Banking in the early days of Northeastern Illinois.

Contrary to what one might expect, early settlers of Northern Illinois, beginning in the 1830s, were not all poor. Some left eastern states for greater opportunities in Illinois and arrived with sufficient means to purchase land. They brought food, clothing, furniture, wagons, and livestock. They cleared the land, built a house, planted crops and tended livestock. At that time, barter was the only means of exchange, so people did not need a bank. But as they made profits on their crops and businesses sprang up around them, villages grew, and so did the demand for banking services.

At first, all that was needed was a place to keep valuable papers, money, or jewelry. There was nowhere to store valuables, police magistrate was a part-time job, and in Lemont's, "Smokey Row" with its contemptuous saloons and brothels were becoming established!

John Henry Tedens operated a department store at 106 Stephen Street in Lemont beginning in 1862. Around the late-1890s, the business changed to Tedens Hardware Store. Tedens Opera House opened on the second floor in 1896. Tedens vault is still in the back of the main floor of the old building.

Tedens Hardware Store at 106 Stephen Street in Lemont had a vault that rented boxes for that purpose. The vault was said to be so strong that three attempts to break into it failed. The most recent was in 1930. Despite what looks like a great deal of destruction in the photograph, the robbers could not get to the safe's contents. Tedens vault is still in the back of the main floor of the old building today.

Other banking needs gradually developed: the need to store payroll money or to exchange currency; businesses wanted capital for further development; the occasional loan was needed when crops failed or for funds to buy land or develop businesses.

It was not unusual for banks in those days to operate inside other businesses that housed large vaults, such as general merchandise stores or companies with large payrolls. One could enter an archway and select from a grocery store, a barbershop, a restaurant, or a bank.

One of the reasons bank services were very different in the early years was because there was no standard paper currency until 1914. Before that, federal, state, and private banks all issued currency in the form of banknotes, the value of which varied from bank to bank. It was common for employers, such as quarry owners, to pay their workers with scrip, perhaps good only at the quarry owner's company store. It was very confusing, to say the least.

Adding to the uncertainty and poor reputation, early banks were prone to failure due to poor management or misuse of funds. An example of such a failure was the Lemont State Bank, which started in 1891 with capital put up through the interests of notable Lemont business owners. Skeptical of the entire banking industry, the town initially hesitated to trust this new bank. However, one person the town did trust was the bank's president, Tom Huston, so people put their savings into the bank.

Tom Huston was the town's Civil War hero who, after surviving several battles, was wounded and sent to a Confederate prison. As the young man watched the horrors around him and the deaths of many prisoners, he asked God, "Why them and not me?" He became convinced he was meant to survive for a purpose, and it became the guiding principle of his life.

1890s Amber Whiskey Flask.

After the war, he settled in Lemont and became well respected. He was elected to the village board and then was made police magistrate, known for his honesty, courage, compassion, and understanding. His task was not easy, as he held this position during some of Lemont's most challenging years, dealing with large numbers of immigrants, labor disputes, early Smokey Row, and the Quarry Massacre of 1885. But he worked hard to develop his beloved Lemont: he helped build a subdivision, solicited manufacturers to locate in Lemont, helped start the Illinois Pure Aluminum Company, organized the Lemont Electric Light and Power Company, and helped to form the Lemont State Bank.

At first, the bank was a successful venture and helped the town. That is until the owners started speculating on wheat purchases, using bank capital to finance the investments. The bank failed, and some people lost everything.

Huston was devastated and burdened with guilt. The people would not have put their money into the bank and lost it if they had not believed in him. On February 12, 1897, Huston registered under a fake name at a Chicago hotel. 

On February 14, hotel management entered his room and found him dead. On the night table were an empty 3-ounce bottle of carbonic acid and an open flask of whiskey. The weight of the bank failure and Huston's part in it was too much for him to live with.

By Pat Camalliere

Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln that was used as a campaign badge (buttons) during the 1860 presidential election.

This ambrotype shows a bust portrait of Abraham Lincoln with no beard. The image is based on a photograph of Lincoln taken by Mathew B. Brady on February 27, 1860. At this time, Lincoln was in New York City to give an address at Cooper Union sponsored by the Young Men's Central Republican Union of New York on the 27th of February. This organization held numerous speeches by prospective candidates for the Republican Party's Presidential nomination. Lincoln made a case for banning slavery in all new U.S. territories while leaving it in the exiting fifteen southern states. This moderate position speech can be seen as the beginning of his successful presidential campaign.

Used as a campaign badge during the 1860 Presidential election, the ambrotype is made of collodion emulsion on a glass plate. It was originally housed in an oval brass frame and pinned to one's clothing to show support for Lincoln's candidacy. The ambrotype was later housed in this union photographic case made of a dark brown thermoplastic, called Gutta Percha, which is formed under heat into fancy patterns. The front and back of the case have a diagonal crisscrossed pattern inside a nonpareil border surrounded by a scroll design. The information about the use as a campaign badge rests on the existence of two cards inside the case behind the ambrotype. The first card reads: "A.F Clough, Ambrotypic Artist Warren, N.H." The second card, oval-shaped and orange-colored, reads: "For President. Hon. Abraham Lincoln. Manufactured by Geo. Clark, Jr. & Co., Ambrotype Artists No. 59 Court Street Boston."

From The Henry Ford Collections.

An Interesting Incident with President Lincoln Signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

Secretary Seward and his son Frederick took the roll containing the Emancipation Proclamation to Mr. Lincoln at noon on the first day of January 1863. As it lay unrolled before him, Mr. Lincoln took a pen, dipped it in ink, moved his hand to the place for the signature, held it a moment, and then removed his hand and dropped the pen. After a bit of hesitation, he again took up the pen and went through the same movement as before. Mr. Lincoln then turned to Mr. Seward and said:

"I have been shaking hands since nine o'clock this morning, and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say, 'He hesitated.'" 

He then turned to the table, took up the pen again, and slowly, firmly signed Abraham Lincoln, with which the world is now familiar. He then looked up, smiled, and said: "That will do?"

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The Transcript of Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State