The Glasgow courier., 1943-01-28

A colorful history of the First
National Bank of Glasgow, from
the time it was the only banking
institution in 500 miles of frontier
area. is told in the current issue OF
the Burroughs Clearing House, ma
tional banking magazine published
in Detroit.
The article was written by Marion
Templeton Place of Butte formerly
of Glasgow, whose husband, Howard
Place. was formerly on the staff OF
the bank Mrs. Place, who was on
The Courier staff while she lived
here. has achieved notable success
in the free-lance field since she
has been in Butte and has contrib
uted more than a dozen articles
to magazines in the past two years.
With the story, appear photo
graphs of the bank in its first nome
and as it appears today. The ar
ticle follows:
Quite a saga of the northwest
could be woven around the First
National bank of Glasgow, Mont.
Founded in Store Corner
It was founded by two young
men who knew nothing about bank
ing. But they owned the only safe
to be found between Minot, N. D.,
and Fort Benton. Mont, a long |
stretch of 500 miles through sparse
Iy settled trapper and indian ter
ritory. Also, there was an unused
,~ht in |
general merchandise store at Glas-
gov. So, in 1891, John and Robert
Lewis started the first bank in an
area comprising 100000 square miles
of Montana, North Dakota and
Canada, embracing a population of
some 5000 pioneer settlers.
Customers in those days were the
few intrepid souls who dared start
business concerns land saloonS) in
that Indian territory north of the
Missouri and Marias rivers which
was opened for settlement in 1889.
Also ranchers who squatted on un-
land in the valley, building
dirt rooted cottonwood log dwell
ings from the skirtings of timber
found along prairie streams. They
often braved hundreds of miles of ,
trackless prairie in a blackboard to
get to town to transact business.
Trappers, traders and Indians COM
oleted the picture. :
The bank has played an important
part in the opening of the north ;
western wheat and cattle country. \
as a private bank, it was 7
to a state bank in 1902, !
md became the First National bank
n 1905. n
Brothers Still Head 1t
The Lewis brothers are still in p
harge, John as president and Ro-
vert as vice president. Resources f.
re approximately $2,000000. The
,ank is said to be the last institu- \
ion under original ownership of its
ize in the northwest. 6
The banks first depoSitor 81. w.
vedum) became a director and f
erved on the board for the follow i,
1g 81 years. Another director had
cen a buffalo hunter from Texas L
o Montana in the late seventies.
till another, homesteading in the C,
)akota territory, was sheriff of an T
rea comprising 10000 square miles. L
The Lewis brothers knew their Il
rst customers intimately and have
ndeavored through the years to n
a close contact with their c,
epositors. They manage to do this
ven in boom times by standing in el
sllers' cages and making a point to b,
now the new clients. Employe re-
have also been close, the .
verage connection of employee
ith the bank being 20 years.
IN the early stages of their bank .
lg careers, when there were no y
ate or federal regulations, loans
ere based entirely ON the brothers &c
tdgment of a mans character and W
Even today, this p
rinciple holds good wherever pos IL
BILE. n(
Financed Steamboat al
One unusual transaction in the 10
lly days in which the bank fig Isl
re was .he financing of steam eS
,at at Glasgow The boat was to w
ok up buffalo bones which had
zen deposited along the Missouri Tn
yer for transportation to st. Louis. WI
gh:y feet long and fourteen feet pa
Ide, the boat was built to accomo- II
ste three carloads of bones. m
But after being floated down the an
ilk river from Glasgow to the 70
- hi
PEuuKyu rit