\\ hen the county was organized there were three hanking institutions in operation within its borders. These were the Box Butte Bank. of which C. A. Burlew was president and manager; The Farmers' & Merchants' Bank, of which B. F. Jones was president and E. A. Coates was cashier, both located at Hemingford. Nebraska; and the Bank of Nonpareil, located at Nonpareil, with F. M. Sands, president. II. C. Hashoff. cashier, and F. M. Knight. assistant cashier. Each of these three banks was capitalized at five thousand dollars. The two former went into voluntary liquidation.

The Bank of Nonpareil, when Nonpareil ceased to exist, hecame the Bank of Grand I. .ike. later the Bank of Alliance, which was

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

merged into the Alliance National Bank and is still operated with F. M. Knight as president, who has been connected with it since its organization in 1886, and is therefore the dean of banking circles in the county.

The next oldest bank in existence was started in Alliance and called the American Bank, operated under a state charter, which later absorbed the Citizens' Bank, and also took over the business of Porter, Eihlers & Company, and was continued under this name until the fall of 1889, when it was reorganized with the same officers and became the First National Bank of Alliance. Its first president was O. M. Carter, with R. M. Hampton, cashier and D. M. Forgan, assistant cashier. Mr. Hampton is now president of the institution and has been in the banking business continuously since 1888.