The Shawneetown Bank State Historic Site is an historic

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

building in Old Shawneetown, Illinois, and is the oldest structure in Illinois built specifically as a bank. A

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

structure built in 1839–1841 in what was then called Shawneetown, it was the home of a series of banks into the 20th century. The building is brick with a limestone front façade.

Background

The

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of ...

called Old Shawneetown "the gateway to the

Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ...

" and "the commercial center of early Illinois". The area was a profitable

salt mining Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite Formation (geology), formations. History Before the advent of the moder ...

area, and a federal land office was established in the village in 1812. Settlers sought credit to buy land from the federal land office, and local business sought paper money to ease business transactions. Four privately-owned banks were chartered by the Illinois territorial legislature in 1816, and the first bank established in the

was by John Marshall, and named the Bank of Illinois or Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown. The authorization act was approved on December 28, 1816 by territorial governor

Ninian Edwards Ninian Edwards (March 17, 1775July 20, 1833) was an American political figure who was prominent in Illinois. He served as the first and only governor of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to until the territory earned statehood in 1818. He was then ...

, with a charter to operate until January 1, 1837 and provisions for the Territory and future State of Illinois to participate in the bank. Relevant text reproduced at At the very beginning, John Marshall operated the bank out of his home. The bank suspended operations in 1823 or 1824, after Illinois had become a state. However, at the recommendation of Governor Joseph Duncan, the legislature passed a new act on February 12, 1835, extending the charter to January 1857 and using the name State Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown. An act of March 4, 1837 increased the authorized

capital stock In economics, capital goods or capital are "those durable produced goods that are in turn used as productive inputs for further production" of goods and services. A typical example is the machinery used in a factory. At the macroeconomic level, ...

from $300,000 to $1,400,000, of which $1,000,000 was reserved for the State and $400,000 for private investors. The

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression (economics), depression which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pes ...

caused holders of

banknotes A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commer ...

to turn them in at such a rate that the bank could not deliver

specie Specie may refer to: * Coins or other metal money in mass circulation * Bullion coins * Hard money (policy) * Commodity money * Specie Circular, 1836 executive order by US President Andrew Jackson regarding hard money * Specie Payment Resumption A ...

on demand, and the bank suspended specie payments; to avoid a charter provision forcing liquidation on suspension for 60 days, the state legislature made indefinite suspension legal twice, once in July 1837 and once in 1839. Nonetheless, the prosperity of the mid-1830s boosted the confidence of bankers.

Building and banks

The bank building of historic note was erected in 1839 and 1840, at a cost of $80,000, on the north corner of Main Street and what was then called Main Cross Street. The cornerstone was laid on August 3, 1839, and the bank building opened in 1841. This was not the most expensive of the transactions of the State Bank of Illinois, however: In the same period, it had loaned $80,000 to the state to complete the fifth state capitol, then under construction in Springfield. It also loaned another $200,000 to the commissioners of public works, on the promise of $500,000 in pledged securities, but neither the $500,000 pledge nor the $200,000 loan was ever paid. The bank finally failed in June 1842, with a banknote circulation of $1,300,000 () still outstanding. At liquidation, the bank's real estate lot, including the building, was evaluated as $83,336.74. The bank building was sold to Joel A. Matteson for $15,000. In 1853, then-governor Matteson started the State Bank of Illinois in the same building, under a free banking act. At the dawn of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Matteson feared that the Confederate forces might be able to overrun the area on short notice, and so closed the bank and sold the building, for only $6,500, to Thomas S. Ridgway. Ridgway took up residence in the building, and also, with John McKee Peeples, founded The First National Bank of Shawneetown in the building in 1865; both Ridgway's residence and the First National Bank were still in the building as of the mid-1870s. Thomas S. Ridgway remained president of the First National Bank until his death in 1897. His family continued to live in the bank until 1913. The building housed numerous financial institutions through the 1930s.

State ownership

The site was deeded to the state. The Shawneetown Bank was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1972 under the name State Bank. Some restoration was completed in the 1970s but much remained to be done, and the building was on the

Landmarks Illinois The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois – also known as Landmarks Illinois – is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1971 to prevent the demolition of the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 18 ...

list of the top 10 most endangered historical sites in 2009. The bank building was not available for tours as of 2017 and .

References

External links

* {{Protected areas of Illinois, collapsed Commercial buildings completed in 1840 1840s in Illinois Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Buildings and structures in Gallatin County, Illinois Greek Revival architecture in Illinois Illinois State Historic Sites Illinois in the American Civil War National Register of Historic Places in Gallatin County, Illinois