THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: SEPTEMBER 80. 1917.
3 P.
EARLY BANKERS SEE
WELL INTO FUTURE
Pioneers Builded Strong Finan
cial Institutions, Which
Have Grown to Pres
ent Proportions.
Ak-Sar-Ben' s Two Hustling
Men of AH Work
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By A. R. GROH.
The southwest corner of Twelfth
nd Farnam streets was the site of
the first institution in Omaha doing a
general banking business. This in
stitution was the Western Exchange
Fire and Marine Insurance company,
and its office was occned in ihe
spring of 1855. This was also the
first , financial institution established
in Nebraska under a charter from
the legislature. Thomas H. Benton,
jr., was president, Leroy Tuttle cash- j
ier and A. U. Wynian teller.V Tuttle
and Wyman each occupied the posi
tion of treasurer of the United States ,
later.
The next banking irtstitutdon in
Omaha was organized in 1856. It
was the Bank of Nebraska, and occu
pied a location on the southeast cor
ner of Twelfth and Farnam streets.
This bant issued $37,000 in currency
under the management of B. F. Allen
and Samuel Moffatt, which was re
deemed in full.
The Omaha and Chicago bank was
granted a charter in 1857 and con
tinued in business until 1864.
An yearly issue of the Omaha Times
contains an advertisement as follows:
"Gridley & Co., F. Gridley, J. H.
Kellom ney banking house. Money
loaned. Drifts on New! Ygrk, St.
.Louis and all of the eastern cities.
Gold and silver bought and sold ji
reasonable terms." This firm was in
business for about three years.
Early Bankers.
Samuel E. Rogers was a banker
and real estate broker with an office
at Douglas and Eleventh streets in
1857. H. C. Rariden & Co. were
bankers and land agents, with an
Office on Harney street, in 1858. The
Nebraska Land and Banking com
pany was in business in that year.
Monell & Co. carried on a business
as land agents and bankers. Arte
mus Sahler & Co. and Smith & Par
melee are other early banking firms.
Two houses that started n busi
ness before some of those named
were Barrows, Millard & Co. and
Kountze Bros. The former started a
land agency in 1855, the firm consist
ing of Willard Barrows of Dubuque,
Ezra Millard of Sioux City and J.-H.
Millard of Omaha. From the lo
cating of land warrants andi handling
of exchange the firm worked into the
general banking business. x
. Kountze Bros. Pioneers.
Kountze Bros, started December
10, 1857, just after the panic of that
year. This firm originally consisted
of Augustus and Hernjan Kour.tze,
but a few years after included also
two other .brothers, Luther and
Charles Kountze. Their first bank
ing building consisted of a small, one
story building on the north side of
Farnam street, between Twelfth and
Thirteenth, streets. In the rear of
this room stood a safe fastened by
means of a hasp, staple and padlock.
The purchase and ' sale of gold,
brought in from Colorado and other
mining camps.V constituted a large
part of the bank's business in the
early days. A shelf extending along
the east and north sides of the room
was frequently filled with tin pans
containing the precious metal. Luther
Kountze and W. H. S. Hughes slept
in the bank as a guard. When Law
rence, Kan., was burne,d during the
war by the guerilla, Quantrell, it was
reported that he and his band of out
laws were preparing I for a raid on
Omaha, The windows of the bank
were then fitted with heavy iron barf
and the guard was doubled, he
Kountze Bros, established a branch
' ank in Denver in 1S62 und also or
ganized the banking house of
Kountze Bros., New YbrUCity.
On Same Street.
The banking houses of Barrows,
Millard & Co. and Kountze Bros.,
both located at Twelfth and Farnam
streets, were the only two in Omaha
that survived until 1863. The former
occupied a part of the first floor of a
brick building, on the southwest cor
ner of Twelfth and Farnanf streets.
In 1864 Willard -Barrows withdrew
from the- bank and the firm name was
changed to Millard, Caldwell & Co.,
C. W. Hamilton, who had been with
the firm as bookkeeper, being ad
mitted as partner. In 1868 Ezra Mil
lard retired from thi firm and the
name was changed to Caldwell,' Ham
ilton & Co. ' In 1883 this firm devel
oped into the United States National
bank.
The Kountze Bros', firm developed
into the First National bank, being
nationalized in 1863 aid starting then
with a capital of $50,000. Edward
Creigkton was its president; Herman
Kountze, vice president; Augustus
Kountze, cashier; H. W. Yates, as
sistantcashier. It was the first bank
in Neoraska to organize under the
national banking law and the two I
Ml
It v
ALFALFA BUTTER '
. MADEIN OMAHA
Company Has $350,000 In
vested in Building and Equip -"
ment ; Has Customers in
Many States.
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GusA Tienze,
hundred and ninth in the entire coun
try to organize as a national bank.
s Organized Omaha National.
Ezra Millard, after leaving the firm
of Millard, Caldwell & Co., organized
the Omaha National bank with a capi
tal of $50,000, holding the position of
president and engaging Joseph N.
Field as cashier. Mr. Field came to
Omaha and signed the first currency
of the bank, but never really acted
as cashier, that position being vacant
until January, 1867, when it was filled
by the appointment of J. H. 'Millard,
its present president. This bank be
gan business July 1, 1866, in a one
slory frame building about 20x40
feet at the northwest corner of Four
teenth and Douglas streets. The bank
ing room was separated by a board
partition from a little room at the
rear which was used as a directors'
room by day and a bedroom for the
watchman at night..The bankingloom,
had a counter of pine, boards painted
-white. A large safe with a "burglar
proof" chest at the bottom stood at
the rear of the room. The safe was
not considered safe enough to guard
from burglars and every night a large
sum was'taken to the establishment of
Millard, Caldwell & Co. and. left there
over night. This was ,done until
1!67, when the bank occupied its
new quarters at Thirteenth and Doug
las streets, considered very commodi
ous and elegant in those days.
Grows Into Merchants National.
In the fall of of 1866 J. A. Ware &
Co. opened a banking house at. Thir
teenth and Farnam streets. Ttiis en
terprise succeeded and the business
was acquired .eventually by Governor
Alvin Saunders,, Ben B. Wood and
others, who started the State Bank of
Nebraska and this n turn was suc
ceeded,, October 2, 1882, by th Mer
chants National bank of .Omaha. Its
building, at the northeast corner of
Thirteenth and Farnam streets was
erected in 1888.
In 1882 Henry W. Yates, who had
been in the employ of the First Na
tinal bank for nineteen years, severed
his connection with that institution
and started the Nebraska National
Bank, A.1 E. Touzalin joining him in
the enterprise. It started with a paid
up capital of $250,000, at that time the
largest in the state. Its first banking
quarters were a frame building, for
merly occupied by Brash's Clothing
store, and here the ' bank remained
until its permanent banking building
at the northwest corner of Twelfth
and Farnam streets was completed.
Growth of Banks of Omaha s
Reflects City's Business
(Continued from ftrge' One.)
tional bank and the recipient of the
check has his account in the Fi;rst
National bank and deposits the check
there, that $10,000' does not go
'through the clearing house. It is very
easy to inflate clearing house figures
if one wants to. But Omaha has never
attempted fo secure a temporary advantage-by
any such methods. And
' the clearing house report is all gen
uineand solid business.'V
If Omaha is sixteenth in the amount
ofi its bank clearings among all the
cities of the United States and that
with only nine of its banks putting
their interbank transactions through
the clearing house, it is easy to imag
ine the amount of real business trans
acted in Omaha today.
What is the secret of Omaha's
phenomenal growth, expansion and
prosperity?
"There is no secret to it," said a
banker. "It is natural and legitimate
growth, backed up by greet and grow
ing industries, which in turn get their
nourishment,- from 'a surrounding
country full of prosperity and from
able men in charge of business. To
this must be added an unmatched
natural location and railroad facili
ties in all directions that are ideal.
Omaha .Banks Safe.
"As for the banks themselves, they
are managed by men of brains and in
tegrity. Omaha banks hate always;
bn safe and arepreeminently safe
today. They are managed along con
servative lines. There is no city with
better banks than Omaha's."
There is a vast difference even in
the physical asoect of Omaha banks
today and the humble 'structures in
which the pioneer banks did business.
Some of the banks which today oc-.
cupy "skyscrapers" started business
here in one-story, frame buildings of
one room. They had safes so poor
that the money was not left in them
at night. Their counters' were pine
boards covered with oilcloth.
Today some of the most prominent
and valuable corners in the city are
occupied by the structures of these
great institutions. The State Bank of
Omaha has a fifteen-story structure,
occupying part of the ample first floor
with its banking rooms. The First
National bank, within the last year,
abandoned a six-story structure and
moved into its fourteen-story build
ing, equipped with all the most luxur
ious furnishings and the latest things
in safety and burglar-proof installa
tions. Shortly before this move was made
the . United States National, bank
moved into its new home, pne of the
most magnificent banking buildings
in this country. The Omaha National
bank has had its splendid, banking
rooms on the first floor of its tall of
fice huilding for a number of yean.
All the other banks have substantial
buildings which reflect the prosperity
and stability that are theirs.
Of course you hve heard ,of Alfalfa
butter, but if you have never bought
and eaten any, possibly you have
labored under the impression that it
is a product of alfalfa, the livestock
forage .plant that has gone a long
way in helping to make Nebraska and
Nebraska land famous. If you have
been possessed of this impression, the
impression las been a wrong one, for
Alfalfa as applied to butter is only a
trade name. Notwithstanding all this,
Alfalfa butter is real butter, made
from pure cream, and commands the
highest price on the butter market.
A little more than a year ago the
'Alfalfa Butter comrj'any was organ
ized in Omaha with W. W. Richard
son, an experienced creamery and
produce man, as president,and J. A.
Walker, another man with years of
experience in the creamery and but
ter manufacturing business, secretary
and treasurer. Around them they
gathered .capitalists and practical
creamery nien and soon completed the
erection of a modern creamery and
butter manufacturing plant at Elev
enth streit and Capitol avenue. They
purchased a quarter of a block of
ground and since then have invested
some $350,000 in a building and
equipment.
Have "Complete Plant.
It goes without saying that here the
Alfalfa Butter company has the most
tomplete plant in the country, where
daily 20,000 pounds of cream is being
converted , into the highest grade
creamery butter, and, in addition,
where 10,000 pounds of country butter
is being worked over each day and
manufactured into butter that excels
the best creamery product, if such a
thin? 'possible. '
The Dirsiness of the. Alfalfa Butter
company givs employment to seventy-five
people and it has more than
1,000 producing customers in Ne
braska, Iowa, Kansas and South Da
kota, who are daily shipping cream
and butter to the Omaha plant.
While the Alfalfa Butter company
has been doing business but little
more than a year and a half, its out
put this year will exceed $1,500,000,
with every indication that it will be
doubled nextyear, when new produc
ing territory will be taken iu and the
capacity for manufacturing materially
enlarged.
"Among the contemplated improve-
ments during next year is increased
cold storage room that will be in a
new building to the south and west
of the present two-story, pressed
brick structure. Then, by reason of
t"he increase of the business, it is going
to be necessary to enlarge the ca
pacity for manufacturing and to do
this, much costly machinery will ha
to be purchased. This is going to
take money and in order to enable
the company to raise this money, the
people of Omaha are going to be let
in on an investment proposition. The
company is putting some stock on
the market that is guaranteed to pay
7yt per cent. The shares' will be in
denominations of $100 each and will
be sold at par.
In making butter, botrr creamery
and process, the foreword of the Al
falfa Butter company officials is clean
liness and every room and corner in
the plant is as spick and span as the
home of a most exacting housewife.
Every person who has to do with the
manufacture of the butter, each day
puts on a suit of clean white duck
clothing, tlitf1 laundr'ying being done
at the expense of the company.
Creamery Is Modern.
In the creamery department the
newest and most modern machinery
is used in the manufacture of the but
ter and at no time is the buttervever
touched by the hand of a human
being. The work is all done by ma
chinery and if you eat butter bear
ing the brand "Alfalfa," you may feel
certain of its cleanliness.
The process butter department is
the only one of its kind west of Chi
cago that is equipped with the most
modern kind of machinery. This
process Gutter, as is well known, is
butter gathered from the farms of
Nebraska and adjoining states and
from the stores. It comes to the Al
falfa Butter company in .great tubs
and barrels and of course, there is
a considerable portion that does not
grade No. 1, but before it goes onto
the market to compete with the cream
ery butter, it f has gone through a
process that brings it up to 100 per
cent grade and makes it the equal of
the best products of the creameries.
Making Process Butter.
In the manufacture of the process
butter, the butter brought from the
country is thrown Vp great fore
warmers and heated to a temperature
of 120 degrees, after which the oil
goes into the pasteurizing units and
bro'ught to a temperature of 180 de
grees, this heat disposing of any bac
teria that mi.Tht exist. After this, it
goes to the cooling vats, where it is
ripened, later cooled and then it goes
on its way to the churning room and
there is converted into the cleanest
and sweetest fresh butter that you
ever tasted.
After being c'lurned, the fresh but
ter starts oa its way, stopping in
large tanks where the buttermilk js
worked out and where the butter is
properly salted. Again it moves along
and is subjected to another working,
this time being made into large cakes,
which later on are cut into the proper
sizes, finally reaching the tables of
the packers, where it is wrapped in
oiled paper and slipped into cartons,
ready for the trade.
Placed in cartons the butter, until
sent out to customers, is kept in a
refrigerating room, the temperature
of which is kept at just above the
freezing point and there it is abso
lutely away from dust, or air that
might taint it, thus being kept abso
lutely clean.
The Hat Checking Trust.
It eoiti mor thn 70 a year to hY a $1
hat cheeked, providing- tha owner la ona of
those unfortunates who must eat two meals
a day In a dining place where tba bat
checking trust has established on of Its
lairs. This also assumes that the hat owner
on each occasion hands the representative
of th,e trust the conventional fee of 10 cents.
A writer In a current magazine wonders
why we stand the robbery. The anawer la
easy. We stand It because we are too cow
ardly to pvoteat. Each of us Is afraid that
wa will bo called mean and stingy If wa do
not give away money that has Dot bee a
earned.
Moat of ue are under no delusions that wa
really'are giving the pleasant young woman
or tha affable young man in charge of
the hatraok a contribution. We know all
about the checking trust, and know that
the servitor on the job gets only a fraction
of our largess, while tba remainder goes
to enrich the mysterious persons higher up
who control the checking privilege.
It Is nothing but cowardice the fear of
the opinion of persons whose good or bad
opinion is of no moment which makes te
series of small extortions possible. Detroit
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PRIDE
IN A MAN'S
"HOME TOWN"
"Pride in a man's home toWlias been recognized as one of the very es
sential elements making for progress and growth of a city, whether it be
arge or small, and "pride in a man's home tovrn" usually is possessed only
by4he man or woman, or the group of men and women, who have reason
to feel pride in the frnrt they have taken, or are taking, or will take, in
making their city better in some way than other cities.
There are two kinds of pride one, that arrogant, boastful kind .that
"goeth before a fall;" which is to be avoided scrupulously; the other, that
kind which broadens the vision of its possessor, enabling him to see in his
past work,"only a foundation for other, bigger and better achievements
which are to follow.
It is this latter kind of pride which Omaha today, at the moment of its
greater prosperity, of its greater power and wealth and of its greater in
fluence in the affairs of the world, than at any time of its histoijr, is fully
justified in exhibiting for Omaha today is a city, whose many achieve
ments of the past, make the gift of prophecy unnecessary for the man who
wishes to paint a true picture of the future of this city, even though he
uses the most glowing of terms. -1 '
That Omaha can well afford to exhibit this spirit of pride in its past
achievements and in its present activities, no one can, for a moment, doul?t;
and that it will be well worthwhile for every one of its citizens to make'
such a spirit a foundation for the upbuilding of a vast superstructure which
will make it the dominating commercial, industrial and financial center
of the great empire of the Middle West, eveir our most aggressive neigh
bors will admit; especially when they note this city's present position of
power and influence, its central location in the very heart of a fabulously
rich section of the earth, and its mos't excellent system of rail facilities, by
means of which it is given the greatest of opportunities to do that which
makes a city "great," which 'is, to render indispensable eryice. '
As one of Omaha's progressive institutions this company takes pride in its
own home town, not simply becaue it is our home city or because of what
we have been able to do to make it a little better or more beautiful our
pride in Omaha comes of the realization of our good fortune to be among
a people of foresight and ambition and energy a people who are ever
readyjo co-operate in any work which makes for collective, asell as in,
dividual progress.
This company has accomplished much that would jjever have been pos
sible, had not this spirit existed among Omaha people, and we are am
bitious to achieve, much more in the future in the direction, of bigger and
better service along those lines which will add to the progress and growth ,
of this city and much of its dependent territory, in a most substantial fash
ion. 1 y
In other words, we have the kind of pride in our own home town, that vc
.trust will make it proud to own us.
BANKERS REALTY
INVESTMENT COMPANY
Architects and Builders
Ground Floor, Bee Building.
Omaha, Neb.
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