State Bank Byron, John VanAlstine, Cashier and Alma
Bahnmiller Harp in background.
BANKING IN BYRON
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| Byron, Michigan Banking | ||||
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BANKING IN BYRON |
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The first bank in Byron was organized in 1889 by Mr. A.F. Hunt and known
as Hunt Brothers and Rohrabacher. In 1898 after nine years in the
business he purchased the shares of the other partners and became sole
proprietor of the Exchange Bank of Byron. In the year 1905 the State Bank of Byron succeeded the Exchange Bank with Luther Kanouse as President and Wm. Nothnagel serving as cashier. It was capitalized at $20,000 and did a thriving business. About this time the bank was located in the same building as our present one with Fred Close, Wm. Schad, Charles Fritz, John Graham, Dr. Ruggles and Dr. Wm. Harper as directors. In 1908 John VanAlstine assumed the duties of cashier with Luther Kanouse, Seward Chaffee, Charles Fritz and Orlando Lee as directors. Mr. VanAlstine retained his position as cashier until the bank was declared closed by the bank holiday in 1932. In 1938 the village purchased the building from the receivers of the bank and it was used to house the village fire equipment and municipal rooms until October 25, 1958 when the Village Council approved the sale of the building to the Chamber of Commerce. However, they did not buy it, but Bill Duris and Rex Peckens of Cohoctah purchased it for banking privileges. Fred Hibbard, Bob Wiles and Lamont Meier were the C. of C. committee who spent many hours canvassing the community to find the number of people who would support a bank at Byron and reporting to the State Banking Commission. Byron was granted a branch bank of the Vernon State Bank. After a complete remodeling the Municipal building became Byron’s new bank and after 27 years without one of its own, the new facilities were opened April 1, 1959. On May 1, 1961, Vernon and the Byron branch merged with Genesee Merchants Bank of Flint. In the 1980’s another merger occurred and the bank became NBD. During the mid 1990’s it was merged with First Chicago and in 1999 it became Bank One. |