BANKS AND RAILROADS OF CHICKASAW COUNTY

  If bank deposits can be considered an index to the prosperity of a community Chickasaw County, Iowa, with the large deposits in its thirteen banks is certainly to be congratulated.  It is evidence not only that the people are thrifty,  economical and saving,  but also that they are educated in the idea that the bank is the best conservator of their surplus earnings. 

  Another significant fact evident in the healthy deposits carried by Chickasaw banks is that this money comes from farmers,  mechanics,  and working people,  and without the support of any large manufacturing or commercial industries,  which in large cities and more thickly populated counties are usually heavy depositors.

  Another source of congratulations in found in the fact that the banking institutions of Chickasaw County have always been managed by men schooled in experience,  conducted along safe and conservative lines,  hence the banks command the confidence of the people of the county and the public in general.

Darrow Trust and Savings Bank of New Hampton

1879 - Established as a private bank by W. L. Darrow  and B. G. Smith.   Later Mr. Smith sold his interest to A. K. Darrow,  and the bank firm was changed to Darrow Brothers Bank, and was operated under this name until it was incorporated.

1909 - The bank was incorporated as Darrow Trust and Savings Bank.  The incorporators were:  W. L. Darrow,  George Herbster and M. F. Condon,  who were the first officers and directors.  Original capital stock was $25,000. 

1919 - The present officers and directors are:W. L. Darrow, president,  A F. Marble, vice president,  Martin Kelson, cashier, these with, Herman Klatt and A. A. Kutish  constitute the board of directors.

State Bank of New Hampton

1901 - Date of organization was July 1, 1901.  The incorporators were: A. Babcock,  J. F. Babcock,  Ira C. Gardner,  C. L. Grimsby,  John Foley,   E. N. Olmsted, and   W. L. Turner.  The bank was incorporated with $50,000.

1917 - The president officers are: John Foley, president,  E. N. Olmsted, vice president,  T. B. Condon, cashier,  A. Babcock,  J. F. Babcock,  C. L. Grimsby and H. H. Bailey,  board of directors.   Latest bank statement of September 11, 1907, shows that the total deposits are $443,165.77 and surplus fund $40,000.

Second National Bank of New Hampton

1892 - Operated as a private bank.  The original incorporators were:  W. F. Shaffer, president,  T. K. Young, vice president,  A. H. Shaffer, cashier,  and these were also the directors. Original capital stock of $50,000.

1901 - The  two-story building in which that bank is doing business was built by the corporation at a cost $5,000.

1905 - Name changed to Second National Bank of New Hampton

1917 - The November  15, 1917, bank statement shows:  Deposits of  $ 896,944.41 with present capital and surplus of $117,100.00.

1919 - The present officers and directors are: W. G. Shaffer, president,  T. K. Young, vice president,  A. H. Schaffer, cashier,  C. B. Phillips,  assistant cashier.

The First National Bank of New Hampton

1880 - Organized as a National Bank on May 3, 1880.  Original incorporators  were: Alfred E. Bigelow,  O. B. Sherman,  W. D. Sherman,  W. D. Gardner,   H. M. Mixer,  and James H. Easton. 

1900 - The charter was extended in May 1900.

1919 - The bank owns the present building in which they conduct business.  The president officers are: John  H. Kolthoff, president,  W. J. Kennedy, Tim Donovan,  Grant E. Bigelow and C. H. Kenyon, directors. Present deposits are $633,943 and surplus $48,895.

Railroads of Chickasaw County

In 1856, the people of Chickasaw County first began to agitate the subject of railroads. In those days, and until the railroads crossed the Mississippi River and followed the settlements into the interior, freighting and staging was a prosperous business, and most of those who engaged in it laid the foundation for a comfortable competence. The old four-horse stage was regarded as an object of great importance, and the arrival of the stage in a village attracted the attention of the populace second only to the arrival of the overland circus.

But it required a good deal of agitation and much labored effort on the part of the citizens of Chickasaw County before they passed from the stage coach period to the railroad period.

October 15, 1856, for this purpose a special election was held. The first attempt was to induce the McGregor, St.Peters & Mississippi Railroad, then in the process of building, to run their line through Chickasaw County. The special election was on the question as to whether the county should subscribe stock in said company. The result was 352 votes in the affirmative and 176 in the negative.

In 1857, another election was held on the question of aid in the construction of the Cedar Valley Branch of the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad. There were 309 votes in favor and 216 opposed.

In 1860, the McGregor, St. Peters & Mississippi Railroad collapsed and at another election the county revoked its former action in aid of both of these railroads.

In 1868, the first company that broke ground within the limits of the county was the Cedar Valley & Minnesota, which graded the road and laid the rails through the southwestern part of Bradford Township in the summer of 1886. This road was leased to the Illinois Central after its completion, and the road as of ( year 1919) is operated by that company as the Cedar Falls & Minnesota branch of the Illinois Central.

September 9, 1868 ground was broken at Calmar, Winneshiek County, by the McGregor & Sioux City Railroad, and early in the summer of 1869 the road entered the boundaries of Chickasaw County. This road was finally completed and traverses through the entire breadth of Chickasaw County, crossing the townships of Stapleton, New Hampton, Dayton, Chickasaw, and a small fraction of Utica. The important stations in the county are: Lawler, New Hampton, Chickasaw, Ionia, and Bassett. The railroad passed into the hands of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad a short time later after it was projected and it is now (year 1919), operated by that company, as the Iowa and Dakota Division.

Note: The opening of this road was an important event for Chickasaw County, and there was great rejoicing because of the facilities thus afforded for shipping produce and greater facilities for travel. The coming of this railroad was the beginning of the end of freighting by the slow process of ox teams, and the travel by the tedious and tiresome stage coach. But the people of Chickasaw County were not satisfied with one railroad running east and west through the county. They wanted another line that would traverse the county from the north to the south, which would secure additional facilities and create competition, and thereby cheapen freight traffic. So the question of a north and south road began to be agitated and continued for several years, with varied efforts, before anything definite was accomplished.

In 1886, the long desired wish was realized by the completion of the Rochester, St. Paul and Dubuque Division of the Chicago Great Western Railroad, running diagonally through the county from the southeast to the northwest. This road enters the county in the southwestern corner of Fredericksburg Township, passing through the northeastern corner of Dayton, then diagonally from the southeast corner of Washington to the northwest corner of that township, where the road leaves the county.

In 1919, on the line of the Chicago Great Western in Chickasaw County are located the towns of: Fredericksburg, New Hampton, and the villages of Boyd, Devon, and Alta Vista. These with the stations of the Milwaukee & St. Paul, before mentioned, give to all parts of the county convenient facilities for shipping produce. The Cedar Valley and Minnesota Division of the Illinois Central Railroad touches only a few miles of the southwest part of Bradford Township, and the only station is Nashua, but this affords excellent shipping facilities for the shipping of produce in that rich agricultural section of the county.