A 1936 Check from Marion Bank & Trust

Old checks hold a fascination for both my brother Richard and I. In going through mom and dad's house in Huntsville we've found a large batch of checks from the 1950s and 1960s Dad had saved that document payment of Cub Scout and school fees and many other landmarks of family life. Perhaps I'll do a blog post on some of those one day.

This blog post is about a different check that Richard gave me for Christmas one year. Let's take a look.

As you might expect, Wikipedia has an extensive history of check use and development. In the U.S. banks issued their own checks for many decades. The current system of routing information at the bottom did not appear until the 1960s.

What is now Marion Community Bank traces its history to 1902 when the Marion Central Bank opened. That institution was forced to close in 1933 during the Great Depression, but one year later under a new charter reopened on March 17, 1934, as the Marion Bank and Trust Company. That bank operated in the original bank building until 1972, when a new headquarters opened. After opening a number of branches in that part of the state, the bank rebranded to its current name in 2021. On this check you can see that Marion Bank and Trust Company has been stamped over the original bank name. 

So, what else can we determine from this check? Based on the date in May 1936, it was written just over two years after the bank reopened and still during the Great Depression. A nice rendering of the original bank building decorates the upper left corner. A fairly recent photo can be seen below.

The names of two men appear on the check. W.R. Hale wrote the check to "Cash" for $10.00. On the back the check is endorsed by J. V. Howell "Sr." The check has been marked as paid by a punch machine of some sort. 

So who were these men? 

I found a W.R. Hale in the 1950 U.S. census, 80 years old. He was born about 1870 in Alabama, a widower and roomer with James E. Stone and family, 1000 Clements St. in Marion. His occupation was listed as "unable to work". 

As William R. Hale he appears in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census records in Marion along with his wife Elizabeth and children. His occupation was listed as farmer. They were married on February 20, 1888. According to his gravestone seen below, Hale was born December 15, 1869, and died June 1, 1952. His wife had died in 1949. 

In the 1930 census I also found two men named John Valentine Howell in Marion. The elder Howell [19 February 1869-10 February 1941] was a retail merchant. His son was a physician, living with wife Marguerite and children at 319 E. Lafayette St. Gravestones for both men can also be seen below. 

Presumably Hale wrote this check to pay toward a store bill, since the endorsement signature on the back is "J.V. Howell Sr."

Lots of stories hidden in these humble objects...

Grave of William Ramus Hale [15 Dec 1869-1 June 1952] in Pisgah Cemetery, Perry County

Source: Find-A-Grave

Grave of John Valentine Howell, Sr. [19 February 1869-10 February 1941] in Marion Cemetery. His wife Eugenia died in 1960 and is also buried there.

Source: Find-A-Grave

Grave of John V. Howell, Jr., [13 September1896-20 August 1953] in Marion Cemetery. His father is buried in the same cemetery along with their wives. 

Source: Find-A-Grave

Old Marion Bank Building in April 2010

Source: Flickr

The Great Hartselle Bank Robbery of 1926

I've written about Hartselle in a previous post and covered a few of its historical highlights. Famed author William Bradford Huie was a native and is buried there. Other notable figures include John Sparkman, a U.S. congressman, senator and vice-presidential candidate in 1952, and Steve Woodward, who spent seven years as a Major League baseball pitcher. 

Hartselle is also famous for an event that took place in the town on March 15, 1926--perhaps the most spectacular bank robbery in state history. Let's investigate. 

Just after midnight on that Monday morning as many as eight men appeared in town and headed for the telephone exchange. There they cut three cables that tied Hartselle to the rest of the world via telephone and telegraph. Then they proceeded to the Bank of Hartselle. Along the way the gang kidnapped several locals who were awake at that hour and tied them up in the back of the bank. These men included J.B. Huie, the train station agent; Oscar Williams, who was waiting for a train; Les Williams, the police officer on duty, and Ernest Mittlwede, cashier of another bank heading home from a date. 

The robbers used six sticks of dynamite to open the safe, and after four hours left town with more than $14,000 in cash, gold and silver. No one was ever arrested for the crime. In its article about the robbery, the Decatur Daily reported the presence of two "high-powered" cars in Hartselle on Saturday, one driven by a woman and the other containing two men. Around 6 a.m. Monday Birmingham police found an abandoned vehicle containing empty money bags and numerous checks. The car had been stolen Sunday night from a city resident. 

Hartselle had a population of just over 2000 in 1926. Blogger Michele Jackson has written that authorities at the time in other small towns noted similarities between this robbery and one in Center, Alabama, on April 7 and another in Tennessee on April 10. Hartselle itself has kept memory of the crime alive; a reenactment took place in 2019. An historical marker can be seen at the end of this post; the building that housed the bank still stands and was a boutique called Bella Reese as of 2015. 

The article below appeared in the Tuscaloosa News on March 15, 1926. A 2020 article by Jackson can be read here. See also an Associated Press story, "Shocking, unsolved 1926 bank robbery still provokes interest" that appeared in the Birmingham News on March 18, 2000. 

According to the 1920 census via Ancestry.com, William Bradford Huie's father was John B. Huie. That census gives John's occupation as telephone operator for the railroad. 

Source: Newspapers.com 

Source: Hartselle Enquirer

Exchange Bank Building in Five Points South Birmingham

Recently Dianne and I were in the UAB area and decided to have lunch at Makarios in Five Points South. That's one of our go-to eating spots when we are there, along with the Fish Market and Sweet Tea Restaurant. We had come to UAB for doctors' appointments, and before the meal we visited the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts on campus to see the exhibit "Unfolding UAB: 50 Years of Photography from the UAB Archives".   

After that trip down memory lane [I worked at UAB from 1983 through 2015] we headed to Makarios. I've seen that striking building directly across the street many times, but never really thought about it until this visit to the restaurant. As usual, the wonderful BhamWiki site has an entry for what is known as the Exchange Bank Building. 

The Exchange Security Bank of Alabama was founded in 1928. The company opened this building in 1947; it was the first bank location in the state to have a drive-up window and a dedicated parking lot. In 1955 Exchange Bank had $200,000 in capitol, making it one of the smaller of the six city banks. William S. Edwards, Jr. was Chairman and President; H. G. Prickett was cashier. [Alabama Almanac and Book of Facts 1955-56, page 569]

On July 13, 1971, the bank merged with First National Banks in Huntsville and Montgomery to form First Alabama Bancshares. That company is now known as Regions Bank. At the time the merger creating Alabama's first multibank holding company was very controversial in the state, and followed a debate going on locally and around the country about banks branching beyond their county borders State law did not prevent creation of such a beast, however. Details of this major change can be found in Wayne C. Curtis' 2003 book, A Legacy of Distinguished Service: Reflections on Community Banking in Alabama in Three Centuries, pp. 171-181. 

Thus this interesting little building played significant roles in state banking history. 

Oh, that huge building under construction on the right in this photo? That's a 199-unit residential tower for UAB students. Completion is expected in the fall of 2020.

Be sure and check out Makarios if you get to Five Points and have never eaten there. You'll be glad you did. 

Update 29 February 2019: When I visited mom recently we made a stop at her Regions Bank branch. While waiting for her in the lobby, I found this book on a table and naturally picked it up. And what should I find but some Exchange Bank info....

SouthTrust Bank Calculator

Banks have come and gone frequently in recent years, or at least changed owners and names. My mother came across this calculator at her home in Huntsville, so I thought I would investigate the history of this once prominent bank in Alabama and the Southeast. The calculator will be going into my brother Richard's collection of memorabilia associated with merged or defunct banks in the state.

South Trust Bank began life as the Birmingham Trust and Savings Company in December 1887. The bank's first building opened in 1902 and can be seen in the postcard below. A national charter was obtained in 1946, and the bank became the Birmingham Trust National Bank or BTNB. Branches began to appear in the late 1940's and 1950's. As the BhamWiki entry notes, "BTNB was the first financial institution in the nation to introduce what was termed at the time an 'automated central information system' in 1971."

After some regional acquisitions, the bank's holding company became South Trust Company in 1981. The bank and its branches were renamed South Trust Bank in 1982. The company began aggressive acquisitions in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Texas. By 1990 South Trust was the largest bank in Alabama.

In 2004 the bank reached 712 branches and $53 billion in assets. Naturally bigger fish came calling, and the company was acquired by Wachovia on November 1 of that year. By October 2005 the South Trust name was gone from Birmingham and elsewhere in Alabama. In 2013 the name and trademarks were acquired by a Texas bank.  

South Trust Tower in downtown Birmingham in 2005. The building became known as the Wachovia Tower after they acquired South Trust and is now the Wells Fargo Tower.

Source: BhamWiki

Source: BhamWiki

Birmingham Trust's first building opened in 1902 and was replaced in 1922.

Source: Alabama Mosaic