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Banks and Bankers of Brookfield

Everyone appreciates the fact that banking institutions are a
necessity. In the organization of modern commerce and industry the
need for sound and substantial banking institutions is constantly emphasized in the active transaction of daily business and the welfare of a trade center depends in a very large measure upon the character and adequacy of the facilities furnished by the leading institutions of
financial character in the city. Therefore, the status of a city commercially is very largely estimated by the quality of its banks, and there is no more accurate measure of the comparative prosperity of a business center than the volume of business transacted through its financial institutions.
Brookfield from an early day has held an excellent position among
Missouri towns in respect to the character of its banks, and as its
business has increased the demands made upon the resources of these
institutions have continued to become heavier, yet the banks have
always proven equal to the requirements of the business situation and
have gained an exceptionally high reputation for the quality of the
banking advantages they offer to the corporations, firms and individual
depositors, who represent the business activity of this community.
The history of the banking business in Brookfield extends back to
1867, when T. D. Price & Co. established the first banking house in the
present site of the Brownlee bank. Mr. Price was a genial gentleman;
came here from Hannibal. His silent partner lived in New York City,
a Mr. Sherrell. Two years later, however, there was a shake up in the
first bank and its successor was Price, Brownlee & DeGraw-Judge
Brownlee and Dr. DeGraw. This firm only did business for a short
time, Price and DeGraw retiring, after which it was succeeded by the
firm W. H. Brownlee, banker, which continued the only bank in Brook-
field until the banking house of H. DeGraw made the second. Its loca-
tion was on the present John LaPierre site. This DeGraw bank was
organized in 1876, with H. DeGraw, president, and W. H. DeGraw,
cashier. Just after that time was organized the third bank, named the
Bank of Brookfield, with Joseph Aldrich, president, and W. H. Lock-
wood, cashier. A. D. Scott soon afterwards, however, became president of this bank and John Ford, cashier. With the death of Mr. Scott, J. R. Huffaker was made president. This made three banks for Brookfield, and the next move, in 1878, was the consolidation of the first and second one, and the birth of the present Linn County Bank. In its organization W. H. Brownlee was made president; W. H. DeGraw,
cashier, and Walter Brownlee, assistant cashier. This organization did
business for several years, all through the eighties and into the nine-
ties on the old Brownlee banking corner. In 1893 there came a division
between the Brownlee and the DeGraw interests, and Judge Brownlee
retired as president. Then the Linn County Bank was moved to the
DeGraw corner across the street, and Dr. DeGraw elected president.
About this time the Brownlees began to make preparations for
opening a new bank on their old corner, which was done in 1893 under
the name of the present Brownlee Banking Co., of which W. H. Brown-
lee was president; S. E. Crance, vice-president; Walter Brownlee, cash-
ier, and R. S. Brownlee, assistant cashier. The directors and stockholders of the Brownlee Bank then, in addition to the above, were
Henry Tooey, R. N. Bowden, N. G. Ransom, T. P. Oven, Lan Rummell,
Oliver Cramer, Thomas Halliburton, and George Howard. The present
officers are: Walter Brownlee, president; R. S. Brownlee, cashier; H.
W. Craig and John Cornish, assistant cashiers.
Some twelve years ago the old Linn County Bank reached the
"second generation" epoch in its history. A younger set of men took
charge in the management of its affairs. First came George W.
Stephens, Jr., all his life a banker, and was made cashier, succeeding
W. H. DeGraw, who was at that time made president. Charles H.
Jones at the same time was made assistant cashier, and later came E.
M. Lomax as the active vice-president. Dr. DeGraw, one of our pioneer
bankers, was by acclamation made president of the Linn County Bank,
upon the death of his brother. Some five years ago the lamented Dr.
DeGraw retired and E. M. Lomax was elected president, while C. H.
Jones was elected cashier and W. W. Martin assistant cashier. George
W. Martin is first vice-president, but not in an active capacity. Messrs.
Lomax, Jones and W. W. Martin practically conduct the affairs of the
Linn County Bank now. The directors at the present time are: R. X.
DeGraw, G. W. Martin, R. R. Smith, C. L. Spalding, E. M. Lomax, C.
H. Jones, W. W. Martin. The capital stock is $100,000.
It was in 1887 that a new factor appeared in the banking circle of
Brookfield. R. J. Wheeler, from before the war up to this time, was a
merchant and trader in Bucklin. He got rich-not as rich as Croesus,
but rich for men in country towns. He longed to come to Brookfield, a
larger town, and finally did so, establishing the Wheeler Bank after
building Wheeler block on the corner of Main and Wood streets. He
organized the bank in 1887, with himself as president and Thomas
Flood, now deceased, cashier. Mr. Flood afterward ran for county
recorder, and was elected. E. M. Lomax, formerly in a clerical position
with the Laclede Bank in St. Louis, was made Mr. Flood's successor as
cashier of the Wheeler Bank, which position he filled until 1900, when
lie retired to accept the vice-presidency of the Linn County Bank.
Thereupon Mr. Harry Markham, formerly of Laclede, was made cashier of the Wheeler Bank and Robert Wheeler, Jr., assistant cashier. At the present time, however, Robert Wheeler is president, while Mr. Markham is still cashier.
In the year 1904 James Moore conceived the idea of establishing
a bank in South Main street, and did so, with himself as president and
the son, Joseph Moore, as cashier. Each year has seen this, the fourth
bank, grow in business and popularity, as have its older competitors.
The only bank failures ever in the history of Brookfield were that
of the first banker, T. D. Price, and seventeen years ago that of the
Bank of Brookfield, the latter during the panic.
Thus it will be seen that Judge William H. Brownlee and Dr.
Hamilton DeGraw and W. H. DeGraw, now deceased, were the Nestors
in the banking business here in Brookfield. All three were interesting
men. Dr. DeGraw was a sage-like man, perhaps better read than any
man in Brookfield-had a philosophical sort of mind, was a student of
the Bible as well as political economy; of philosophy as well as occult
science. Judge Brownlee was of a poetical turn of mind. He loved
fiction, was fond of the classics, and as an "Indiana man" was partial
to Gen. Lew Wallace and James Whitcomb Riley. While he was an
able lawyer, the public for years associated him in its mind as a banker, W. H. DeGraw was a banker personified. He was fond of home life, and a most entertaining, chivalrous character.