Zion Bank - Zion, IL

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: private
Start Date: March 17, 1907
Location: Zion, Illinois (42.446, -87.833)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 13daa68b672b68ee

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (Evening Star, 1907-03-17) reports Zion City 'went into the hands of a receiver' and states 'the bank was drained' and 'credit was gone', indicating the bank was placed in receivership/closed due to receivership/official action and mismanagement under Dowie. No explicit mention of a depositor run is given.

Events (2)

1. March 17, 1907 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: Zion City went into the hands of a receiver... The bank was drained. Credit was gone. People were unpaid and hungry and there was nothing to do but compel them to pay more to support Zion, and now and then Dowie drew on them for funds.
Source: newspapers

2. March 17, 1907 Suspension

Cause: Government Action
Cause Details: City (and its bank) placed 'in the hands of a receiver' following mismanagement; bank drained and credit gone.
Newspaper Excerpt: Zion City went into the hands of a receiver... The bank was drained. Credit was gone.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. March 17, 1907 Evening Star Washington, DC

Article from Evening Star, March 17, 1907

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Article Text

# ZION CITY the final manifestations of his egomania as due to illness. Zion City went into the hands of a receiver and shrank from a population of 12,000 or 15,000 to less than 4,000. But it appears that even with the few that remained all is not harmony. Voliva, whom Dowie brought from Aus- tralia to manage affairs in Zion, is said not to be popular. "The present head of the church," said one of the converts recently, "is tyrannous and cruel, carried away by the desire to rule." When Voliva a year ago came to Zion fully trusting in Dowie he found the out- look disheartening. The bank was drained. Credit was gone. People were unpaid and hungry and there was nothing to do but compel them to pay more to support Zion, and now and then Dowie drew on them for funds. An illustration of the condition is shown in the faith of one of the converts. He was a lost man on the streets of Chi- cago, penniless, diseased, a helpless slave to drink and his passions. He went to Zion after his conversion and dug in the ditches; then he worked in the lace factory. Then he rose to the head of a department in the engraving works for "Leaves of Healing," the Zion paper. When asked recently by one of his associates, "Has he not robbed you? Have you not been begging for pay- ments of 50 cents to buy bread for your family, while he owes you a hundred dollars and is spending it in luxury for himself?" the man answered: "I will not lightly cast away a man who has done so much for me." Voliva supposed himself the discoverer of this condition; but he found all his associ- ates knew it and had been powerless; but he held a power of attorney. By a brilliant coup he transferred all Dowie's interest to a deposed overseer, Granger, who was given it in trust for the people. At a conference which followed 300 officers voted to stand by Voliva and fight it out. The fight leaves Voliva still in command and Dowie resting in the Zion cemetery. "To succeed widely," said a Dowielte re- cently, the Zion plan of destruction and re- construction requires a great prophet, with unmistakable divine authority and marked common sense, attested by a holy life and mighty miracles. No such man is in sight. When he appears we shall consider his message." The value of Dowie's work and the fu- ture of Zion are now dominant questions. The latter question is answered by many who, believing that Dowieism was centered in its founder and leader, consider it des- tined to be added to the long list of queer religious sects which have not outlived their founders. The members of the com- munity just at present seem bent upon getting back the worldly goods which they put into the experiment. As for the first question, the tastes of the rarely organized prophet were nice to dain- tiness, the smell of liquor and tobacco, the taste of pork were abhorrent to him, and doubtless had much to do with his religious pronunciamento against their use in any shape or form. So far as anybody knows, his private life had been in accordance with the strictest and most conventional moral laws, and his followers have been rescued from evil lives and made industri- ous citizens. He cut off in his city of Zion all tobacco and liquor bills. He for- bade card playing and theater going, and encouraged outdoor games and recreations. He demanded that his people adhere strictly to the scriptural ritual of clean liv- ing. He prohibited doctors and drug bills, including patent medicines, and, convincing the ailing that they were well, sent them cheerfully to their tasks. Naturally all Zion felt a spiritual and physical regenera- tion, and became a clean, eager and indus- trious people. Thus the dreams, intangible and optimistic, which a skeptical and hos- tile world jeered at, he lived to see be- come an actual reality, and thousands to- day, notwithstanding reverses and failures and death, still cling with faith to the mys- tery of his dominant personality. They had taken the oath and keep it.. "I vow in the name of God my Father and Jesus Christ, His Son and my Savoir. and the Holy Ghost, that I recognize John Alexander Dowie, general overseer in his threefold prophetic office, as a messenger of the covenant, the restorer; and I promise to obey all rightful orders issued by him, and that all family ties and obligations and all relations to all human governments shall be held subordinate to this vow. This I make in the presence of God."