6/30/2005
Pat Baker Editor's Note: This is the first in a four-part series on the history of banks in Humboldt. The stories will be shared on the second front page over the coming months. The information was researched and written by local historian Pat Baker. The Humboldt County Bank, the first bank in Humboldt County, was organized Oct. 7, 1872. It was located in Dakota City, the county seat, south and west across from the courthouse. The officers were John Dickey, president; Sherman Beer, vice president; and John E. Cragg, cashier and secretary. It was instituted under the state banking law, with a capital of $5,000. John Dickey, the bank president, was not a lawyer, but he was a judge. Born in Vermont, one of eight children, he lived on the farm until he was 14-years-old. He was apprenticed to learn the trade of mason, which he practiced for 30 years. In 1835, he married Sarah Colby, daughter of Deacon Jonathan Colby. In 1850, because of rheumatism, he abandoned his mason trade and worked as a merchant for seven years, then managed a lumber company. The knowledge gained in learning these trades enabled him to become a most skillful settler. In 1864, the Dickeys came to Humboldt County. He was 50-years-old, one of the more mature pioneers. He located first near Bradgate, and was elected County Judge in 1864. As a County Judge (like a supervisor now), he was able to get the town plat of Springvale filed (over opposition from some in Dakota City), and roads laid out to the mill. The Dickeys moved to Springvale, and he built a house of local limestone at 111 North 9th Street. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1869, and Mayor in the same year. In 1872, he sold his farm and became a banker. John Dickey was superintendent of construction of Humboldt College. He later served as trustee and treasurer of the college. Fred Taft recalled Judge Dickey: "He was a native of Vermont, equipped with a New England conscience and a tendency to economy. He was thoroughly painstaking and possessed a memory tentative of details. His tenacity rather outran his vision, and money, to him, was not a thing to be carelessly dealt with." During Taft's absence in the East, to raise money for the college, it was Judge Dickey who was left to face creditors and workers who wanted to be paid. The Humboldt County Bank survived the financial panic of 1873, but the banking business in Dakota City was not as good as expected. In 1876, Dickey moved his Humboldt County Bank to the City of Humboldt. To do this, the building was picked up and moved to 617 Sumner Ave. (Balloon Buddies is there now.) Parley Finch and A.D. Bicknell, lawyers, but not partners, shared office space in the bank. Prosperity hit Humboldt as the trains arrived in 1879. Permanent buildings of native limestone were in. In 1881, Dickey began the construction of a new stone building for the bank at the same 617 Sumner Ave. site. To do this, Dickey's wood frame bank building was picked up again and moved east to 601-603 Sumner Ave. There the small building was used as an insurance office by Henry Wells. Mr. Wells, who came to Humboldt in 1872, was the son of the man who invented a machine for moving buildings. In 1890, the Doan Building was erected at 601-603 Sumner Ave. The 1963 DeGroote history reports, "The old Humboldt State Bank Building, built in 1872 in Dakota City, south and west across from the courthouse, and afterward moved to Humboldt, now stands next to Parson's abstract building (501 Sumner Avenue). So the old bank building was moved a third time, when the Doan building was constructed. In time, the arched windows and door were removed and replaced with square frames. It was last occupied by Harold's Hair Designs. A steel building stands there now, holding the Total Look Salon. In 1881, the stone Humboldt County Bank at 617 Sumner Avenue was a two-story solid limestone structure, with light-colored brick front and thin pillars by the door and window frames. It cost $4,000. It was the first stone building erected between Taft and 6th Street North on Sumner Avenue. The cornerstone was laid for the new Humboldt County Bank building on May 19, 1881: Humboldt Kosmos: "Last Thursday the cornerstone of the new bank building was laid amidst the hushed calm of unostentatious indifference. Judge Dickey laid it gently, but firmly in place." Why such low-key excitement for the cornerstone laying? The thrifty Mr. Dickey's bank had competition: the Peoples Bank. The Humboldt County Bank kept going, even with competition. The 1884 county history listed the officers of the Humboldt County Bank: John Dickey, president; S.H. Brewer, cashier and secretary; with the following board members: W.H. Dwellis, H.H. Spafford, O.F. Avery, Samuel Rogers, H.J. Ketman, and N.H. Knowles. P.M. Dickey, John Dickey's nephew, moved to Humboldt from Vermont in 1884, and became associated with the Humboldt County Bank. After his uncles retirement in 1888, he took his place as president. John Dickey died in 1891. P.M. Dickey was married in 1867 to Mattie Fernald, and they had one daughter. He was a member of the school board, and during his term the stone schoolhouse was built (1894). He was elected county supervisor, and was promoter and superintendent of the building of the first sanitary sewer of Humboldt, which was successful in draining some of the best store buildings. S.H. Brewer, the cashier of the Humboldt County Bank, was born in 1843 in Ohio. After service in the Civil War, he studied at Eastman's Business College in Chicago, and then came to Humboldt County. He married Margaret Stoddard in 1873. She was a widow with three children, Mary H. (Johnston), Amy E. and Lucy A. (Ostrich). They had four children of their own. Under P.M. Dickey's leadership, the Humboldt County Bank's name was changed to the Humboldt State Bank. Mr. Brewer's stepdaughter, Mary H.S. Johnston (1865-1961), married Robert J. Johnston, the son of early settler John Johnston. She entered the bank as clerk, and worked up from that position to bookkeeper, teller, assistant cashier, cashier, director, and secretary of the board of directors. She was president of many local, state and national women's groups, and a leader in suffrage and international endeavors. She served as mayor of Humboldt during the difficult years 1926-1931. Her husband was mayor from 1912-1917. In 1898, the officers were P.M. Dickey, president; R.J. Johnston, cashier; and H.E. Passig, assistant cashier. Directors were John Johnston, Parley Finch and Mary H.S. Johnston. In 1905, Parley Finch was president and S.G. Winne the new director. The Hon. Parley Finch was a lawyer, who came to Humboldt from Pennsylvania in 1871. His efforts to work for the interests of his clients caused him to build up a large and lucrative practice. He helped bring the railway to town, served as mayor (twice), and Iowa State Representative and Senator. He became a large landowner, acquiring most of it when land was cheap and holding it. He built a number of stone buildings on Sumner Avenue that stand today. His son-in-law, Lorenzo Housel, and grandson, William Housel, followed him in the practice of law. In 1910, Parley Finch was president, J.C. Cheney vice president, R.J. Johnston cashier, and Mary H.S. Johnston assistant cashier. R.F. Ostrich, her brother-in-law, came in as vice president in 1917. When Finch retired, the Johnston family acquired the controlling interest of the bank. In 1919, the Johnstons retired. Ted G. White bought an interest in the Humboldt State Bank and was president; R.F. Ostrich, vice president; G.E. Briggs, cashier; and T.S. Herrick, assistant cashier. In 1926, C.L. Leland was assistant cashier. Their ads promoted theirs as the "Oldest Bank in Humboldt County." The farm depression of the mid-1920s hit this area hard. In late November, 1926, depositors panicked and began a run on banks all over the state. The Humboldt State Bank closed its doors Nov. 29, even though they said it was solvent. The management thought it would be better to close the bank while it could still meet its obligations, than to allow it to be looted by timid depositors. Re-opening the bank was more difficult than thought. In 1927, the assets of the Humboldt State Bank were taken over by the new Humboldt Trust & Savings Bank, paying the Humboldt State Bank depositors 60% of the face value of their deposits. The owners of the Humboldt Trust & Savings Bank bought the Peoples State Bank building at the same time, and began their new bank. In 1927, the former Humboldt State Bank building was remodeled into the Otto Matthies jewelry store. He was able to use the large vault for protecting his valuable stock and buy a finer line of jewelry and silverware. Information is needed on who occupied this building during the 1930s and 1940s. Others who set up business in the Humboldt State Bank building, after 1950, were Wind's Bootery (before they moved to 611 Sumner Avenue), Hawkeye Loan, and Radio Station KHBT. They used the vault as a soundproof room. Amelia Christensen had a tearoom upstairs during the 1960s. Others using the bank building were Adventures in Travel, Olesen's Montgomery Ward outlet, Interstate Insurance and Assurance, and now Balloon Buddies. One of the photos with this article, shows the old safe that is still stored in the vault at Balloon Buddies. |
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The Humboldt
Independent • Official paper of Humboldt County
Telephone: (515)
332-2514 |
