Bank of St Charles - St Charles, SC

Episode Information

Episode UID: 5321477491369
Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Bank ID: 532147749 hash
Start Date: January 1, 1914
Location: St Charles, South Carolina (34.067, -80.218)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini (chosen from majority vote of a three-model LLM ensemble)
Short Digest: e0a30334bef1ce91

Response Measures

None

Description

Bankers voted voluntary liquidation due to insufficient deposits; solvent and will pay depositors.

Events (1)

1. January 1, 1914 Suspension

Cause: Voluntary Liquidation
Cause Details: Stockholders resolved to wind up and liquidate the bank because the local field could not support a profitable banking business; bank solvent and will pay depositors.
Newspaper Excerpt: a resolution was adopted directing the board of directors and officers to proceed to wind up the affairs of the bank and to place the institution in liquidation January 1st.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. December 6, 1913 The Watchman and Southron Sumter, SC

Article from The Watchman and Southron, December 6, 1913

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Article Text

BANK TO GO INTO LIQUIDATION, Stockholders of Bank of St. Charles Decide to Wind up Affairs of Bank January 1st. At a meeting of the stockholders of the Bank of St. Charles, held Saturday, November 29th, a resolution was adopted directing the board of directors and officers to proceed to wind up the affairs of the bank and to place the institution in liquidation January 1st. The bank is in a sound and solvent condition and has on hand more than sufficient funds to pay off all the depositors in full and the stockholders will lose nothing. The decision to place the bank in liquidation was reached after mature consideration following a careful analysis of the business of the bank during the year it has been in existence. It was clearly apparent that the field at St. Charles is not large enough to support a bank, the deposits throughout the year having not averaged a sufficient amount to render the operation of the bank profitable. A canvass of the situation convinced the stockholders that it is not possible to increase the average deposits to the point that would make the business of the bank satisfactorIly profitable, and as the bank cannot be conducted at a profit without larger deposits and a greater volume of business, there is little inducement to continue the bank. The stockholders looked at the matter from a strictly business point of view, and being satisfied that the outlook was not encouraging, decided to wind up the bank and withdraw their money. St. Charles is so situated that the bank located there must compete directly with the older and stronger banks of Sumter, Mayesville and Bishopville, and while it is a great convenience to the merchants and other business men of the immediate vicinity, the closing of the bank will not deprive them of banking facilities or interfere with their business, the competing banks in the places mentioned being able and anxious to take care of all the business of the St. Charles section. The experience of the Bank of St. Charles bears out the prediction that was freely made last year when a number of small local banks were in process of organization in this section of the State that there was no field for these banks and that there was not sufficinet business in these restricted Incalities to support a bank and give the stockholders a reasonable profit on their investment.