Door County, Wisconsin - Chapter 19: Banking, 1917

The first bank in Door County was started in November, 1880. It was an unpretentious private business started by F. J. Shimmel and Joseph Kozishek, two young men from Kewaunee and was housed in a small building on the lot now occupied by the Merchants Exchange Bank. The county at this time had a population of almost twelve thousand people and as there was great need of a banking institution the new firm prospered quickly. Unfortunately Mr. Kozishek was a man who could not bear prosperity with grace. From being a young man of excellent habits his new opportunities led him into habits of self-indulgence and drunkenness and he was rapidly drifting into a 'demoralized existence. In January, 1881, he visited Chicago where his adventures provided entertainment for the newspaper readers. One night he fell in with a clique of gamblers who quickly fleeced him of $800. They then turned him over to still more unsavory resorts where he was relieved of about twelve hundred dollars more. In one night he thus spent twenty-one hundred dollars. Returning to Kewaunee he continued his spree with such abandon that finally in a moment of lucid despondency he jumped off the pier in Kewaunee and drowned himself.

When Mr. Shimmel learned of the sad news of his partner's end he felt in no mood to continue the business, as he was in very poor health. He asked no favors, however, because of his partner's defection, but repaid his depositors in full - some twenty-five thousand dollars in all - and retired from business about February 1, 1881.

Immediately after the sudden eclipse of Shimmel & Kozishek a new bank was started by Smith & Nelson who for a short time had been doing a little insurance business. C. M. Smith was the village school principal and C. L. Nelson was a clerk in A. W. Lawrence & Co.'s store in Bay View (Sawyer). Mr. Smith proposed to Mr. Nelson that they enter into the banking business. Mr. Nelson was inclined to treat the proposition as a joke for neither of them had any money. "We can get money," said Mr. Smith. "There is our lumberman friend, Mr. Geo. O. Spear." They went to Mr. Spear and spread the possibilities of the banking' business before his vision. But Mr. Spear shook his head. "I know nothing about banking," he said; "anymore than I do about Hebrew and I will not engage in a business of which I am ignorant. However," he added after a pause, "I will let you have the use of $10,000." "This astonishingly liberal offer was received with joy by the new partners, who prepared to give Mr. Spear a note for the amount entrusted to them. However, Mr. Spear declined the note. "If your word is no good your note will be no better," he said.

Smith & Nelson now opened a bank which for five years was successfully operated. In 1886 Mr. Smith went to California for the health of his daughter and whilé there received the appointment to an important Federal position. He thereupon withdrew from his business in Sturgeon Bay.

Mr. Nelson now induced Mr. Spear to purchase Mr. Smith's interest in the business and the bank was known as Nelson & Spear. Mr. Spear continued as partner until 1891. A company was then formed by C. L. Nelson, A. W. Lawrence, L. M. Washburn and W. A. Lawrence, and the bank took the name of the Merchants Exchange Bank. It was incorporated June 28, 1902, with a capital of $25,000. An amendment was filed on June 20, 1906, increasing this capital stock to $50,000. 'The Merchants Exchange Bank has never paid less than 8 per cent on its stock. The present officers are C. L. Nelson, president; W. A. Lawrence, vice president; C. M. Stephenson, cashier.

Previous to the incorporation of this bank another had been started and incorporated eleven years earlier. This was the Bank of Sturgeon Bay. It was organized as a private bank in February, 1889, and incorporated as a state bank December 1, 1891. This is therefore the oldest incorporated bank in the county. An amendment was filed July 1, 1901, increasing this capital stock to $30,000. A second amendment was filed May 17, 1916, increasing the capital stock to $50,000. The officers are: Henry Fetzer, president; Jas. Wolter, vice president, and A. B. Minor, cashier. This bank has for some years paid 10 per cent dividends on its stock.

The Bank of Sawyer was incorporated for $25,000 on February 4, 1902. An amendment was filed October 20, 1903, reducing this stock to $20,000. A second amendment was filed on April 16, 1914, increasing the stock to $50,000, and changing the name to the Door

The State Bank of Forestville was incorporated for $10,000 on September 7, 1909. An amendment was filed on June 28, 1916, increasing the capital stock to $25,000.

Following is a list of the deposits as taken from the reports of the various banks in the county. Prior to 1895 there were no banking laws in this state and the reports were made to the state treasurer. The first examination by a bank examiner was made in 1895.

These banks are all housed in commodious up-to-date buildings of their own. The Bank of Sturgeon Bay occupies an imposing limestone building valued at $80,000, built in 1900, and remodeled in 1916. The Door County State Bank has just moved into a very substantial building 94 by 37 feet in size, also valued at $30,000. The Merchants Exchange Bank occupies a building 25 by 100 feet in size, recently erected and valued at about twenty-five thousand dollars.

Below is a list of the deposits as taken from the reports of the various banks in the county. They total approximately two million two hundred thousand dollars, which is an excellent showing for a county of such recent development as Door County with a population of only seventeen thousand.