First National Bank - South Bend, IN

Episode Information

Episode UID: 12601610
Episode Type: Run → Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: national
Bank ID: 1260 national
Charter Number: 126
Start Date: February 3, 1934
Location: South Bend, Indiana (41.683, -86.250)

Metadata

Model: gemini-3-flash-preview (chosen from majority vote of a three-model LLM ensemble)
Short Digest: 17e9d46f7f6bc305

Response Measures

Capital injected

Other: The bank entered into contracts to take over the assets of the South Bend State bank to protect creditors and later entered into contracts between the First National and Union Trust company when heavy runs threatened their closing.

Description

The article describes a sequence where heavy runs eventually led to liquidation during the depression.

Events (5)

1. November 13, 1863 Chartered

Source: historical_nic

2. January 12, 1932 Voluntary Liquidation

Source: historical_nic

3. February 3, 1934 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: The hearing before Superior Judge J. Fred Bingham of controversial legal issues involving liquidation of the First National bank
Source: newspapers

4. * Run

Cause: Macro News
Cause Details: The city was on the threshold of a long depression which later swept the banks into liquidation.
Measures: Contracts made between the downtown institutions to handle assets.
Newspaper Excerpt: heavy runs threatened their closing
Source: newspapers

5. * Suspension

Cause: Macro News
Cause Details: Long depression and heavy runs.
Newspaper Excerpt: Finally all three banks were in liquidation.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. February 3, 1934 The South Bend Tribune South Bend, IN

Article Text

DELAY HEARING IN BANK TANGLE Bingham Grants Request for More Time; Set for Feb. 12. The hearing before Superior Judge J. Fred Bingham of controversial legal issues involving liquidation of the First National bank, the Union Trust company and the South Bend State bank, scheduled for Friday afternoon, has been postponed to Feb. 12, first day of the February term of court. Continuance was asked by the state department of financial institutions, which filed the petition for the hearing, to provide more time in which to prepare information for the court on the tangled affairs of the three institutions. The petition sets out in detail contracts made between the South Bend State, which was located in the Uptown district, and the two downtown institutions, whereby the latter agreed to take over all assets of the smaller bank in an effort to protect its creditors. No one realized then, the petition says, that the city was on the threshold of a long depression which later was to sweep the two large banks themselves into liquidation. The contracts provided the First National and Union Trust should not suffer losses in the handling of the other bank's affairs, according to the petition, but large losses, totaling nearly $100,000, have been recorded. The court is asked to construe the contracts to determine whether they are indemnifying instruments, protecting the two institutions from losses in the transfer. Complicating the matter are two contracts made between the downtown institutions themselves later when heavy runs threatened their closing. Finally all three banks were in liquidation. But they had the identical officers and boards of directors. The petition charges that certain transactions between the banks effected by this interlocking directorate had the effect of defrauding certain creditors. One charge specifically says that more than $31,000 worth of building bonds, taken over by the First National from the South