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NATIONAL STOCK YARDS NATIONAL BANK.
In connection with the establishment of the Saint Louis National Stock Yards and the development of the live stock industry in Southern Illinois and Missouri it became evident to the business interests located at the Stock Yards that a bank was necessary for the proper carrying on of the business.
In 1872, therefore, a private bank was organized by Messrs. Newman and Farr, who carried on the business until 1887. That year the bank passed into the control of Isaac H. and C. G. Knox, who in 1889 incorporated the institution under the state law, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, under the name of the Stock Yard Bank of Brooklyn—the name Brooklyn was included from the little town of Brooklyn adjoining the Stock Yards on the northwest. With the growth of the market and the enlargement of the transactions there it became necessary to increase the facilities of the bank. In 1892 the capital was increased to one hundred thousand dollars, the deposits then being about three hundred and fifty thousand. Mr. C. G. Knox, at this time acting as president of the bank, was also managing officer of the Saint Louis Stock Yards Company. He was a director of the Mechanics-American National Bank of St. Louis, a member of numerous prominent clubs, and a man very highly thought of in social and business circles in the city of Saint Louis. There was very great regret manifested by his business associates at his death in 1907, which occurred on ship board in the Gulf of Mexico, terminating a vacation trip to the Panama Canal.
Snelson Chesney, at that time cashier of the bank, was made president, and in 1908 the bank was reorganized nuder the National Banking Law as the National Stock lards National Bank, with a capital of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and a surplus of seventy thousand dollars, the deposits being two million and forty-five thousand dollars.
On the first of January, 1910, Mr. Wright was elected president and Mr. Sullivan, cashier. At the present time the officers are as follows: Wirt Wright, president; C. T. Jones, vice-president; M. A. Traylor, vice-president; O. J. Sullivan, cashier; H. W. Kramer, assistant cashier; R. D. Garvin, assistant cashier. The directors are as follows: L. F. Swift, Edward Tilden, G. R. Collett, William Cullen, C. M. Macfarlane, C. T. Jones, Wirt Wright, O. J. Sullivan, M. A. Traylor, The bank now has a capital of $350,000; surplus and undivided profits of $238,000, and the deposits are about $4,000,000.
Of the active officers of the bank—the president was born at Libertyville, Illinois, in 1878; was graduated from Beloit College in 1901 and immediately entered the office of N. W. Harris and Company, bond dealers in Chicago. After three years service there he accepted the cashiership of the First National Bank of Edgerton, Wisconsin, remaining there until April 1, 1907, at which time he was elected cashier of the then Stock Yard Bank at the National Stock Yards.
Mr. Traylor, vice-president, is a native of Kentucky, was born in Adair county in 1878, and spent his youth in the mountains of that state, leaving there at the age of twenty for Texas. There he was admitted to the bar and became assistant prosecuting attorney of Hill county. Mr. Traylor practiced law for some years and finally became interested in the banking business and was associated with several banks
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in Texas, ultimately becoming president of the First National Bank of Ballinger. This position he resigned to accept the vice-presidency of the National Stock Yards National Bank.
Mr. Sullivan, cashier of the bank, was born in 1878, in Saint Louis, and received his early education in the Saint Louis schools. Quite early he entered the office of the Mechanics-American National Bank in Saint Louis, and joined the force of the Stock Yards Bank in 1901. He has since filled every subordinate position in the bank, becoming cashier in January, 1910.