DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS
By
Winters National Bank
Published 1921
Preface
The story of Dayton is a history of those men and institutions who were most closely associated with her century of growth.
It is altogether fitting and proper that this story should be told by an institution that has been an important factor in the progress of Dayton since the time when it was a little group of log cabins surrounded by a wilderness and menaced by hostile Indians.
“Down Through the Years” will revive forgotten memories of those of the older generation, and it is the hope of its collaborators that it will prove interesting to the present and coming generation, who will build the Dayton of tomorrow.
Pioneer Days
Long before any permanent settlement was made in the Miami Valley, its beautiful forests, streams and fertile lands were known to the colonists east of the Alleghanies, who considered it a veritable earthly paradise.
Shortly after the close of the Revolution four men---Generals Wilkinson, St. Clair, and Dayton, and Colonel Ludlow—had purchased from the Government 60,000 acres in the Northwest Territory. This tract was called the “Miami Lands” and a part of it later became Dayton.
Before the arrival of the first settlers many expeditions against the Indians were necessary, for the site of Dayton was a favorite rendezvous for the war-like savages of that early period.
However, peace was at last made, and on November 1st, 1795, Colonel Ludlow laid out the town which he named after General Dayton. Three of the principal streets were called after himself and two other officers of the Revolutionary Army. Thus were named the streets of St. Clair, Ludlow and Wilkinson. Although, of course, these streets were imaginary, as Dayton was then only a trackless forest.
It was not until the following spring that the first settlers started up the river from Cincinnati for their new home. On the first of April, 1796, a party of sixteen hardy pioneers landed at the head of St. Clair Street—then a street in name, but in fact a wilderness.
True to the adventurous spirit of the times, they literally “burned their bridges behind them” by knocking to pieces their pirogue or boat, using the limber to construct the first house in Dayton.
Not for many years was the need for a bank felt, as such little business as was necessary was conducted chiefly by barter. A yard of calico cost two muskrat skins; a pair of cotton stockings cost a buckskin; a pair of moccasins a coon skin, and so on.
The vital part played by the first bank in the development of Dayton was to come almost twenty years later.
The Beginning of Trade
The shelter afforded by the first rude shack was soon outgrown by the hardy pioneers who settled the wilderness that was to become the Dayton of today.
In 1799 there were nine log cabins in Dayton. In the first of these cabins (Newcom’s Tavern) a store was established in 1800. In this one-room store, the first in Dayton, merchandise was bartered for skins, as circulating money was almost unknown in such a new country as was the Miami Lands.
However, trade began to expand, and the system of barter by exchange of commodities was found to be too primitive for the needs of the rapidly growing community.
The need for banking facilities was soon felt, and in 1813 a series of meetings was held, with the result that the Dayton Manufacturing Company was organized to carry on a banking business in Dayton. A charter was obtained from the Legislature in February, 1814, and in August of that year this company, the direct ancestor of Winters National Bank, opened its doors for a business.
The bank was installed in a stone house on the east side of North Main Street. This building was later owned and occupied as a residence by Joseph Bimm.
Benjamin Van Cleve, who opened the first school in Dayton in the blockhouse in 1800, was one of the Directors. The President, H. G. Phillips, received a salary of $150 a year and the Cashier, George S. Houston, was to receive $400 a year.
The first loan was one of some eleven thousand dollars to the U. S. Government to assist in carrying on the War of 1812.
In 1805, a Court House was erected on the site where the present Court House stands. The ground was donated by D. C. Cooper and on it was built a two-story building. The jail was at the rear of the main structure, and the sheriff carried the key in his pocket.
The new hotel, McCullom’s Tavern, was fast becoming a place to which Daytonians pointed with pride. A tall pole by the entrance carried a sign on which was painted a sea battle between the British frigate “Guerriere” and the American frigate, “Constitution.” McCullom’s was used as a hotel until 1870. Ten years later it was torn down and replaced by the firemen’s Insurance Building.
In these early days Cincinnati was the only mail office west of the Alleghanies, and postage stamps were unknown—in fact, they had not yet been invented—so the amount due on a letter was marked on the outside of the envelope and collected from the one to whom the letter was addressed. Every letter received cost the recipient around twenty-five cents for postage.
From Stage Coach to Railroad
In the early days of Dayton history all travel was on horseback or by private carriage. Not until 1818 was the first stage route to Cincinnati established. This stage line made weekly trips between Dayton and Cincinnati during the summer. In winter the roads were impassable. The trip took two days and a night and the fare was 8 cents a mile.
Then came the idea of a canal. In October 1825 it was suggested that the canal be run down the middle of Main Street, leaving a roadway thirty-four feet wide on each side of the water and making Main the handsomest street in Dayton. The proposed course was marked be a line of red flags.
Later, the canal was completed—though not on Main Street—and then travel by canal boat was considered the height of luxury and speed.
However, in 1831, the citizens were treated to a “Grand Exhibition” that was pregnant with future possibilities.
“A locomotive or steam carriage drawing a car on a miniature railroad will be exhibited at Machir and Hardcastle’s warehouse near the basin on July first and second. The exhibition works with great celerity and precision, drawing a miniature car in which two persons can ride at the same time. The novelty of this machine has never failed to excite the interest and admiration of all who have seen it.
“Ladies and gentlemen are respectfully invited to call and ride.
“Admittance 25c. Children half price.”
Thus read a Dayton advertisement of 1831. It was not until 1851 that the first railroad out of Dayton was completed. In the same year Valentine Winters (the grandfather of the present Valentine Winters), part owner of the banking house of Harshman, Winters & Company, built the Dayton and Western Railroad from Dayton to Richmond
The first real locomotive ever seen in Dayton was the “Seneca.” It was taken apart in Xenia by John Hays and hauled by wagon to Dayton, where it was set up on the track at the crossing of Webster Street. Boys carried water to fill the boiler, and John F. Edgar pulled the cord and blew the first locomotive whistle ever heard in Dayton.
In the six or seven years following 1833 the so-called “Wildcat Currency” was the only money, and anyone having credit could issue his own promise to pay on demand. These promises were called “shinplasters” and ranged in amount from 6¼ cents to fifty cents.
The Dayton Bank, forerunner of Winters National Bank, was the only bank in the country that redeemed its notes with specie at this time.
The Harrison Celebration
In 1840 Dayton staged what was probably the greatest political celebration ever witnessed in the United States. It was the famous Harrison celebration. Never had there been a more exciting campaign than that preceding the election of General William Henry Harrison. Partisan feeling ran high throughout the state.
The Harrison convention was held on the date of Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie, and for days before the 10th of September the roads leading into Dayton were choked with loyal Whigs, coming to pay tribute to the hero of Tippecanoe. People came by every route and every known style of conveyance—by stage coach and canal—on foot, on horseback and in wagons and carriages. Troops came from as far away as New Orleans, the delegations from Louisiana and Mississippi filling twelve canal boats.
It must have been a tremendous task to feed this multitude that descended on Dayton. For weeks in advance the housekeepers of the town had been preparing for the event. The Journal announced that no one need hesitate “to enter any house for dinner where he may see a flag flying.” At that time there were only seven hundred houses in all Dayton, but six hundred and forty-four of them displayed flags.
General Harrison was a guest of Jonathan Harshman at Harshmanville. Mr. Harshman was the great grandfather of Mr. Valentine Winters.
General Harrison and his escort reached Harshmanville on the evening of September 9th.
On the morning of the tenth, a procession, extending from Main Street, clear to Harshmanville, met the General and escorted him to Dayton. The streets of Dayton were decorated as never before. Six hundred and forty-four flags flew from the buildings, the windows were filled with people, and the streets literally packed with wildly cheering supporters of the Republican Candidate.
The monster procession contained bands, a whole battalion of militia, log cabins furnished in pioneer style and hauled on wagons filled with men, women and girls. One of the wagons contained a live wolf covered with a sheep skin to designate the pretensions of their opponents.
At the speechmaking in the afternoon it was estimated by engineers who were present that some seventy-eight thousand people were present to hear William Henry Harrison. In all, over one hundred thousand attended the Celebration.
The Mexican War
In 1844 a bitter contest was waged between Henry Clay and James K. Polk for the Presidency of the United States. Polk’s campaign was largely based on the annexation of Texas, then owned by Mexico.
So when Polk was elected everyone looked for war with Mexico, and in fact war was declared on May 13, 1846.
Dayton became a rallying point for the enlistment of volunteers, from all the neighboring country. The Riflemen and National Guard were the first to leave for Camp Washington. The evening of June 4th saw them embarking on the canal boats, with most of Dayton lining the banks to see them off with music and cheers. Twice more did bodies of Dayton troops leave for the Rio Grande—many never to return.
A year after the declaration of war the two companies who were the first to leave returned to Dayton, having been mustered out of the service in New Orleans. Company B came home with but forty men. The returned veterans were met on their arrival by five thousand people, who patiently waited until the pokey little canal boats landed at the foot of Main Street.
The years of the Mexican War marked the advent in Dayton of two epoch-making discoveries. In September of 1847 the first telegraph message was received in Dayton. Today telegrams are thought of as though they had always been. In 1849 natural gas was used for lighting Dayton homes.
Dayton’s population at this time was approximately fourteen thousand.
In 1843 the Dayton Bank, formerly known as the Dayton Manufacturing Company, wound up its affairs, owing to the expiration of its charter, without the loss of a dollar to any note-holder or depositor. History tells us that the Dayton Bank, predecessor of Winters National Bank, was one of the soundest financial institutions in the entire country. When the Dayton Bank liquidated it paid to Jonathan Harshman for his deposit and stock about $45,000 in silver.
This bullion was removed from the bank on a dray by Valentine Winters (grandfather of the present Valentine Winters), and Abraham Overlease and placed in a vault just back of Jerry Wollaston’s cigar store.
Early in 1845 Jonathan Harshman and Valentine Winters realized the necessity of better banking facilities and again the “Dayton Bank” was organized and started in business with the identical silver dollars belonging to its predecessor.
Seven years later the business of the Dayton Bank was taken over by the newly organized Exchange Bank which Valentine Winters, Jonathan Harshman and others started the same year.
The great panic of 1857 was soon to come—its effect on Dayton and the fortunes of V. Winters & Son will be the subject of our next chapter.
The Panic of 1857
In the spring of 1852 a co-partnership was formed by Jonathan Harshman, Valentine Winters, James R. Young and Robert R. Dickey for the purpose of carrying on a general banking business at the northeast corner of Third and Main. This firm, under the name of Harshman, Winters and Company continued the business of the Dayton Bank, which had sold its charter. Thus the link with the Dayton Manufacturing Company of 1814 remained unbroken.
The fall and winter of 1854 was a period of great financial depression. The firm of Harshman, Winters & Company, known as the Exchange Bank, would have been entirely justified in closing their doors at this juncture in their affairs.
Valentine Winters was not a man of that type. He believed in keeping open for business as long as there was a dollar in the bank. The bank was kept open—it did not fail.
In August 1857, the financial world was suddenly confronted by the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance Company. This failure started the Panic of 1857—a panic which was, however, almost entirely a money disturbance, industry not being greatly depressed.
A great deal of money was lost in “wild cat” currency. The banking firm of V. Winters & Son, as it was known in 1857, paid all their notes and helped considerably to steady the situation in Dayton.
In the early fifties Dayton was protected from fire by volunteer Fire Companies, who pulled the engines by hand to the scene of the fire and then worked the pumps by hand. Each member had his place at the ropes and an eager spirit was always in evidence.
Later, however, the spirit of competition ran too high for the good of the service. Rival companies were not satisfied to be first at the fire, but each one tried to block his rival. Hose were cut and free-for-all fights took place at every fire. So a plan for paying firemen was developed; and our modern system of fire-fighting was begun.
The Civil War
On September 17, 1859, Abraham Lincoln, standing on a store box in front of the Court House, delivered a speech to the citizens of Dayton. Immediately afterwards he was nominated for President by General Robert Schenck.
In less than two years, on April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon by Southern guns. Four days later Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers. The first local troops to answer the call were the Dayton Light Guards, led by Captain Walter Pease. The company marched to the old Union Depot on the evening of the very day the call was issued.
As company after company entrained during the following weeks and months, Dayton began to realize the sacrifices she must make to help uphold the Union. Many brave men had volunteered, trusting the care of their families to those who remained behind. Their trust was not misplaced. Even the school boys did their share of service. They were organized by S. D. Edgar into the “First Ohio Regiment of Wood Sawyers” and their job was to keep the woodboxes of the soldiers’ wives full of good, dry wood.
Then the casualty lists began to arrive, being published daily in a bulletin posted at the Journal office.
Those were days of grief and anxiety and bitterness. Our representative in Congress at that time was Clement Vallandigham, an anti-war Democrat. On the night of May 5, 1863, he was arrested in his home on First Street.
The news of the arrest spread like wild fire, and a mob gathered around the Journal office, bent on violence—for not everyone in Dayton supported the Union side. The building housing the Republican “Journal” was burned to the ground, and the next day Dayton was placed under martial law.
In the summer of l863 the famous Confederate raider, Morgan, headed toward Dayton. Everyone buried his silver, the Eaton bank sent its cash to Dayton, and the Dayton banks loaded their money on a freight car and forwarded it to Toledo for safe keeping. Morgan came through Dayton later—but he came a prisoner.
About two o’clock in the morning of April 9, 1865, men were running down the streets ringing door bells and shouting to the awakened householders “Lee has surrendered.” On the 14th, just four years after Fort Sumter, Dayton celebrated the ending of the war by a great night parade and “brilliant illumination.”
Valentine Winters was one of the first to advocate that it was the duty of Ohio banks to supply the exhausted treasury of the State with means to equip the soldiers. His bank was the first in Dayton to subscribe for the new and untried 5%, twenty-year Government loan.
Dayton in the Seventies
The first eight years following the Civil War witnessed a tremendous era of expansion and speculation throughout the United States. New railroad lines opened up the West; we imported heavily from abroad; prices rose to undreamed of heights, and huge sums were invested in projects that were unable to return immediate profits.
During the period following the close of the war, Jay Cooke & Company was the great banking house of the country. This company was a government agent and head of the powerful syndicate which was handling the sale of the new Government bonds.
On the 18th of September, 1873, the failure of Jay Cooke and Company was announced on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This precipitated the great panic of 1873.
In a few days banks throughout the country shut down, and it could be truly said that a man’s realizable wealth consisted only of the cash in his pockets.
In spite of the depression, Dayton men continued to build for the future. In 1871 General Robert Schenck was appointed by Grant to the post of Minister to Great Britain—a most responsible position—which he occupied with credit for five years.
In 1869 or 1870 the Young Men’s Christian Association was organized, and five years later the old Dunlevy residence on Fourth Street was purchased and became the first home of the Association.
Dayton business as a whole passed with credit through the panic and the ensuing six years of depression. In the decade from l870 to 1880 several new manufacturing enterprises were established in Dayton and some existing ones were enlarged.
Some of the Dayton firms that weathered the storm of ’73 without having to put into port are still in business and rank among the prominent establishments of the city.
Not a single Dayton bank suspended payment during this period. Nor did the panic affect adversely the fortunes of V. Winters & Son. This strong banking house had accumulated a large surplus and so was able not only to continue unchecked, but was also able to assist others in tiding over the crisis.
The Great Centennial Celebration
With the approach of spring in 1896 Dayton was reminded that its hundredth anniversary was approaching.
History tells us that the credit for the idea of a Centennial celebration should be given to Mary Davies Steele. It was the enthusiasm of this remarkable woman that first aroused local loyalty to action.
The plan was to have a great “noise celebration,” beginning at 12 o’clock on the evening of March 31st. The famous Hawaiian Band was secured for this occasion to augment the three local bands. More than forty big farm dinner bells were loaned by nearby farmers and hung along the south side of the Court House. Fireworks were purchased with a free hand and cannon drawn up for a tremendous ovation.
In a proclamation to the citizens the Mayor, C. G. McMillen, requested all downtown stores to keep illuminated until one-thirty A. M. By six o’clock in the evening the streets were crowded with out-of –town visitors. At ten-thirty the various divisions began forming and at midnight the parade was in full swing. Each division was composed of bands, floats, fireworks and tumult. The discharge of rockets continued for half an hour and proved “one of the grandest sights ever witnessed in Dayton.”
The next day, April first, the celebration was quieter, but no less interesting. Exercises were held in the afternoon at Steele High School and in twenty of the twenty-one district schools in the city. Twelve thousand pupils took part in this occasion. That evening the Grand Opera house, later the Victoria Theater, was packed with loyal Daytonians. There was an oration by E. A. Parrott and Frank Conover read a History of Dayton.
However, the real Centennial celebration was held in September, 1896. A whole week was given to the occasion, which was truly a wonderful time. The opening exercises were held on Monday, September 14th, at the Log Cabin, recently furnished in pioneer style. Governor Bushnell opened the exercises with a notable address. Tuesday morning eleven thousand school children paraded. That night there was a Venetian Carnival on the river, with fireworks, beautifully illuminated floats and canoe contests. In honor of the unique celebration the Dayton Natural Gas Company placed a standpipe in the middle of the river and allowed the escaping gas to ignite, making a huge flame twenty feet high.
The following day witnessed the industrial parade and that night Dayton saw a Carnival of Mimics that seemed a veritable Mardi Gras celebration. Thursday and Friday was open house at Newcom Tavern, when thousands of visitors saw for the first time how their pioneer forefathers lived and kept house.
The Flood of 1913
The story of the vast flood that overwhelmed Dayton in March, 1913, is too long to be even outlined in this limited space. It is too recent to need recalling.
Each of us have our memories. The early morning torrent of water—its rushing inundation of the down-town districts—the days and nights of hunger and terror—our “promises made in the attic”—these things we shall never forget. No works can add to those memories, or make them more vivid.
The outstanding feature in the story of the Dayton flood is not the widespread devastation, the ruin of business and the destruction of homes. The story that will go down through the years is the record of the heroic work and the uncrushable spirit of thousands of Dayton men and women.
The work of relief was done by hundreds and hundreds of Dayton citizens who worked for days with little food and less sleep. Men who overcame almost insuperable obstacles without calling it heroism. Men and women of Dayton who deserved unstinted praise, yet asked for nothing.
It was a spirit that refused to admit defeat. It was this unconquerable spirit that raised two million dollars to safeguard the future and that cleaned up the city in two weeks’ time.
This undismayed spirit of reconstruction displayed by a wrecked and prostrate city will be remembered long after the destruction of property is forgotten.
The disaster of 1913 brought new vision and marvelous unity of purpose. It is this vision of what Dayton can be that has inspired her growth since then. It has made for all of us a new and better city—safeguarded against all future floods.
This new unity has given us a new and better form of city government. It has given Dayton a new skyline. It has increased real estate values and has upheld the financial credit of the city.
If Dayton keeps the vision and unity of purpose given her by the flood—then Dayton will continue to advance spiritually and commercially. She will continue to maintain her high reputation among the cities of the United States.
The Winters National Bank passed through the flood without the loss of a single dollar’s worth of the property entrusted to it by its depositors.
November Eleventh
Nineteen Eighteen
Nineteen months of war—thousands of Dayton boys wearing the khaki of the U. S. Army—hundreds of service flags bearing the gold star of honorable death—every industry and every individual mobilized at full fighting strength—and then, at 1:50 A. M. on the morning of November 11, 1918, came the flash over the wires, “Armistice Signed.”
At 1:55 A. M. Mayor Switzer had been called out of bed to hear the wonderful news. Five minutes later every factory whistle in Dayton was screaming the victory of the Allies.
Within thirty minutes from the announcement of German surrender the street in front of the newspaper offices was packed. Some of the more eager even penetrated the sacred precincts of the press rooms and snatched at the extras as they were thrown off the big presses.
When morning came everybody went to work as usual. But there was no work accomplished that day. By 8 o’clock the “city’s chief thoroughfare was a whirling maelstrom of humanity” in the words of an eyewitness. By ten o’clock the jam on Main Street made progress almost impossible, but by mid afternoon it was worse, and at six that night there was no let-up apparent in either numbers or wild enthusiasm.
A snow storm of confetti was dropped from circling aeroplanes. The air was white with torn strips of paper and long streamers of ticker-tape descending from office buildings. The streets were commandeered by cheering, singing thousands on foot, in trucks, in automobiles.
Every Daytonian—from the “richest man in town” to the smallest newsboy, from the mother with a boy at the front to the High School girl with a sweetheart in training camp—all united in an expression of relief and thanksgiving.
The war was over, America victorious. No wonder Dayton streets were packed to the walls with a singing mob of joy-mad humanity. The war was over. The boys would come home.
November eleventh was a day never to be forgotten. It never should be forgotten, because it marks one of the great days in the history of America.
Four months and eleven days before the Armistice, Winters National Bank moved to 40 North Main Street. Since that time it has become the largest and best known National Bank in Dayton.
At the End of 107 Years
It has been more than one hundred years since H. G. Phillips sat in the offices of the first bank in Dayton, the institution from which Winters National Bank traces direct descent.
The establishment of the first bank marked the end of the period of barter and the beginning of commerce, small though that beginning was in the frontier town of less than one hundred families.
In those days the merchant who did his annual buying in the East was forced to spend three weeks in the saddle, riding over mountains and swimming rivers. When the goods he had purchased finally came to Dayton they were brought in on pack trains or up from Louisiana on river barges.
Today, our department stores have professional buyers whose entire time is spent in purchasing high-grade merchandise for their customers.
The Daytonians of those days were early risers. The breakfast bell at the old McCullom Tavern used to ring at five o’clock in the morning.
Mail came from Cincinnati once a week by post-rider. Today we have about forty out-of-town mails every day.
In 1818 a weekly mail service to Cincinnati was established. Less than fifteen years later the Canal was built, which enabled the traveler to make the long journey to Cincinnati in the short space of twenty-four hours.
Then came the railroad, and now—only recently—one may travel by aeroplane.
It seems very strange to us when we read that it was seriously proposed to build a Market House in the middle of Main Street. Perhaps it will seem as strange to our descendants when they read that we parked our automobiles on the street.
Dayton has seen great changes in her financial status in the past one hundred years. In 18l4 there was one bank—the Dayton Manufacturing Company. Today there are eleven banks, fifteen building and loan associations and three trust companies in Dayton.
The first loan of the Dayton Manufacturing Company was one of eleven thousand dollars to the Government to aid in carrying on the War of 1812. The latest statement of Winters National Bank shows loans and discounts of six and one-half million dollars.
The Winters National Bank of today
The history of the Winters National Bank has been interwoven with the commercial and civic activities of Dayton for more than a century, as told in the preceding pages of “Down Through the Years.”
The Dayton Manufacturing Company, of which the Winters National Bank is the direct descendant, was founded to conduct a banking business and to enable the community to develop commercially.
These early ancestors of the Winters National not only aided the development of commerce and industry, but were institutions of strength and resourcefulness in times of business uncertainty and depression.
In the days of “Wildcat” currency the Dayton Bank, a Winters forefather, was the only bank in the country that redeemed its notes with specie. In the panic of 1847 the firm of V. Winters & Son was a bulwark of strength in upholding the tottering business structure of the period.
The progenitors of Winters National Bank were always first to answer the call of their country—they were patriotic in the broadest sense of the word. The first loan of the Dayton Manufacturing Company was made to assist the government in carrying on the War of 1812.
In the Civil War Winters Bank was the first in Dayton to subscribe to the Government Five Percent Loan. During the World War Winters Bank was a leader in every activity that was of benefit to the United States Government. During the entire commercial life of Dayton, Winters National Bank and its ancestors have loyally served the best interests of the community and the nation.
It is a history of which to be proud. It is a banking home of which to be proud, said to be the most beautiful and artistic in the United States. The exterior was designed by Frank Hill Smith and the interior by James Cramp Foster.
With the new facilities acquired, the Winters National includes in its service all those activities which are a part of a bank’s responsibilities to its patrons and the community. The extraordinary growth during the past three years is regarded as a mark of public approval, and to deserve a continuation of that approval will be the work of the entire Winters organization—or, in the words of our slogan, “Every person in the bank is here to give you service.”
Many new departments have been added and those already in operation have been enlarged and extended. In the new building the savings Department occupies a room equalling in appointments and utility the entire space of many banks. Everything has been done to insure the pleasant, friendly and satisfactory transaction of business. Rest rooms for women, conference rooms for customers, the unit system for handling accounts, an Information Department, Credit Department, Bond Department, Foreign Department, Safe Deposit and Trust Department—each supervised by competent experts—all contribute to facilitating the business of banking and the saving of customers’ time. The present policy of the bank, which gives patrons the benefit of years of experience, unusual avenues of information and knowledge of conditions, has been widened and extended.
The winters National Bank will continue a vital factor in the life of Dayton, because of its resources and its spirit of service. This spirit of service embraces the practice of true courtesy and a desire to be of real, personal help to every customer of the bank. Back of this practical expression of service are resources that enable Dayton business to finance itself at home—resources that make this bank the largest and strongest National Bank in Dayton
The Winters National welcomes small business and will render every help possible to make the small business a large business. Winters National offers to large business co-operation commensurate with its requirements. Winters National will suggest methods for efficiently and economically conducting family finances through a checking account, and making the future of the family secure by the opening of savings accounts. It will advise as to investments and the buying of securities and act in connection with the administration and care of estates. From first to last, in the life of every patron, the Winters National “Bank will be a helpful, friendly influence.
The Winters National Bank believes in Dayton—in Dayton manufacturers, Dayton merchants, Dayton men and women, Dayton boys and girls. It pledges its organization and resources to the work of helping Dayton progress in the future as it has “down through the years.”
