MAY 3 ISSUE ANSWERS: The first bank in Romeo was a wildcat bank organized under the general banking law of 1837. The bank was organized in December 1837, but the great collapse of the economy prevented the bank from opening. The Village of Romeo was without a bank until December 1863 when the First National Bank of Romeo organized under the guidance of Bank President Dr. Neil Gray. The bank was located in the north end of J. L. Benjamin’s newly built brick block where the present PNC is located. On April 5, 1871, The Romeo Observer reported that, “The First National Bank paid $1,700.00 for a new safe and feel sure of finding in the morning what they lock up at night.” In 1897, the National Bank’s cashier, Levant E. Bedall, persuaded the board of directors to reorganize the bank as a state institution and the Romeo Savings Bank was born. Romeo Historical Society archives So what was a National Bank? Romeo had two National Banks. The First National Bank of Romeo #354 in the photo was #354 out of 14,000 in the country. The Citizens National Bank, where Town Hall

MAY 3 ISSUE ANSWERS: The first bank in Romeo was a wildcat bank organized under the general banking law of 1837. The bank was organized in December 1837, but the great collapse of the economy prevented the bank from opening. The Village of Romeo was without a bank until December 1863 when the First National Bank of Romeo organized under the guidance of Bank President Dr. Neil Gray. The bank was located in the north end of J. L. Benjamin’s newly built brick block where the present PNC is located. On April 5, 1871, The Romeo Observer reported that, “The First National Bank paid $1,700.00 for a new safe and feel sure of finding in the morning what they lock up at night.” In 1897, the National Bank’s cashier, Levant E. Bedall, persuaded the board of directors to reorganize the bank as a state institution and the Romeo Savings Bank was born. Romeo Historical Society archives So what was a National Bank? Romeo had two National Banks. The First National Bank of Romeo #354 in the photo was #354 out of 14,000 in the country. The Citizens National Bank, where Town Hall Antiques Mall is now was #2186. The bank in the photo was a very early one. The National Currency Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 25, 1863. The dual aim of the legislation was to provide a ready and steady market for the sale of United States bonds issued to finance Federal involvement in the Civil War, and to create a sound bank currency to replace the generally insecure issues of the state banks then in circulation.
—Larry Shier
Romeo Historical Society Trustee