Old Missoula

First National Bank, State’s Oldest, Here Almost as Long as Garden City

Fewer than 13 years younger than Hell Gate and Missoula is the oldest bank in Montana – the First National Bank at the corner of Higgins avenue and Front street.

The First National received its charter April 11, 1873, after a group of early day Missoula residents had subscribed a capital of $50,000.

The first stockholders meeting had been conducted a few days before, April 5. The first officers were C. P. Higgins, one of the founders of the city, president; D. J. Welch, vice president, and Ferdinand Kennett, cashier.

Other members of the first board of directors were A. G. England, F. L. Worden, the other founder of Missoula, J. P. Reinhard, Sam T. Hauser and Hiram Knowles. In addition to these men Jonathan F. Higgins*, a brother of C. P. Higgins, and Daniel C. Corbin also were original stockholders.

Missoula National

The bank was organized under the name of the Missoula National Bank, but the name was changed to the First National Bank Feb. 9, 1889.

The original capitalization of the bank continued for the first nine years, being increased on March 1, 1882, to $75,000. Only six months later, on Sept. 1, it was increased to $100,000 and on that date A. B. Hammond was elected vice president.

Marcus Daly, copper mining magnate, became president of the First National Bank on the same day in 1889 it adopted that name.

Capital to $150,000

Two months later, April 20, 1889, the capital was again increased, this time to three times the original amount – $150,000. On that date Daly resigned his position as president and Hammond became the new head of the bank. A month earlier C. H. McLeod, another prominent businessman of the Garden City, was elected as director, succeeding E. L. Bonner.

It was in 1890 that the new bank building, one of the major structures of the business district for 70 years, was completed. The bank opened for business in its new quarters on Dec. 22, 1890. Gus Martoz, harness dealer, was the first depositor. The first check paid was one of Woods, Larson & Co., railroad contractors.

Officers at that time were Hammond, president; England, vice president, and J. M. Keith, cashier.

The next increase in capital stock came in August 1906 when it was jumped to $200,000. In February 1913 application was made and granted for renewal of the bank’s charter for the third 20-year period.

F. S. Lusk became president of the bank in 1910 and served until Dec. 1, 1919, when A. R. Jacobs took over as president. He had served as an officer of the State Bank in Dillon and later of the Missoula Trust & Savings Bank before joining the First National Bank.

In 1927 the Missoula Trust & Savings Bank, located at Higgins and Main, consolidated with the First National Bank. Jacobs continued as president, and J. M. Keith, president of the Trust Bank, became chairman of the board. The Trust Bank was organized in 1904 by F. H. Whisler and associates.

Present Officers

Theodore Jacobs, who has been with the bank 41 years, succeeded his father as president in July of 1939.

Other officers of the bank are Randolph Jacobs, vice president and trust officer; Robert E. Noel, John Collins and Charles A. S. Rigg, vice presidents; J. L. Kellogg, cashier, and R. E. Burns, George Gilbertson and Mrs. W. DeLoss Rogers, assistant cashiers.

Directors are Oakley E. Coffee, John E. Hightower, Mrs. Mabel Jacobs, Randolph Jacobs, Theodore Jacobs, Noel, Kellogg, Collins, Russell E. Smith, Ora P. Thompson and John H. Toole.

Capital Stock of the bank was increased in 1960 from $300,000 to $400,000. The surplus also was increased from $300,000 to $400,000. These figures compare with $50,000 capital and no surplus when the bank was started in 1873.

The bank was completely remodeled in 1948, expanding its facilities to include the entire first floor of the bank building. The drive-in windows on Bank street were added in 1955 as another service for the bank’s customers, the first to visit it being the late C. E. (Pop) Johnson, the oldest customer of the bank at that time.

And, as Missoula enters its second century, the bank once again has started a program for substantial expansion of its banking quarters. The bank owns both the Bennett Block and the Rankin block to the east of the bank building. Both of these figure in the enlargement plans.

*John F. Higgins is listed in the Missoula Cemetery census as dying on 10/15/1875 at the age of 45.

 

Christopher P. Higgins is listed in the Missoula Cemetery census as dying on 10/14/1889 at the age of 59.