of the passing of the resolution by the Boonville Press club. the Indiana Lincoln Memorial commission was considering the establishing of the state memorial to Lincoln at Indianapolis. Within the next few months after forwarding the memorial to the commission and to the governor. the sentiment turned in favor of the shrine at Lincoln City. and within the next year the movement began Ground Purchased Ground has been purchased upon which the historical points of interest connected with Lincoln stood. and already goodly portion of the fund has been subscribed The Boonville Press club each year since 1924 has held its annual pienic at the Nancy Hanks park on Sunday in July. The crowds attending each year vary between 10,000 and 12,000 people. William B. Carleton. editor of the Boonville Enquirer. was the first president of the Press club. He served for four years. Philip Lutz Jr. was elected president at the last meeting held April 9. when the Press club reaffirmed its object of keeping alive the interest in the Nancy Hanks Lincoln park.