Banks and Bankers of Lexington, Illinois
(January 2005)
The following piece was found at the Fort
Dated March 2000
by Jack Edwards
The history of Lexington is filled with men universally recognized as public-spirited citizens of high character, unchallenged integrity and financial responsibility. Men like Van Dolah; Claggett; Mahan; Scrogin; Harness; and Hyneman. Men of vision and passion. In addition to their success capacity, it was their names that invoked acceptance and unhesitating confidence that brought about banking in Lexington.
The first bank was organized in 1865 by Jacob C. Mahan in a plain one-story building erected by Richard Cummings Dement and stood behind the present Post Office Building at 301 West Main Street. The "J.C. Mahan & Co. Bank" was the only one in the county outside of Bloomington and was not equipped with a vault or for that matter any safe at all. As a matter of fact, for 35 years, : Mr. Mahan and L. P. Scrogin, one of the stockholders, divided the entire capital and deposits between them, each with money clutched in one hand and a revolver in the other, carried the funds entrusted to them to their homes where it was kept in some secure place until morning."
The first bank of Lexington, 1865.
After occupying the little brick on the Dement lot for two years, the bank was moved into the basement of the west corner building of the block occupied by the Claggetts. Lexington’s first bank was replaced with a two-story brick building that served as the office for the Scott Family of Doctors. The building is currently an apartment building and is located at 112 & 112 1/2 North Cedar Street.
The second bank was organized in 1868 and called the "Bank of Lexington" or "S. R. Claggett’s Bank." In 1896 its business was transferred to the "State Bank of Lexington."
The "First National Bank of Lexington" was organized and founded in 1882 it was changed to a private bank and began operations under the state banking laws as the "Peoples Bank of Lexington." The Peoples Bank went out of business by voluntary and satisfactory liquidation on November 9, 1896, passing its open business to the State Bank of Lexington.
The "State Bank of Lexington" was founded on May 6, 1895, with a capital of $30,000 in the building that how houses the Post Office. It was organized with the election of E. H. Hyneman as its president. The bank had acquired the "Harness & Van Dolah Bank," in addition to the Peoples Bank. Mr. Hyneman was a man of true grit and honesty and owing to the confidence shown in him by such influential friends as Wm. M. Smith and L. P. Scrogin, he was given the management of the Judge David Davis farm of 2240 acres in Gridley Township. In 1892, Mr. Hyneman established the "State Bank of Gridley" and was its president. Unfortunately, the State Bank of Lexington closed in 1929 at the start of Great Depression.
The State Bank of Lexington, now the Post office,
pictured in Lexington Unit on Friday, March 2, 1900.
Lexington has had a colorful history in it’s banking community. From gun-toting bankers to a bank with out a vault. From mergers to acquisitions and liquidations. And oh yes! A female impersonator robs the Peoples Bank of Lexington of $7,948.00. No, not in 1893, but in March of 1973. The 18-year-old was apprehended 29 minutes later and the money was recovered.