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On May 23, 1918, the Cedar County News announced construction was about to begin on the new Hartington National Bank.
Preliminary plans had been drawn up a year earlier but construction had to be postponed because of the war.
On May 27, workers began digging the basement on the northwest corner of Main and Broadway. The new building would be 40 feet wide, 70 feet long, and 25 feet high. It would face south on Main with a center entrance leading to a fancy lobby with a marble floor and a 15-ft. ceiling with a chandelier. Large windows on the east side would provide light for the tellers.
When completed in March 1919, the cost of the new Hartington National Bank was nearly $40,000. That would be equivalent to approximately $750,000 today. It was said to be the finest bank building in this part of the state.
The Hartington National had billed itself as “The Bank with the Clock” since June 1915 when a large clock was installed on the east side of the building currently occupied by the Don Miller Land Co. This clock had two faces so people could see the time from both directions on Broadway.
While the 1915 clock was not transferred to the new building, the Hartington National still advertised itself as “The Bank with the Clock.“ Although probably installed after the new building was finished in 1919, the first picture of the bank’s new clock appeared in the Cedar County News on Dec. 9, 1920. This clock had four faces and was mounted in such a way that people could read the time from both directions on Broadway and both directions on Main. (The mounting brackets still can be seen on the corner of the building).
But time was slipping away for the Hartington National Bank.
Not long after the new building was finished the farm economy began collapsing. The bank’s last ad appeared in the Hartington Herald on Nov. 1, 1928.
On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 13, 1928, bank customers were shocked to find the doors locked.
The Hartington National had failed. Whether depositors would ever see their money again depended on how much could be recovered from stockholders and customers with outstanding loans.
The people of Hartington and surrounding territory had little or no warning that the bank was in trouble. Directors and officers kept a tight lip to prevent panicked depositors from withdrawing their savings. The directors worked frantically to try to address the problem but when they failed to come up with a solution, they voted to close the bank.
Contrary to popular belief, the Hartington National’s failure was not caused by the Great Depression. That depression did not begin until after the stock market crash of Oct. 29, 1929.
The war years brought prosperity to farmers. The price of ear corn on the Hartington market in July 1916 (before the war) was listed at $.60/bu. In July 1918 (during the war) corn was $1.00/bu. The price for livestock and other farm products increased as well.
Believing the good times were here to stay, many farmers borrowed heavily to buy more land and better equipment. Bankers were happy to lend. But when the war ended, the government stopped buying food to feed its million man army and the war-ravaged countries of Europe could no longer afford to buy American farm products. Prices plummeted.
By July 1922 (after the war) ear corn was $0.38/bu in Hartington and wheat was down to $0.82 from a high of more than $2.00 in 1918.
Land prices took a severe hit as well. Because of the lower prices, many farmers could not repay the money they had borrowed when the economy boomed. A bank that could not recoup the money it had loaned out was forced either to merge with a stronger bank or to close. The Hartington National was not the only bank forced out of business.
In 1927 and 1928, Wakefield, Laurel, Belden, McLean, Allen, Pierce, Plainview, Fordyce and Wynot all lost banks. Coleridge lost its bank in 1929. The same situation prevailed all over rural America.
In order to collect money to reimburse depositors, the Hartington National property including the building, lots, and fixtures, were offered for sale by Receiver George Cronkleton in July 1931. When there were no takers, Cronkleton ordered everything sold at auction on Sept. 30.
The high bidder was Louis Goetz, president of the First National Bank. Goetz got it all — lock, stock, and clock — for $4000. This was one tenth of the cost of the building in 1919. The clock alone was valued at $1000.
Things were about to get worse. On May 26, 1932, the First National Bank on the southeast corner of Broadway and Main closed. Hartington’s last bank was gone.
The failure of a Crofton bank two days earlier was said to have caused a run on the Hartington bank as panicked depositors rushed to pull out their money before that bank went under. Although deposits in the First National totaled more than $200,000 when the bank failed, that was a far cry from the nearly $1 million it held in 1920. While the Hartington National never re-opened, the First National would return under new leadership and with a new name. The man who rode to the rescue was Emmett W. Rossiter, former president of the State Bank of Decatur.
According to the Decatur Herald, Rossiter sold the troubled Decatur bank building to a group of local investors who planned to start a new bank. The bank’s charter, however, would remain with Rossiter and presumably would be transferred to wherever he decided to go.
Rossiter decided to go to Hartington, where he purchased the defunct First National building for $5000 and renamed it “Bank of Hartington.” Using the Decatur charter, the new bank opened for business on Saturday, April 21, 1934.
The officers were the former officers of the Decatur bank: Emmett Rossiter, president; Ted Connealy, vice president; Lawrence Rossiter, assistant vice president; and Edgar Hoar, cashier.
Potential customers were advised their deposits would be protected up to $5000 by the new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created in 1933.
Next Week: Hartington’s finest newspaper moves into Hartington’s finest bank building.
