8161. Nahant Bank (Lynn, MA)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Start Date
December 1, 1836*
Location
Lynn, Massachusetts (42.467, -70.949)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
ac0fc015

Response Measures

Full suspension

Description

Multiple contemporaneous Dec 1836 newspapers report a run caused by the failure of the bank's president and that the Nahant Bank 'stopped/specie payment' (suspended). A later 1857 article lists the Nahant Bank among banks that 'failed in 1837', indicating the suspension led to permanent failure/closure. I corrected no names; dates inferred from publication (Dec 1836) and later failure year (1837).

Events (3)
1. December 1, 1836* Run
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Run was triggered by the failure of the bank's president, reported in multiple December 1836 papers.
Measures
Bank stopped specie payments (suspended specie payments)
Newspaper Excerpt
the Nahant Bank at Lynn, Massachusetts, has stopped specie payment, in consequence of a run on the institution occasioned by the failure of its President.
Source
newspapers
2. December 1, 1836* Suspension
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Bank suspended specie payments following the run triggered by the president's failure.
Newspaper Excerpt
The Nahant bank, Lynn, Mass., has suspended payment.
Source
newspapers
3. January 1, 1837* Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
the Nahant Bank, Lynn ... together with the Nahant Bank ... failed in the city (listed among failures in 1837).
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (5)
1. December 1, 1836 Staunton Spectator, and General Advertiser Staunton, VA
Article from Staunton Spectator, and General Advertiser, December 1, 1836

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Article Text

Three slave vessels, with about S00 negroes on board, were captured lately by the British ship Vestal, in the neighberhood of Grenada. The ship Bristol, of New York, was wrecked on her return from Liverpool, in a gale of wind, on the night of the 10th, on East Reckaway bar. Of 120 persons on board, it is said only thirtytwo were saved. The Nahant Bank at Lynn, Massachusetts, has stopped specie payment, in consequence of a run on the institution occasioned by the failure of its President. The annual meeting of the Stockholders of the James River and Kanawha Company takes place, in Richmond, on Monday the 12th of December. The City Council of Lexington, Kentucky, subscribed one hundred thousand dollars to the Charleston and Cincinnati Rail Road. The Hon. John C. Calhoun is spoken of as President of the Charleston and Cincinnati Rail Road Company. The Oneida Bank. New York, was robbed on the 20th, of $190,000. Six locks were unbolted, and one broken. The money was chiefly on New York Banks. $6,000 are offered for the money, and 2000 for the thief.

2. December 3, 1836 South Branch Intelligencer Romney, WV
Article from South Branch Intelligencer, December 3, 1836

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Article Text

pen cost us the most anxiety. It may beso, but the evils which do happen even to the most fortunate amongst us, cause quite PS much trouble as a reasonable man would desire.-Alb. Adv. Novel Operation.-A negro man in Mississippi, had complained with the billious cholic for 17 days, when finding that the poor fellow must die, a medical gentleman, after every thing had been done, and as a dernier resert, made an incision along the linea alba, commencing above the umbilicus and extending two or three inches below it. The bowels protruded and presented that portion involved in the stricture, which was to be found in the ileum. This being grasped, the stricture after some effort gave way. The obtruding parts, were then returned and the wound secured by A few stitches, and adhesive strips. The negro rapidly recovered and is now well. The viscera should be carefully excluded from the atmosphere by a warm moist cloth. Will not this hereafter become a frequent operation in obstinate cases of intestinal strictures; since they are very frequent and often fatal.-N. Y. Sun. A Bank Failure.-In consequence of the recent failure of the President of the Nahant Bank at Lynn, Mass., there a run on the institution last week, for specie, and the result which was,as we are informed by our Boston correspondent, and also by a gentleman who left that city last Saturday, that the bank, unable to meet its notes with specie, was obliged to stop payment. Bicknells Reporter. Powder-mill Explosion.-Last week the Packinghouse of Messrs. Loomis, Mills & Co. Canton Ct. was blown up, containing from 120 to 130 kegs of powder; no lives lost. Considerable damage was done to dwellinghouses half a mile distant, by bursting in doors, windows, &c. &c. Another.-On Saturday, the 19th, the powder-mill of Mr. Jacob Johnson, erected on the Swamp Creek, about 3 miles above Sunnytown, Pa., exploded and killed Mr. John Weyant and Wm. Kech, both men of families; the foraner of Philadelphia, where his family now reside. Still Another.-The powder mill at Aeton, owned by Messrs Stanley, Reed & Co. Boston, and containing 2,500

3. December 6, 1836 Vermont Watchman and State Journal Montpelier, VT
Article from Vermont Watchman and State Journal, December 6, 1836

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Article Text

At Boston there is a pressure for money almost unparalelied ; interest thirty-three per cent., and a bold proposition is made in the At. las for a general suspension of specie payment. It is a natural consequence of such times that tailures succeed rapidly; and report now is, than more than 80 houses, principally dealers in fur and flour, have already gone by the board. Another consequence probably will be, a large reduction in the price of provisions, and hence will materially affect the farmers of New Hampshire and Vermont. N. B. Be it remembered, that such are the fruits of meddling with the currency. When will our rulers in the nation come to their senses ? The Nahant bank, Lynn, Mass., has suspended payment. More fruits!

4. December 8, 1836 Herald of the Times Newport, RI
Article from Herald of the Times, December 8, 1836

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Article Text

[From the Newark Daily Advertiser. HARD Times-Money-- The pressure upon the money market seems to be as universal and pervading as the atmosphere. A Boston writer remarks that "there has been no such pressure as at present exists, since the American revolution." ASalem paper has the following picture of its effect at Lynn, a town which like our own Newark has thrived hitherto by industry and enterprise: "The high-handed interference of the administration with the money affairs of the country, has operated so disastrously in Lynn, as to occasion several heavy failures. These involve the Nahant Bank, in Lynn, to such an extent, as to occasion a suspension of specie payment, on Saturday last. A meeting of the stockholders is to be held on the 5th of December, for the purpose of examining into the affairo of the bank." What is to save us, with our now busy army of journeymen and apprentices, from the disastrous consequences of this general derangement of the currency? The federal government has destroyed the balance wheel of the great commercial machine, and we see not how or when the confusion is to end.Certain it is that unless speedy relief comes in from some quarter, the evil, which has so far been chiefly borne by men in large business, must reach the poorer classes with ruinous and distressing power. And at a season, too, when they require the most constant employment.

5. November 24, 1857 Worcester Daily Spy Worcester, MA
Article from Worcester Daily Spy, November 24, 1857

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Article Text

FAILURES IM 1837 AND 1857.-A list of the failures in Boston during the year 1837, before us, contains the namae of one hundred forty-two business houses. During the financial crisis at that time, six large manufacturing corporations, having their head quarters in Boston, suspended. seven Banks failed in the city, together with the Nahant Bank, Lynn, Chelsea Bank, Chelsea, and the Middlesex Bank, East Cambridge. The list of bankrupts twenty years ago includes the names of numbers who have since retrieved their fortunes and now occupy honorable and commanding positions in society. In many cases, however, the parties have never fully recovered their former standing in financial and social circles. The long array of names suggests many painful thoughts, as it reveals how extensive and severe were the financial difficulties of the period, and how many homes were made desolate by its terrible train of disasters. A list of failures in Boston the present year contains the names of seventy. eight concerns, and includes a wider range of busines than is generally supposed, we should infer, from the tone of remark in many quarters. Grocers, Booksellers, Boot and Shoe Dealers, Hardware Dealers, Importers of Canton Goods, Produce Dealers, Dry Goods Houses, etc., are represented on the suspended list. An examination reveals that a very large per cent, of the various departments of the Dry Goods Trade have gone through the hard times this year without failure. Persons not aware of the immense extent of this trade, and the vast interests connected with it, have doubtless oftentimes been inconsiderate in their comments upon the class of our fellow citizens engaged therein. Let us give a few figures. Since the beginning of the present feverish state of the money market-commencing with the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company-ten Dry Goods and Woolen Jobbers, out of one hundred and two houses of the class in Boston, have suspended. Of the thirty-seven Dry Goods Commission Houses in this city, eight have suspended. Of the eighteen Wholesale Clothiers in Boston, four have failed. Several of the firms alluded to in the above statements have already compromised with their creditors, and settled their affairs at from sixty to eighty per cent, We have heard the opinion expressed in high quarters, that the failed dry goods dealers of Boston this year will pay seventy. five cents upon the average. This is a much larger per centage, we should judge, than will be paid in other branches of business this year.-BosNow ton Transcript. with