(Left) The middle building is the Hopland, CA,
branch of the Savings Bank of Mendocino County.
The larger building to the left is a hotel that was
connected to the train station behind it. The train
and the station are gone, but the smaller building
to the right of the bank was the coach house
from when the stage was the only commercial
transport and the highway in front was just a
wagon trail. (Above) A close-up of the bank.
Mere months after the end of the Civil
War in 1865, Francis Reid Long came
to Kansas City with $10,000 capital and
started a bank, the Kansas City Savings
Association above the Magnolia Saloon.
Three years later, and in local terms just
32 years after the fall of the Alamo, Colonel T.C. Frost opened a mercantile store in
downtown San Antonio with his brother,
selling goods to ranchers and farmers and
operating a private bank to extend credit
to his customers.
Those two institutions, as well as the
Savings Bank of Mendocino County, California, founded in 1903, are among a select
group of banks: all more than a century old
having survived many panics and crises,
while continuing to serve their communities. Their prudent management enabled
them to do without any assistance from the
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to
survive the most recent recession.
Although the history and heritage of
the three banks is different, there are common themes: close relationships between
lenders and borrowers, capital reserves in
excess of requirements, and continuity of
management. At a time when the number
of small banks being closed by regulators
continues to grow, and when the largest
institutions are vilified as “zombie banks”
it is important that at least a few banks
prove that being responsible is both profitable and sustainable.
In Kansas City, the bank over the saloon
prospered. By 1878, capital was $50,000
and deposits were $250,000. In 1881, W.S.
Woods became president of the bank. He
felt the name should reflect involvement
with business. So in 1882, the bank was rechartered under the name National Bank of
Commerce. By 1890 it was the largest bank
west of Chicago with deposi