Mechanics Trust & Savings Bank (Paducah, KY)

Episode Information

Episode UID
4193515691561
Episode Type
Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
trust
Bank ID
419351569 hash
Start Date
January 8, 1930
Location
Paducah, Kentucky (37.083, -88.600)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini (chosen from majority vote of a three-model LLM ensemble)
Short Digest
8db81ad5a0ad57de

Response Measures

None

Description

Bank's assets purchased and deposits guaranteed by City National; Mechanics ceased independent operations.

Events (2)

1. January 8, 1930 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Part of the money brought in was sent to the Mechanics' Trust Savings Bank but no withdrawals were recorded there.
Source
newspapers
2. November 17, 1930 Suspension
Cause
Local Banks
Cause Details
Purchase and consolidation followed regional bank closings and suspensions in Louisville that destabilized local banking, prompting merger and assumption of deposits.
Newspaper Excerpt
The City National Bank of Paducah... has purchased all the assets, assumed all liabilities and guaranteed the deposits of the First National Bank of Paducah and the Mechanics Trust and Savings Bank of Paducah.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (5)

Article from The Cincinnati Enquirer, January 9, 1930

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RUN ON BANK IS FEARED. Paducah Capitalists Have $1,000,000 Scarce. SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER. Paducah, Ky., January 8-Despite reassurances of officials of two banks of which William F. Bradshaw, 61 years old, was President, nearly $1,000,000 extra in currency was on hand today at the opening of busines for one of the institutions. There were few withdrawals at the First National Bank as the doors were opened. but this soon stopped, as depositors learned there no connection the First National Company and the bank. Part of the money brought in was sent to the Mechanics' Trust Savings Bank but no withdrawals were recorded there. Bradshaw. millionaire capitalist and and first President the Dark Tobacco Growers' Co-operative Marketing Association, died yesterday of self-inflicted knife He III health and upset by his failure to detect defalcations said to amount to $32,000. by employees in one the concerns which he President. Nearly $1,000,000 in currency brought here last night from Federal Reserve banks St. Louis and Louiswille for the First National Bank as precaution.


Article from The Paducah Sun, November 17, 1930

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City National Bank Buys First Mechanics; Change Effective Tuesday Business To Be Conducted at City National Bank, Which Buys Resources and Guarantees Deposits of Other Banks The City National Bank of Paducah, effective today, has purchased all the assets, assumed all liabilities and guaranteed the deposits of the First National Bank of Paducah and the Mechanics Trust and Savings Bank of Paducah. At the opening hour at nine o'clock tomorrow, the business of all three banks will be conducted from the banking room of the City National Bank, Mr. James C. Utterback, president of the City National Bank, assuming direction the merged banking houses. Officers and employes of the First National and of the Mechanics, familiar with the business of these two banks will be on duty at the City National Bank and will give their personal attention to the affairs of the patrons of the two institutions purchased by the City National. Resources $8,500,000 This transaction brings head negotiations which have been conducted over the past several months and makes the City National Bank the largest in the state of Kentucky Louisville. Statements sued by the directors of the First National invite the ronage their patrons of the National Bank. Directors of the First taking cognizance suspension business on the part of two Louisville banks, that these pensions affect the strength of the First which was formeraffiliated with The City National Bank with the the First National and the Trust and ings Bank, will have combined more than $8,500,000. The following brief statements issued today by officers and directors the three banks concerned the transaction: City National Bank. J. Utterback, president of the City National Bank Paducah, has issued following statement: "We gratified announce the purchase by the National City Bank of Paducah, of the assets the First National Bank of Paduthe Mechanics Trust Savings Bank. Negotiations for this purchase have been pending for some time, and the transaction closed of this date. "Beginning morning nine o'clock, the business of the consolidated banks will be ed from the banking room of the City National Bank of Paducah, Fourth Broadway. "The of patronage the customers and depositors the purchased banks is earnestly solicited. "We invite your support and business and pledge you the same courteous treatment you have ceived the banks you have tofore patronized. "In soliciting your business, have the full support and co-operation of the officers, directors employees First National Bank of Paducah and the Mechanics Trust Savings Bank, numof whom will assist us banking room in the transaction your business. UTTERBACK." First National Bank. the officers and the First National Bank of Paduthat all of the sets this bank have been sold the City National Bank of Paducah, which has also guaranteed its deposits. "The closing of the doors of Louisville banks has not way affected the strength or nancial position of this bank. The First National Bank Paducah does not owe the Bancokentucky any sum, does Bancokentucky First National Bank Paducah any bespeak for the City NationBank of Paducah continued your patronage good will, believing that you will receive its hands the same courteous and you have enjoyed as rons of this bank. RUBEL "JESSE WEIL YOPP STAHL "LOUIS KOLB HANK "EDSON HART "FAIN KING "DOW WILCOX." Mechanics Trust Savings Bank. officers and rectors the Mechanics Trust Savings Bank announce that their assets have been purchased and all their deposits guaranteed the City National Bank Paducah, the transaction to take place once. business the Mechanics Trust Savings Bank will be con-


Article from The Courier-Journal, November 18, 1930

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THREE BANKS AT PADUCAH MERGE Consolidated Institution Becomes Largest In State Outside Louisville. the First National Bank and the Mechanics Trust & Savings Bank late today began transfer currency and from which vesterday Tomorrow morning the business all three banks the room of the City James of the City will with the assistance purchased personnel the City National the First National of Paducah tional which closed at there was financial Withdrawals by depositors heavy at the the day the banks banking activity the Banking officials that unusually could made for heavy from Louis might resources more National largisville banks for some until Sunday night.


Article from Star-Herald, November 18, 1930

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Bits OF Knowledge The thickness of a razor blade's edge is about one-half millionth of an inch. One Scotts Bluff county farmer has changed the name of his able bodied son to "Farm Relief." He says the young man just won't work. English: A great collection of words studied by Americans before they decide to get along with one, "Yeah." Draw Your Own Moral To those who talk and talk and talk This lesson should appeal— The wind that blows the whistle Never, never turns the wheel. And the waitress may not make the soup, but it is possible that she has a finger in it. Adam and Eve were the first farmers—and they got in trouble listening to a fake farm relief story. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery or the surest sign of laziness. It doesn't take any previous experience as a detective in order to find fault or hunt for trouble. Motorist in an accessory shop—"No, I don't want a musical horn, I just want one that sneers." The office sheik opines "that two can live as cheaply as one—but it costs more to do it." Middle age is that period when a long drawn out kiss in the movies seems about as thrilling as savages rubbing noses. Correct this sentence: "Since Doc died," said the widow, "most of his patients have called to pay what they owed him." One of our bankers says: "What's the use. You are held down 'till you get money—and then you are held up." Storage Prevents Floods There is a continuous warfare between wind, water and soils, in displacements and replacements. The winds and waters are at work tearing down land. The land is again lifted up by earthquakes and by volcanic action. Visualize a solid train load of 100 cars of soils. Well, the Mississippi river delivers an equal quantity of silts and solubles into the Gulf of Mexico every ten minutes of a normal day. The forces of erosion are constantly at work, and just as mankind's struggle against the forces of nature, are his contests between individuals, groups and nations, so rivers, brooks, creeks and rills, stage their warfare with one another for territorial conquest and drainage control. The waters are ever battling against elevated areas and dancing with their load of debris on to the sea. The internal forces of the earth are forever producing irregularities in its surface. The waters cannot prevent these changes, but they are constantly at work obliterating and leveling them. In Isaiah, we read "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain." In the long ago, the magnificent Platte rose in two heads in the eastern Rockies and flowed in a generally easterly course, forming between them a great cone-shaped structural plain with the cone-head at what is now known at the city of North Platte, Nebraska, forming at this point the main Platte river, thence flowing generally easterly through the entire length of Nebraska and emptying into the muddy, treacherous Missouri and on to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, carrying constant volumes of earth within its banks to form destruction. Geological Construction Likewise, the North Loup, the Middle Loup and the South Loup merge into one stream, known as the Loup river, which in turn flows into the Platte. Along the southern border of Nebraska flows the Republican, rising in eastern Colorado and idling in an easterly direction with its earth load to add to flood troubles on the lower stretches of the Mississippi. Along these streams erosions and nature's leveling formed wide and fertile valleys. Between these rivers, lie the rich, level and undulating mesas or tables, extending from in eastern Colorado through the entire length of Nebraska. It is a truly beautiful region, which these rivers drain. Once it was a level ocean bed, and too fair a land to escape the attention of these soil cutting, eroding streams. Yes, these garden lands lie between these four rivers, as nestled the first garden between four rivers. In early geological times these then new rivers began digging their way through this once level ocean plain, plodding their way down to the Missouri. This process of chiseling and erosion is continuing to this day and will continue so long as time lasts, unless arrested by storage of these waters toward their source putting them to beneficial use for man. As lands are broken out and cultivated these pirate rivers increase their earth erosion to be added to the never ending accumulations down toward the Gulf. Killing Two Birds Man, as the present day sculptor of the world's landscapes, man, the maker of the world's modern Edens, the forerunner of every civilization, has made the modern geography on these western plains and valleys, what they are today, has watered and added security, and has prepared these stretches of the earth by the application of these waters, for Eden habitations for all things that live. The waters of the lower stretches of the Mississippi have so slowed up that they cannot carry off to the Gulf all the sand and silt its tributaries bring to it. Therefore, it gradually fills up its own bed, and without artificial levees would spread over millions of acres of land and form an inland sea. How long must man continue building up its banks as it continues to fill its bed, is the vital question of the hour. By storing these tributary run off and flood waste waters in the upper plains regions and utilizing them for irrigation during the dry season in July and August, only seepage waters need ever reach the lower Mississippi and that only in the fall time when floods never occur. Thus two birds are killed with one stone, and in this undertaking, development and realization, man is only delaying his security and enjoyment of the good things this second great Eden garden will, by the application of these God given waters, produce certainly seven fold and more, year by year as long as time runs. Over Two Score Banks in Southern Section Closed to Business (Continued from Page One) The American Exchange Trust company announced deposits of $15,014,589.41 on the date of the last bank call. The bank was capitalized at $1,000,000 and had a surplus of $500,000. A. B. Banks is president of the institution. The banks acted under an Arkansas state law which permits them at the end of five days to reopen or turn over their affairs to the state banking department. Closing of the National Bank of Kentucky at Louisville, which had announced resources of $54,000,000, was followed by the closing of four smaller Louisville banks, the McElwain Meguiar Bank and Trust company of Franklin, Ky., and the Bank of St. Helen's, a suburb of Louisville. Presidents of other Louisville banks issued statements asserting their institutions were solvent in every respect and would not be affected. At Paducah, Ky., the City National Bank of Paducah announced the purchase of the First National Bank of Paducah and the Mechanics' Trust and Savings bank of Paducah after negotiations lasting some time. State Funds Tied Up The four banking houses which have closed in Tennessee during the last two weeks were the Bank of Tennessee, a subsidiary of Caldwell and company; the Holston Union National bank at Knoxville; the Liberty bank and Trust company at Nashville and the Campbell County bank and Trust company at Jacksboro. Attorney General L. D. Smith of Tennessee has reported $5,700,000 in state funds were on deposit in the Bank of Tennessee, the Liberty Bank and Trust company, and the Holston Union National bank. A merger of the Fourth and First National banks into the American National bank has been announced in Nashville, as was the acquisition of the Tennessee-Hermitage National bank by the Commerce Union bank. The East Tennessee National bank, the East Tennessee Savings bank and the City National bank, all of Knoxville, have been merged into the East Tennessee National bank. Federal Judge John J. Gore in Nashville Monday ordered creditors of Caldwell and company to present their claims before next July first and enjoined any creditors or claimants from instituting separate suits against Caldwell and company and enjoined all parties to any suit now pending from proceeding further except by consent of the court. The Illinois banks which closed Monday were the Bartlett and Wallace State bank of Clayton and the Timewell State bank of Timewell. They were corresponding institutions of the State Savings, Loan and Trust company of Quincy, which closed Saturday. Two other banks which State Auditor Oscar Nelson said closed in connection with the failure of the State Savings, Loan and Trust company of Quincy, were the South Side bank of Quincy and the Payson State bank of Payson. Kentucky Hard Hit Louisville, Ky., Nov. 17. (AP)—Six Kentucky banks with resources totaling about $75,000,000, including the National Bank of Kentucky, which has been in business here 96 years, closed their doors today.


Article from The Paducah Sun, November 19, 1930

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PADUCAH BANKS PRAISED FINANCIERS Messages to Utterback Say the Situation Handled Admirably Here Messages congratulating Paducah upon the successful of the First National and Mechanics Trust and Savings banks with the City Bank have been ceived from number of leading bank officials of the United States. Without exception they have pressed gratification the working out of acute financial problem this city. James Utterback, president the City National, the following from Nugent, one the of the First National in Chicago: "Heartiest congratulations to yourself and associates. You have worked out constructive and civicminded arrangement and we wish success." Houston, chairman of the board of directors of AmeriNational bank in Nashville, Tenn., the concern which took over Caldwell interests after the failure of that large financial house. wire to Utterback: for the part you have played in stabilizing conditions your section. Please be assured our interest and desire to be These messages are two of many received at City National bank. Utterback, Louis Rubel, Jesse and Pierce have receivcongratulations from many their friends not only Paducah but throughout the district, followthe bank merger of Monday. Mr. Utterback said business ceeded under almost normal ditions at the bank today. The former patrons of the absorbed banks transacted their the City National, and checks drawn them were honored. The conhas been worked out astonishing smoothness and lack confusion. "There were very few withdrawmost of those who drew out their money Monday and Tuesday brought back today,' Utterback said. "We feel very gratthe spirit loyalty shown by the public. This has been an experience that testthe faith some in Paducah, and am sure that we are safely Reports the close of business Tuesday the City National showthat the institution, with the of the two banks purhas assets and resources amounting to nearly $10,000,000.