Oberlin Banks

Collection

Identifier: RG 31-008

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection has been divided into seven subgroups. Records related to First National Bank, Citizens' National Bank, Oberlin Savings Bank, Northern Ohio Bank, People's Banking Company, and Historical Information.

Dates

Creation: 1863-1985
Other: Date acquired: 02/21/1975

Creator

First National Bank, Oberlin (Organization)
Citizens National Bank, Oberlin (Organization)
Oberlin Banking Company (Organization)
State Savings Bank, Oberlin (Organization)
Oberlin Savings Bank (Organization)
Northern Ohio Bank (Organization)
People's Banking Company (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Subgroups I and II are available on microfilm.

Administrative History

Oberlin had one bank, the First National Bank (organized in 1863) and its successor under the name Citizens’ National Bank (organized in 1882), until the Oberlin Banking Company was formed in 1889. The Citizens’ National Bank of Oberlin closed in November 1904 as a result of losses sustained from the Cassie Chadwick swindle. (For a brief history of this incident and of Oberlin’s early banks, see A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio, edited by G. Frederick Wright, 1916, Vol. I, pp. 503-506.) The Northern Ohio Bank and the State Savings Bank both opened in 1904, and the People’s Bank Company formed in 1906. In 1923 the Oberlin Bank Company merged with the State Savings Bank Company to form the Oberlin Savings Bank, which opened in October 1923 in the former Goodrich Book Store in Oberlin. It opened branch offices in Kipton and South Amherst in the late 1950s, Wellington in 1966, and Carlisle Township near Elyria in 1971. It last operated in Oberlin in 1985 or 1986.

Oberlin Savings Bank Presidents

A. H. Johnson, 1889-1912

H. C. Wangerien, 1913-1932

____ Fauver, 1933-1942

J. L. Edwards, 1943-1945

F. W. Tobin, 1946-1948

Walter Nord, 1949-1950

Paul A. Warner, 1951-1965

William P. Davis, 1966-1969

Raymond D. Campbell, 1970-1980

Herbert J. Billington, 1981-1986

Note written by Anne Cuyler Salsich.

Extent

3.10 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

The first material on Oberlin banks was received on February 21, 1975 in accession 259, comprising 68 volumes of records for the First National Bank and Citizens’ National Bank. These materials were microfilmed in 1996. A small amount of additional material was received from Mary Cowles in 1980. In 1988 materials from the Oberlin Savings Bank and its predecessors were received from former bank president H. J. Billington.