Cascade County MT Archives History .....History Of The First National Bank Of Great Falls 1902
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 21, 2022, 3:46 pm

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK, of Great Falls, Mont., was organized on July 1, 1886. The
original officers were: President, C. A. Broadwater; vice-president, H. O. Cohowen;
cashier, L. G. Phelps; assistant cashier, A. E. Dickerman. The first meeting had
been held on May 27, 1886. In July the bank was opened for business in the building
now occupied by a cigar store on Central avenue and Second street. Subsequently it
was removed to where the Cascade Bank is now located, and in 1892, in company with
the Townsite Company, the bank built its present building. Mr. Broadwater continued
president until November 17, 1887, when T. E. Collins was elected to succeed him.
The first directorate consisted of the original officers, S. E. Atkinson and
Ebenezcr Sharp, of Helena. In June, 1887, the number of directors was increased to
nine, T. E. Collins, Martin McGinnis and John Lepley being added. Mr. Collins acted
as president until July, 1893, and on July 3, of that year, A. M. Scott was elected
to the office. On July 17, 1893, G. T. Curtis was elected cashier and one of the
directors. Marcus Daly was elected a director on January 8, 1895. Mr. Scott served
as president until July 1, 1895, and was succeeded by G. T. Curtis. H. H. Matteson
was then chosen cashier and served until 1902. The original capital stock of the
First National Bank was $50,000, since increased to $200,000. The bank carries
deposits of $1,200,000. The surplus and individual deposits are $55,000.

This was the first bank of any note to be organized in Great Falls or Cascade
county. G. T. Curtis, the present efficient and energetic president, is a native of
Minnesota, and a son of Gold T. and Mary A. (Anderson) Curtis, both natives of New
York. Gold T. Curtis was a lawyer who practiced in New York during his early manhood
and removed to Minnesota in 1855, where he continued in successful legal practice
and served in the constitutional convention which preceded the organization of the
territory into a state. On the breaking out of the Civil war he organized Co, K,
Fourth Minnesota Volunteers, and was elected its captain. He did not live to witness
the termination of the fierce struggle in which he so patriotically and
enthusiastically engaged, for having served gallantly in some of the more important
and decisive battles of the war, he died at St. Louis in 1863. His widow is still
living.

G. T. Curtis was reared and educated in Minnesota and New York city. Before coming
to Montana he was for two years and a half with the Chase National Bank of New York.
After his arrival in Great Falls in 1889 he entered the First National Bank of Great
Falls as a clerk. One year later, in 1890, he organized a bank at Sand Coulee, and
in 1891 he founded the First National Bank of Neihart, which, in 1893, was converted
into the State Bank of Neihart. In 1893 also Mr. Curtis severed his connection with
this institution and accepted the position of cashier of the First National Bank of
Great Falls, since which time he has resided in that city. He is also interested in
banks at Stocket and Belt, both of them being private institutions.

The financial and social career of Mr. Curtis affords a most striking and valuable
example to the ambitious young man of the day. By force of character, business
sagacity and those sterling qualities which go so far to establish a man’s influence
in any community, he has won his way to the top. Not only in Great Falls but
throughout the state he is well and favorably known. Early in life be laid the
foundation of his character upon the rock of industrious probity and his enviable
success has been deservedly won. Politically Mr. Curtis has been a lifelong
Democrat, and fraternally he is an Odd Fellow. In 1899 Mr. Curtis was married to
Miss Lucile M. Monroe, a native of Michigan. They have one child, Gold T. Curtis,
Jr.

Extracted from:
PROGRESSIVE MEN OF THE STATE OF MONTANA.
Chicago: A. W. BOWEN & CO., (about 1900)


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