MSS 152 Western Reserve Bank Records

              Western Reserve Bank of Warren Records
( 11 vols., 1813- 1906)
Records of one of the oldent commeroial banks in Ohio have
been deposited on permanent loan t o t h e l i b r a r y . The
Western Reserve Bank of Narran, f i f t h bank organized in
Ohio, was one of a small group of lending i n s t i t u t i o n s
ohartered by the s t a t e a f t e r the expi'ration of the f i r s t
Bank of the Unived States i n 1811. Included in the present
collection are the minutes of the board of directors from
l a t e 1813 -- the year i n which the doors were opened for'
buslness -- t o 1849, and some l a t e r e n t r i e s . Vfith one
exception, these are the e a r l i e s t extant records of banking
i n Ohio. Of the four i n s t i t u t i o n s t h a t preceded the Viarren
bank, only the Btiarni Exporting Compaay, a C i n c i n ~ a t if irm
enga~ ed i n other l i n e s a s well as banking, is represented
i n an i n s t i t u t i o n . The Historical and Philosophical
Society of Ohio has a poetion of t h i s company's records
dating from 1812.
A11 of Ohiota early banks were em11 by present standards.
Few were capitalized a t more than $ 100,000. Yetiin tF~ eir
time they were the most prominent examples of corporate
enterprise. The bank a t Warren, unlike many of its " wildcat"
oompetitors, maintained a reputation f o r conservative and
s t a b l e management through several panice t h a t embarrassed
bankers throughout the oountry. In i t s early years, it
was headed by Simon Perkins, one of the Ytestern nesorve
d i s t r i c t ' s outstanding financiers. ( See 1' neum Echoes, Ju; m,
1960.) In 1863, its directors ooncluded usiness under the
o r i g i r ~ lc harter, hut a l i n e of banks deficended from i'c
has continued down t o t h i s day. The moot recent of these.
the Union Savings and Truat Company of Warren, ic the donor
of t h e present collection. Among the eleven volumes of
surviving records are " ce minutes described above, meekly
statements of condition from 1838 t o e a r l y 1854, a record
of protested notes. 1815- 1836, and others. The present
c o l l e c t i o n complements the Urbana Llanking Co~~ pancyo rres-pondence,
1830- 1860 which is also i n the library. (%%+ a & h,
4; 11E~ c hoes, Aug., 1960)
1. Register of oheoks July 18, 1832 - July 6, 1840
2. Account l e d ~ e r( i n t e r e s t ) about 1830 - 1840
3. Weekly statement of bank's condition Feb. 19, 1838 -
Feb. 21, 1854
4. Register of checks ( notes) Oct. 28, 1818 - Oat. 13, 1825
5. General ledger Nov. 15, 1837 - April 2, 1844
( Spine t i t l e : W. R. Bank Scratcher, No. 6)
6. Letter copy book hlarch 29, 1837 - July 28, 1842
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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