L I B HARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 332.. II 
 
 M62.o 
 
 HllNOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/80yearsofbanking00mill 
 
80 Ljeai^ ar tp^anki 
 
 I 
 
 1 860-19 40 
 
 Edited by 
 O. T. BANTON 
 
 THE MILLIKIN NATIONAL BANK 
 
 OF DECATUR 
 DECATUR, ILLINOIS 
 
COPYRIGHT 1940 
 
 The Millikin National Bank 
 
 of Decatur 
 
 Decatur, Illinois 
 
 Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following firms 
 
 for their assistance in publishing this book. 
 
 Charles R. Willis, Decatur, Illinois — Photographer. 
 
 Capitol Engraving Company, Springfield, Illinois — Engraver. 
 
 Huston-Patterson Corporation, Decatur, Illinois — Printer. 
 
^zsotewo'cJL 
 
 In this little book an attempt has been made to present only the 
 most interesting highlights of the eighty-year history of the Millikin 
 National Bank. 
 
 The compilers of these brief chapters have also presented, in a 
 manner they hope will be interesting to the friends of the bank, a story 
 of the life of James Millikin, the versatile founder of the institution and 
 recognized as one of the most talented small city bankers of his time. 
 Less extensive mention is given to the strong staff of bank executives 
 with which Mr. Millikin surrounded himself and to whom he gave much 
 credit for building his bank into the outstanding institution it became. 
 
 Throughout the eighty years of its operation the Millikin bank has 
 served its community in times of prosperity and through periods of 
 financial stress. In carefree days of national plenty it has been accus- 
 tomed to look ahead, following and counseling a safe and conservative 
 course. It always has been prepared to ride securely through periods 
 of national emergency. 
 
 All through its long history this bank has enjoyed that measure of 
 continued public confidence which is the most treasured asset of a 
 financial institution, the measuring rod by which its ultimate destiny 
 is determined. 
 
 It may not be generally known that the Millikin National Bank has 
 attained a place as one of the five largest financial institutions in the 
 state of Illinois outside of Chicago. At the time of Mr. Millikin's death 
 in 1909 it had a capital of $200,000 and a surplus of $200,000. Gradually 
 in the last thirty years these figures have grown until the bank today 
 is capitalized at $500,000 with a surplus of $500,000, aside from large 
 amounts of undivided profits and reserves. Following its constructive 
 policies of the past, with these ample resources it continues to extend 
 the utmost in liberal credits to finance the establishment of homes and 
 promote the commercial, industrial and agricultural growth of the com- 
 munity consistent with sound banking and business practises. 
 
Twenty-five years ago the fast developments in the trust field and 
 the growing demand for services of corporate trustees led to the organ- 
 ization of The Millikin Trust Company as an affiliate of the bank. The 
 trust company has confined its activities purely to trust business and 
 has acquired a widespread reputation in that field. 
 
 The past few eventful years have brought many changes in both 
 banking and trust practises, but the affiliated Millikin institutions have 
 met all the challenges with which these changes have been attended. 
 
 The increase in business volume, together with a realization of the 
 growing needs of vigilance and care in banking affairs, resulted several 
 years ago in the formation of an organized legal department and other 
 specializations and refinements of organization customarily found only 
 in the larger financial corporations. Today the Millikin bank and trust 
 firms are qualified to give to the public a grade of service which was 
 unknown in financial houses of like size a comparatively few years ago. 
 
 As they come now to the 80th anniversary of the founding of this 
 bank, its directors are gratified at the scale on which the people of the 
 community have availed themselves of its services in the years past. 
 They look forward to greater opportunities for service in the years ahead. 
 
 THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 
 
■■&&**.. 
 
 JAMES MILLIKIN 
 
JAMES MILLIKIN 
 
 Few communities in America have been so safely piloted from the 
 era of wildcat banking into sound banking services as has the city of 
 Decatur, Illinois. 
 
 For this the people here owe a great debt to James Millikin, founder 
 of the banking institution that bears his name. Decatur is doubly in- 
 debted because, after having made a fortune operating his bank, Mr. 
 Millikin left his entire estate to the community. 
 
 Mr. Millikin's business interests extended far beyond the banking 
 activities he directed, and casting his fortunes with Decatur as he did 
 when it was a village of little more than 3,000, he must be ranked among 
 the founders of the city. 
 
 Of strict Scotch Presbyterian ancestry, James Millikin was born in 
 Clarkstown, now Ten Mile, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 
 August 2, 1827. His father, Abel Millikin, was a farmer of comfortable 
 but moderate means. 
 
 While little is known of his early life, James probably was reared 
 like most farm boys in the Pennsylvania hills in those days. He attended 
 the district school on Ten Mile creek in winter that was taught by his 
 brother, Samuel Millikin. It is related that at the age of eight he was 
 the idol of his doting grandmother, Dolly McFarland Millikin, and had 
 many happy remembrances of special favors granted him by her. 
 
 His grandfather, James Millikin, came from Dromore, County Down, 
 Ireland, in 1771 and settled on Ten Mile creek. He is described as a 
 very quiet man, and a weaver by trade. His grandson and namesake 
 passed many pleasant hours with him when a lad, in the loomshop 
 filling grills for his grandfather's shuttles, while the weaver sang songs 
 and told stories of the "auld country." 
 
 The patriarch of the Pennsylvania Millikins claimed to be of pure 
 Scotch blood and protested being called an Irishman. His family had 
 come from Scotland and settled in Ulster, then an almost wholly Scotch 
 colony in Ireland. His house on Ten Mile creek was on a knoll, over- 
 looking the stream. It was of hewn logs, two stories of one room each. 
 
 On his mother's side the future Decatur banker was of Dutch line- 
 age. Abel Millikin's first wife was Nancy Van Dyke, whose ancestors 
 
came from Holland and settled along the Hudson river. In platting 
 streets in his real estate holdings on the northwest side of Decatur sixty 
 years ago, Mr. Millikin named one of them Van Dyke street, in memory 
 of his mother. 
 
 That James read much and was an industrious youth like his Scotch 
 neighbor boys, seems unquestioned. He was sturdy and aggressive, as 
 shown in his driving flocks of sheep to Illinois when barely twenty. He 
 and his sister Sarah joined the Pleasant Hill Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church, of which their father was a leading elder, when James was 16. 
 
 Drove Steers To New York 
 
 During young manhood — it is not recorded at what age — James 
 and a neighbor boy, John E. Smith, drove a herd of steers 500 miles to 
 New York City, which then had a population of about 30,000. They 
 drove the steers down Broadway and, it is reported, "disposed of them 
 there satisfactorily." 
 
 Mr. Millikin received sufficient education in the district school to 
 enter Washington College, now Washington and Jefferson, at Washing- 
 ton, Pennsylvania. The records show that, at the age of 19, he matricu- 
 lated in the preparatory and English department of the college in the 
 fall of 1846. He was also registered as a special student in the junior 
 class in the college's catalog of 1847-1848. 
 
 It was while attending Washington college that his sympathies were 
 aroused by the struggles of boys to secure funds enough to meet ex- 
 penses and to overcome the inadequacy of their preparation for the 
 classes they entered. Then and there, only twenty years of age, he 
 made the vow that if ever he amassed a fortune, he would found an 
 institution of learning in which all classes of youth could secure an 
 education fitting them for any occupation they might desire to enter. 
 This was finally fulfilled in 1901 in the James Millikin University. 
 
 While accounts differ as to the courses he took and the length of 
 time he spent there, it is known that Mr. Millikin later attended Wabash 
 College at Wabash, Indiana, for a period, coming from Danville, Illinois. 
 One report says he attended for the purpose of completing his course 
 in Latin begun at Washington College. Another account indicates that 
 he may have taken a much more extensive course at Wabash. 
 
Chose Business Career 
 
 Mr. Millikin's family and friends believed that he would become a 
 member of the medical fraternity which had claimed several representa- 
 tives of the Millikin relationship. But the tastes and talents of the young 
 man were not in that direction and he determined to come to the West, 
 believing that in this growing section of the country he saw good oppor- 
 tunities for advancement in business. He had become interested in the 
 attractive stories of the West while in Washington College, and par- 
 ticularly wanted to visit Indiana and Illinois. 
 
 He convinced his father that this country promised such large re- 
 turns on investments that the elder Millikin accompanied him west in 
 the summer of 1349. The two drove a flock of sheep into Indiana, which 
 they soon sold at a good profit. 
 
 Although pleased with the country around Crawfordsville, Indiana, 
 he drove the next flock, in the spring of 1850, to Danville, Illinois. These 
 he disposed of after pasturing them for a period, at a much larger profit, 
 the market at Danville being better than that at Crawfordsville. 
 
 After spending the winter of that year in Wabash College, he again, 
 and for several years, returned to Pennsylvania for more sheep, driving 
 them out to the vicinity of Danville for pasturing. Each flock was even- 
 tually disposed of at a good profit. 
 
 The largest flock, about 2,000, was obtained from his father and was 
 driven out to the Danville community by Mr. Millikin and a neighbor 
 youth named McFarland, possibly a cousin on his grandmother's side. 
 The young men are said to have given Mr. Millikin's father a note for 
 the sheep, which they paid off in three years. 
 
 Mr. Millikin and McFarland bought and traded in cattle also, renting 
 tracts of grazing land and selling their stock when the market was most 
 favorable. Mr. Millikin later bought out McFarland's interest in the 
 venture, and rapidly expanded his operations. 
 
 His large flocks and herds gave him great prominence as a breeder 
 of fine stock. He won six silver medal spoons which bear the stamp of 
 the "Illinois State Fair of 1857". He has been called the "first cattle 
 king of the prairie state." 
 
 During the height of his livestock business in the Danville area, Mr. 
 Millikin operated on $6,000 credit he had established with an Indian- 
 
apolis bank. He at one time had 10,000 sheep, which grazed over a 
 radius of 20 miles. It is said that Mr. Millikin nearly wore himself out 
 riding on horseback day and night in inspecting his flocks. 
 
 He had been acquiring extensive land holdings in Illinois and south- 
 western Iowa. Much of this he bought from the government for $1 and 
 $1.25 an acre. He was the original owner of the tract on which the city 
 of Bement now stands. These lands advanced greatly in value, and on 
 realizing heavy profit from their sale, he decided to dispose of most of 
 his livestock and relieve himself of the strenuous task of looking after 
 flocks. 
 
 Came To Decatur With $75,000 
 
 Mr. Millikin's land liquidations at that time included a tract wanted 
 by the Wabash railroad at Bement. On that and other land he sold at 
 the time and from sale of his livestock he realized about $75,000, with 
 which he came to Decatur. It was a small fortune in those days, and 
 had been acquired by Mr. Millikin before he was 30 years of age. 
 
 For a few years previous he had been watching the growth of 
 Decatur and getting acquainted with some of the leading men of this 
 enterprising town. He became convinced Decatur had a good future, 
 and so decided to cast his lot with its people. 
 
 Mr. Millikin came here in 1856 and continued for a few years in the 
 business he had been following, buying and selling livestock, and deal- 
 ing in lands and real estate. One of his first real estate purchases in 
 Decatur was the tract of land west of Pine Street, north of Main Street 
 and extending west as far as Oakland Avenue. On part of this tract he 
 later built his home, now the Decatur Art Institute building. 
 
 It was after disposing of a large part of his livestock and real estate 
 holdings and while wondering what he should turn to next, that Mr. 
 Millikin was invited by some business leaders in Decatur to go into the 
 banking business. Greatly pleased and not a little flattered at the confi- 
 dence thus displayed in him, the successful young livestock and land 
 dealer decided to make a try at banking, a field of which he was 
 entirely ignorant. 
 
 Decides To Try Banking 
 
 His good sense told him there was nothing complicated about bank- 
 ing, and he had tried himself out enough to learn to have confidence. 
 
 9 
 
s 
 
 He had had about all he felt he needed of riding over stock ranches; he 
 was ready for something indoors and resolved that banking should be 
 his next venture. 
 
 The old Railroad bank had failed in 1860, and Decatur was badly 
 in need of a stable bank. Mr. Millikin bought out the bank's equipment 
 and that same year opened his own private bank in the room the old 
 bank had occupied on Merchant Street. 
 
 From that time on Mr. Millikin lived a new and in some respects 
 more strenuous life than he had as a stockman. While he made a suc- 
 cess of his bank from the start, he made little money at it for many y-jars. 
 In reality he had difficulty in holding his own, he related afterward, and 
 in keeping intact the $75,000 he had when he tackled the banking 
 venture. 
 
 One time on a hunting trip in Michigan he told several friends 
 around a campfire that he did not make much money until he was 50 
 years old. He corrected that, and said he did make money fast as a 
 young man when he first came to Illinois — as a stock feeder, but after 
 that it took most of his energy to hold the start he had given himself. 
 
 He did his hardest work in building up the bank, and sometimes 
 the conditions were discouraging. In commenting on this one time he 
 said: 
 
 'There are only two ways that a man can get out of the banking 
 business; he can break up or he can die. While he is alive if times are 
 good he does not want to quit banking; he can't quit when times are 
 bad." 
 
 It is said that there were times in the early years, when Mr. Millikin 
 would have been glad to get out of banking and turn to some other line 
 of business. When he and J. Q. A. Odor dissolved the partnership under 
 which the bank was operated a short time in 1863, Mr. Millikin, it is re- 
 corded, offered either to buy out Odor's interest or sell his to Odor. He 
 is said to have expressed disappointment when Odor chose to sell. 
 
 Mr. Millikin was an excellent judge of men, however, and as the 
 years went on he surrounded himself with an exceptionally strong staff 
 of associates. Among these were lerome R. Gorin, who was his partner 
 from 1865 to 1881; Orville B. Gorin, Parke Hammer, Joseph M. Brown- 
 
 10 
 
back, Smith Walker, Guy P. Lewis and W. A. Hammer. Orville B. Gorin 
 succeeded to the bank presidency at Mr. Millikin's death. 
 
 The first 15 to 20 years were difficult ones, with banking generally 
 emerging from the era of unstable currency, and progress made by Mr. 
 Millikin's bank was slow. But he had a talent for judging credits and 
 judging men that few bankers of his day possessed, and his investments 
 almost always turned out well. 
 
 His Reputation Grew 
 
 After incorporation of his business into a national bank in 1897, 
 progress was more rapid, partly because banking generally throughout 
 the country was greatly strengthened by passage of the national bank- 
 ing law. Ten years later the Millikin bank was regarded as one of the 
 strongest small city banks in the country, and Mr. Millikin's own reputa- 
 tion as an astute banker extended far beyond the confines of his own 
 state. 
 
 The volume of business to which the bank attained occasioned not 
 a little surprise and flattering comment. Anyone who seeks the reason 
 for this will find it in the character and methods of the man who founded 
 the bank and the staff that helped him to build it up. 
 
 The dominating characteristics of James Millikin were honesty, intel- 
 ligence, industry and prudence, with a broad benevolence and interest 
 in his community underlying all. In his exercise of the latter he often 
 befriended without thought of return, and loaned his own money to per- 
 sons to whom he could not lend the bank's funds. 
 
 These acts of generosity seldom went awry, however, and made 
 Mr. Millikin many friends who eventually became valuable customers 
 of the bank. As the years rolled on, his reputation as a banker grew, 
 and the confidence of the people who entrusted their money to his care 
 kept on growing throughout the slightly more than 49 years that he was 
 head of the bank. 
 
 James Millikin did more than any other man to build up Decatur 
 and its business enterprises. He took the attitude that whatever was 
 good for Decatur was good for him and his bank, and he always gave 
 liberally to worthy civic enterprises. 
 
 Mr. Millikin not only holds this rank because during his lifetime he 
 gave away more than a half million dollars and at his death left a mil- 
 
 11 
 
lion and a quarter dollars in trust (or educational and charitable uses 
 here. He did still other things for Decatur. 
 
 During his long banking career he helped many a man to get his 
 start, and to get ahead after he had made a sound start. This 'applies 
 not only to many business men in Decatur, but to the heads of farm 
 families throughout Macon and nearby counties whose prosperity Jias 
 added much to the building up of the community. So good a judge of 
 character and ability was the veteran banker that he seldom made a 
 mistake in picking the men to whom he gave assistance. 
 
 It was in picking out men and enterprises of merit that Mr. Millikin 
 did most for the material interests of Decatur. Once he remarked that 
 after all most depends on the man in the enterprise; and then he told 
 that on more than one occasion he had loaned a man four times as much 
 as the borrower was worth. Mr. Millikin in that had to take a chance, 
 of course. But it is the men who take a chance and exercise discern- 
 ment in doing it who make the big marks in the world. 
 
 Many who received assistance from Mr. Millikin became the strong 
 men in the growth of the city; the enterprises directed by their energies 
 made the town. The successful city is composed of an aggregation of 
 paying enterprises; it is around those that populations gather, for there 
 the people can make a living. 
 
 Mr. Millikin had much to do with getting such institutions on their 
 feet here and well started. It was fortunate both for his bank and the 
 community it was serving that he was so capable of picking the right 
 men to aid. If a banker allows himself to get connected with a few 
 spectacular failures he has done harm in place of good. The man in the 
 banking business who can't distinguish between a winner and an almost 
 sure loser will not last long; he will go to the scrap heap with his poor 
 selections. 
 
 Had Business Courage 
 
 The Decatur Daily Review, in commenting on these qualities in Mr. 
 Millikin after his death, said: 
 
 "Mr. Millikin, of course, was aware of all this. An appreciation of 
 that makes some men cowards; they are afraid to take any action, lest 
 they make a mistake and bring disaster on themselves. It seems there 
 never was a time when there was any of this fear in lames Millikin; he 
 
 12 
 
felt reasonably sure whenever he started in on a thing of this kind, and 
 that was all that was needed to give him courage. 
 
 "If you will look over the enterprises that first and last have made 
 Decatur the splendid little city it is, you will discover that most of them 
 in their time commanded the confidence of James Millikin and because 
 of that got assistance from him when it was needed. 
 
 "One thing Mr. Millikin did for Decatur was get behind the Union 
 Iron Works and build it up. He took over that institution when it was in 
 bad shape . . . But he got the place to going, got some good men con- 
 nected with it, and then it became one of the prosperous businesses of 
 the city. That shop has helped much in the advertising of Decatur, as 
 must any successful manufacturing enterprise." 
 
 It was an easy matter for James Millikin to make money. Once he 
 remarked that if he were a young man he would give his money away 
 for the pleasure of making it again. There is little doubt that he could 
 have done it. 
 
 During the first twenty years of his banking venture Mr. Millikin 
 worked mighty hard to get ahead in money making. It is not likely that 
 he then dreamed of being a millionaire. But he stuck to it during all the 
 twenty years, and then his fight was won. 
 
 Mr. Millikin became one of the richest men in Macon County. Yet 
 most of his acquaintances, even after knowing him for years, seldom 
 thought of him first as a money maker. Those who met him in a social 
 way, it is said, never were bored by disquisitions on the art of making 
 money. He had something else to talk about, and was interested in a 
 thousand other things. 
 
 He liked to go to the Decatur Club in the afternoons. There he 
 would spend two or three hours in card games and in chatting with 
 friends and acquaintances. No one on those occasions ever gathered 
 from his intimate talks that he was ever troubled with a sense of his 
 importance because he had succeeded in making money. He joshed 
 with his old acquaintances, sometimes in vigorous style; they are de- 
 scribed as acting "very much like a set of hale young fellows starting 
 life on even terms." 
 
 13 
 
Talked of Himself Little 
 
 The Review, in discussing these qualities of the banker in its edition 
 carrying the story of his death, said: 
 
 "It was even somewhat that way at the bank. You could call there 
 to see him about a matter outside the business of the house; he would 
 sit down and talk for an hour and a half about anything and everything 
 that had no possible connection with banking or money making. It may 
 have been different in his younger days. But certainly in the last fifteen 
 years of his life he preferred to think of something else besides making 
 money, at least to talk about something else. 
 
 'The truth is he preferred always to talk of something besides him- 
 self. The only time he was unsatisfactory to the interviewer was when 
 there was an effort to get him to tell something about the particulars of 
 his own life. He did not do that very well, probably couldn't. If you 
 learned anything from him about himself you had to do it a paragraph 
 at a time — something now, and something else when you might meet 
 him the following week. 
 
 'Take him all in all, he was not easily understood; perhaps that is 
 true of most capable men. He did not like everybody, not by a good 
 deal. And yet he was a most willing man to do something for the com- 
 munity, and that included everybody. He gave away large sums of 
 money, and yet he never had money to burn. There was absolutely 
 no flourish in his money giving. He did not talk about such things; and 
 so well was this understood that his most intimate friends did not attempt 
 to talk to him about them. They talked plenty; on occasions they would 
 get young again and almost noisy. But they never had anything to say 
 about the big things they had done." 
 
 Kept Record Intact 
 
 Mr. Millikin was proud of the record made by his bank, that it never 
 had refused to pay on demand to any man who had a deposit. In the 
 last months of 1907 banks in all parts of the country were suspending 
 cash payments; they were giving clearing house certificates and other 
 paper forms that were not exactly money. 
 
 But Mr. Millikin did not want any of that. He was then eighty years 
 old and never in his life up to that time had he refused to pay out the 
 cash. He determined not to break that record. He went into the market 
 
 14 
 
and bought $200,000 in currency, paying a handsome premium for it. 
 He did not need the money, as it turned out, but he was ready for the 
 depositors if they had asked for it. 
 
 The Decatur Herald, in writing of Mr. Millikin at the time of his 
 death, said: 
 
 "James Millikin possessed the breadth of vision that raised him 
 above the man whose only claim to distinction is mere wealth. He saw 
 the possibilities of the Corn Belt soil, and his investments brought forth 
 four fold. He entered into financial and other business pursuits and 
 prospered in them. His name became synonymous with conservatism 
 and business integrity; he amassed a fortune and he never pretended to 
 be anything else than a plain country banker. 
 
 "While his means were such that all luxuries were within his reach, 
 Mr. Millikin was not a man who found delight in a life of ease. Denied 
 what he most longed for, a son and heir, his life was wrapped in his 
 business. He grew to have great pride in the standing of his bank. It 
 must be beyond question in its integrity and its resources. His life was 
 devoted to that. Long before his death he had ceased to think of making 
 money for his own use. All that he cared for was the character and 
 standing of his bank. Fifteen years ago, when a man who knew him 
 well and because of his acquaintance went to Mr. Millikin to negotiate 
 a loan, explaining that he would prefer to transact the business with Mr. 
 Millikin rather than with the bank, Mr. Millikin replied: 
 
 "I've got all the money I want. More than I want. If I lend you 
 money I will be making more money and I don't want to do that. I am 
 out of business personally. Your security is good. Go to Orville 
 (Orville B. Gorin, Vice President of The Millikin Bank) and he will give 
 you the money you want.' 
 
 Gave Assistance To Many 
 
 "In the business world Mr. Millikin was long recognized as ever 
 willing to give assistance to those who deserved it. If they had shown 
 by their efforts that they were inclined to be thrifty, they could always 
 get a hearing with him. It was his delight to lend assistance in such 
 cases. There are many men in Decatur and Macon County who owe 
 their success to the assistance of lames Millikin. All that he asked was 
 
 15 
 
2 is 
 H ° 
 
a fair statement of the situation and that he should be dealt with 
 honestly. 
 
 "He was a good judge of human nature and that perhaps accounts 
 for his business success. He was not infallible, however, and there are 
 on the records instances where he was deceived. Generous in extend- 
 ing a helping hand, he was slow to forgive when he had reason to be- 
 lieve he had deliberately been imposed upon, and rarely if ever did a 
 man who had one time purposely deceived the banker have opportunity 
 to do it a second time. He believed in absolute truth in business affairs. 
 
 "When he knew that his clients were telling the truth, he carried 
 heavy burdens for them. With unshaken confidence that his client was 
 telling the truth, he gave at times almost unlimited credit. He knew the 
 details of the business he was backing and under such conditions 
 seemed to feel that it was his own judgment that he endorsed and not 
 the business judgment of his client, who for the time being was merely 
 his agent. 
 
 "But for that trait in the character of James Millikin, there are today 
 men of large means who otherwise long since would have disappeared 
 from the business world. These men were loyal in their allegiance to 
 the Millikin Bank. Between them and the institution, long before it 
 ceased to be a private bank, there grew to be a feeling of something 
 more than mere business relation. That accounts for the great success 
 of The Millikin Banking House. 
 
 "The men whom he tried and found true, James Millikin was ever 
 willing to assist. Many of these men were not slow to appreciate the 
 favors shown them, and when they had gone over the thin ice of finan- 
 cial uncertainty and prosperity came to them, they were faithful to the 
 bank which had been their refuge during times of stress." 
 
 Bought Home Site In 1862 
 
 The old Millikin residence, as it now stands, cost Mr. Millikin over 
 $45,000. The property, which has 660 feet of frontage on West Main 
 Street and 350 feet on Pine Street, was bought in 1862 from Captain 
 David Allen for $2,200. The home Mr. Millikin built originally cost 
 $18,000, but many improvements later were made on the interior while 
 the exterior always has remained practically the same. Extensive land- 
 
 17 
 
scaping was done, and the lawn was long ranked as the most beautiful 
 in the city. 
 
 Mr. Millikin later acquired Oakland Park, the sixteen-acre tract that 
 is now the east half of the Millikin University grounds. Besides the Union 
 Iron Works, he became interested in a variety of enterprises here. His 
 holdings eventually included city real estate, farm lands in Illinois and 
 considerable stock in Louisiana Canal and rice companies. At times 
 he had large investments in government bonds, in whose changing 
 values he seemed to have had unusual prescience. 
 
 He was born a Whig in politics, but joined the Republican party 
 about the time of its organization in the fifties. Although quite prom- 
 inent and influential in its councils, he was little inclined to seek official 
 position. He served, however, as a member of the Board of Supervisors 
 and as a City Alderman for some time after locating in Decatur. 
 
 Once he consented to run for State Senator, but the prejudice 
 against bankers in general at that time was used by his opponent with 
 such effect that he failed of election. He felt the defeat keenly, although 
 he was as good a sport in politics as in business. 
 
 Through the long years of his strenuous business career Mr. Millikin 
 never permitted himself to forget that vow of his college days, that some- 
 day he would found an educational institution at which poor boys and 
 girls would have an opportunity to better equip themselves for useful 
 lives. 
 
 Turns Mind To Boyhood Dream 
 
 After forty years of banking, when Mr. Millikin had turned over to 
 his capable associates a large part of the management of his bank, the 
 financier turned his mind more directly to the fulfillment of that dream 
 of more than a half century before. He discussed his cherished project 
 occasionally with personal friends, although for some time no definite 
 plans were laid. In referring to his purchase of Oakland Park he one 
 day remarked to a friend that he might build a college on it sometime. 
 
 On May 13, 1900, Mr. Millikin made a formal offer to Dr. W. J. 
 Darby, Secretary of the Educational Society of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian Church, and Rev. A. W. Hawkins, Pastor of the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian Church of this city, to found an institution of learning in Decatur 
 under the auspices of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. 
 
 18 
 
One of his stipulations was, however, that the school should not be 
 narrowly sectarian, but that it should "be conducted on a broad plane 
 in which all will be treated alike, regardless of sect or creed." In this 
 offer Mr. Millikin agreed to donate Oakland Park and $200,000, on the 
 condition that the synods of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa would raise 
 $100,000 and the city of Decatur a like amount. 
 
 On January 1, 1901, Mr Millikin was notified that his conditions had 
 been met. After considerable negotiating with the trustees of Lincoln 
 University in Lincoln, Illinois, with reference to a union of that institution 
 and the proposed college in Decatur, it was agreed to amend the charter 
 of Lincoln University so that it should change its name to Lincoln College 
 and that a single Board of Trustees should be appointed for both institu- 
 tions with a separate board of managers to be named for each. 
 
 An offer of the presidency was made to Dr. A. R. Taylor, then Presi- 
 dent of the Kansas State Normal School. He accepted and on July 1, 1901, 
 had entered upon his new duties. 
 
 A committee composed of Mr. Millikin, Dr. Taylor and Peter Loeb, 
 a member of the Board of Managers for the new school, to be known as 
 the Decatur College and Industrial School, made an extended trip, visit- 
 ing noted institutions of learning. They obtained many good ideas. 
 
 The cornerstone of the Liberal Arts Building was laid June 12, 1902, 
 by the Masonic Fraternity, the address being delivered by Dr. W. H. 
 Penhallegon of Decatur. Mr. Millikin's dislike of notoriety was demon- 
 strated by his unwillingness to appear on the platform on this occasion, 
 though he was strongly urged to do so. He contented himself by ming- 
 ling with the crowd for a few moments as it gathered, and then slipped 
 away quietly. 
 
 Roosevelt Gave Address 
 
 The original group of three buildings, with the power house and 
 machinery hall, cost $216,000 and were dedicated June 4, 1903, with 
 impressive ceremonies. The dedicatory address was delivered by 
 President Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 It was a glorious day for Decatur. There was a gathering of Amer- 
 ican statesmen as guests of the city, as well as a few friends of Mr. 
 Millikin from abroad. On this occasion Mr. Millikin was induced to take 
 
 19 
 
a more active part in the ceremonies. He explained to President Roose- 
 velt that the university was the culmination of his dream as a college 
 boy, and the President made indirect reference to this in his address 
 when he said: 
 
 "We are all as Americans to be congratulated that there are among 
 us men who so worthily apply the fortunes they have made, in devoting 
 a portion of them to the cause of education in this country. 
 
 "Mr. Millikin, I feel that as an American it is proper for me to ex- 
 press to you and to those like you, the obligation that good Americans 
 feel for what you and they have done in this university and in other edu- 
 cational institutions throughout the land." 
 
 Mr. Millikin looked forward eagerly, yet with some misgiving, to see 
 what the enrollment would be when school would open that fall. Dr. 
 Taylor records that he comforted him by telling him he had correspon- 
 dence and applications from 300 students in advance. 
 
 Tn describing the exercises on the opening day, September 15, 1903, 
 Dr. Taylor wrote: 
 
 "The opening day exercises were attended by a large company of 
 friends and prospective students, university and college officials occu- 
 pying the platform. Mr. and Mrs. Millikin with some personal friends 
 occupied the east box. 
 
 "The enthusiasm ran high as the Honorable I. R. Mills, President of 
 the Board of Managers, opened the program with congratulations and 
 encouraging prophecies for the future of the new institution. Others 
 followed in a similar vein with assurances of cooperation and support. 
 (President Taylor then gave his address). 
 
 "In the meantime I had been taking stock as to the probable number 
 of students crowding up through the gallery almost to the ceiling, and 
 feeling confident of the result of our active canvass of the field. I stepped 
 forward and asked all present who intended to enroll in our classes to 
 stand. The applause following was so infectious that as a friend ex- 
 pressed it, 'the roof seemed to shake.' The tellers appointed reported 
 to me and I turned to Mr. Millikin, recalling a statement he formerly had 
 made to me that if in five or six years our attendance should reach that 
 many hundred, he would be satisfied. I then introduced to him 562 stu- 
 dents waiting to matriculate. 
 
 20 
 
"He could not restrain the tears as he stood facing that goodly com- 
 pany, and bowing quietly resumed his seat. It was a greater day {or 
 our benefactor than for all the rest of us combined. As we rose to pass 
 out he said to Mr. A. H. Mills, one of the managers, equally pleased 
 with the rest of us: 'Now it is up to the faculty.' 
 
 "The total enrollment for the first year was 712; for the second year 
 it was 764, representing 23 different states." 
 
 Married Over 50 Years 
 
 No story of Mr. Millikin's life would be complete without special 
 mention of his devoted wife, who was his daily companion and coun- 
 selor for over fifty years. 
 
 Anna Bernice Aston, who became the wife of the young Decatur 
 business man in 1857, was the daughter of the Rev. Samuel M. Aston, a 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Minister and Evangelist. She was educated 
 in the Washington Female Seminary at Washington, Pennsylvania, 
 where she graduated in 1854. 
 
 The following year her father, who had been organizing congrega- 
 tions in Ohio, accepted a call to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
 at Mt. Zion, in Macon County, Illinois. He settled his family on an 80 
 acre farm which he purchased two miles northwest of Mt. Zion, a common 
 thing for pioneer ministers to do in those days. Anna, on her scholastic 
 record at the seminary, was engaged to teach in the village school. 
 
 Mr. Millikin, having come to Decatur about this time, often attended 
 the parties and lyceums in those days, where he was warmly welcomed 
 and highly esteemed. He occasionally engaged in the debating con- 
 tests, being well informed on many subjects discussed. He made some 
 reputation in the spelling contests, and having had an interesting exper- 
 ience in transferring his home from Pennsylvania to Illinois, it was but 
 natural that the comely and well educated Anna, from his college town, 
 should make his acquaintance. 
 
 There is a legend, according to Dr. Taylor's account, that Mr. Milli- 
 kin's sisters, fellow students in the Washington seminary with Miss 
 Aston, wrote Brother Jim of her rare qualities and urged an early 
 acquaintance. 
 
 At any rate, he easily won her, and being then nearly thirty years 
 of age, he lost no time in waiting through a long engagement. She was 
 
 21 
 
then about 25, and on New Year's day, 1857, Mr. Millikin took the Rev. 
 Erastus W. Thayer, Pastor of the Presbyterian church at Decatur, out to 
 the Aston home. There in the presence of a small but select company of 
 friends, the nuptials were solemnized. Her father had died on November 
 17, 1856, after serving the Mt. Zion Church but a little over a year. Hence 
 the call for services of another minister. Within fifteen minutes the 
 bridal party was on the way to Decatur, and the young couple took 
 the Illinois Central train to Chicago for a wedding trip. 
 
 For a year or more, after their return, they had rooms in the old 
 Revere house in Decatur. They then set up housekeeping in an attrac- 
 tive cottage on the northeast corner of William and Edward Streets, 
 living there until they built their new home at Main and Pine in 1876. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Millikin traveled much in this country and some 
 abroad, improving every opportunity to inspect notable buildings and 
 to become acquainted with the best in art, both in private collections 
 and museums. It is presumed that during these travels Mr. Millikin took 
 a strong liking to the Elizabethan style of architecture, which was chosen 
 for the Millikin University buildings. 
 
 Mrs. Millikin died July 29, 1913, having outlived her husband by a 
 little more than four years. Her memory is perpetuated in Decatur by 
 Aston Hall, well equipped women's dormitory at Millikin University, and 
 by the Anna B. Millikin Home, founded across the street from the east 
 side of the university campus in 1901 for aged women and dependent 
 children. 
 
 Mr. Millikin died in Orlando, Florida, March 2, 1909. He and Mrs. 
 Millikin had gone South for the winter as was their custom. More than 
 1,500 persons were at the Wabash station when his body arrived back 
 in Decatur. Impressive funeral ceremonies were held in the assembly 
 hall at the university, with Dr. Penhallegon delivering the funeral 
 address. 
 
 Left $1,250,000 In Trust Fund 
 
 In his will Mr. Millikin first provided for his wife, giving her outright 
 the fine home with its large grounds, and a life income. After several 
 bequests to relatives he left the residue of the estate, amounting to more 
 than $1,250,000 to five trustees, specifying that it was to be used for 
 educational and charitable purposes in the city of Decatur. 
 
 22 
 
These persons were named as trustees: 
 
 Mrs. James Millikin. 
 
 Dr. Silas E. McClelland, who was designated as Chairman. 
 
 Orville B. Gorin, Vice President of The Millikin National Bank. 
 
 Joseph M. Brownback, Vice President of The Millikin National Bank. 
 
 Smith E. Walker, Cashier of The Millikin National Bank. 
 
 The Millikin Estate owns more than half of the stock in the Millikin 
 Bank, and three of the trustees are officers of the bank. Thus the bank 
 and the estate are closely bound together. 
 
 The present trustees of the estate are: 
 
 Dr. Silas E. McClelland, Chairman of the Trustees and Chairman of 
 the Board of Directors of The Millikin Bank. 
 
 Lee Boland, General Counsel for the bank. 
 
 J. Sherman McClelland. 
 
 C. A. Imboden, Vice President of The Millikin Bank. 
 
 Roy M. Hamilton. 
 
 So well has the trusteeship been administered that more than 
 $2,000,000 from the estate has been paid out for maintenance and 
 improvements at Millikin University and for other charitable activities 
 in Decatur, while the corpus of the estate has not been diminished. 
 
 The chief source of income of the estate is the earnings of the Milli- 
 kin Bank. The educational and charitable use of these earnings in the 
 community makes of the bank a quasi-public institution. The greater 
 its earnings the greater the annual gifts of the estate to the community. 
 
 It is difficult for the home town folks to reach a correct appraisal of 
 one of their own number who achieves an illustrious career. The ten- 
 dency is to overrate such an individual through local pride in his 
 achievements, or to overlook the full measure of his greatness because 
 he was so close at hand that what he accomplished was taken for 
 granted. 
 
 As the span of years since Mr. Millikin's death grows, and lengthens 
 the perspective from which the present generation must view his notable 
 career, the measure of his ability and public spiritedness is becoming 
 more clearly realized. 
 
 23 
 
Decatur today regards James Millikin as the city's greatest bene- 
 factor, and its people refer proudly to his life and fine qualities and the 
 enduring monuments he left behind him. They are wont to quote only 
 the most extravagant of the praise bestowed on Mr. Millikin by his con- 
 temporaries. A favorite quotation is a remark made about the talented 
 banker one time by Hugh Crea, his corporation lawyer: 
 
 V T think that Mr. Millikin is the best fitted for banking in a place the 
 size of Decatur of any man you will find in America. There has been 
 no better judge of men and credits." 
 
 Another quotation often referred to is the tribute paid to Mr. Millikin 
 at the time of his death by B. O. McReynolds, one of his competitors in 
 the banking business here: 
 
 "Mr. Millikin I have known in a business way and personally most 
 intimately. I have known in him the most public spirited citizen Decatur 
 has ever had. No one can take his place. The loss is public and huge. 
 In business Mr. Millikin's intuition was wonderful. He knew immedi- 
 ately what attitude to take in a deal or undertaking. He made busi- 
 ness here. His influence on the city was inestimable." 
 
 Mr. Millikin was a contemporary of President Abraham Lincoln and 
 they were intimately acquainted. The Decatur banker was a strong 
 supporter and admirer of Mr. Lincoln, and the two men displayed many 
 of the same fine qualities. This motto, which the Civil war President 
 wrote during the darkest hours of that conflict, might well be applied 
 also to Mr. Millikin: "I do the very best I know how; the very best I 
 can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me 
 out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If 
 the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would 
 make no difference." 
 
 24 
 
THE MILLIKIN BUILDING 
 
Sd 
 
 o 
 
THE MILLIKIN NATIONAL BANK 
 
 Its destinies now in the hands of an entirely new generation, The 
 Millikin Bank dates its history back to within five years of the time that 
 Decatur obtained its first city charter. 
 
 This bank first opened its doors 80 years ago — in 1860 — , in quarters 
 on Merchant Street that had been occupied by the old Railroad Bank. 
 Over its door hung a sign which read: 
 
 JAMES MILLIKIN, BANKER 
 
 The Railroad Bank had failed a short time before and the confidence 
 of Decatur's 3,800 inhabitants in banks had been considerably shaken. 
 The country was still feeling the effects of the panic of 1857, and it is 
 said that, during that time of stress, only two banks in Illinois — presum- 
 ably two in Chicago — were able to keep their circulation at par with 
 gold. 
 
 Mr. Millikin had come to Decatur in 1856, and although at the time 
 of opening his bank he was a young man of only 33 years, his record 
 over around Danville, where he had accumulated a fortune of $75,000 
 in about eight years handling cattle and sheep, impressed the Decatur 
 people with his business sagacity. 
 
 Thus it was that, despite Mr. Millikin's complete ignorance of the 
 banking business and the chaotic condition of banking generally at the 
 time, his little bank did considerable business during its first two years. 
 
 In 1863 J. Q. A. Odor was taken in as partner, but the firm of Millikin 
 6c Odor, as it was styled, was soon dissolved. In 1865 Jerome R. Gorin 
 became Mr. Millikin's associate under the firm name of J. Millikin & 
 Company. Mr. Gorin remained as partner until 1881, when he with- 
 drew his interest. 
 
 His place was taken by his son, Orville B. Gorin, who had started 
 with the bank as messenger boy shortly after it first opened. Later Mr. 
 Millikin and Mr. Gorin permitted Milton Johnson to acquire an interest. 
 Mr. Johnson sold his share to Parke Hammer in 1892. In 1896 Mr. 
 Hammer died and shortly after, Joseph M. Brownback acquired an 
 interest. 
 
 27 
 
Became National Bank 
 
 These were all the partners Mr. Millikin had. In 1897 the bank was 
 incorporated under the National Banking Laws and the name of J. 
 Millikin 6c Company was changed to The Millikin National Bank. 
 
 At that time the institution had more than $200,000 in capital, surplus 
 and undivided profits and slightly over $1,000,000 in deposits. 
 
 The bank, meanwhile, had changed locations twice. It was moved 
 in 1864 from its original rooms on Merchant Street to quarters one door 
 east of the old Morehouse & Wells Building, now the new office of the 
 Illinois Iowa Power Company. In 1880 the bank was taken to its present 
 location at the northeast corner of East Main and North Water Streets. 
 It was in an old building which had been reconditioned for the occasion 
 and offered much more space than the bank previously had used. 
 
 While the present seven-story building was being erected in 1895 
 the bank was forced to take temporary quarters on South Water 1 Street, 
 a part of the time next door to the old Powers Opera House. In January 
 1896 the bank moved into its new home, then the most pretentious office 
 building in downstate Illinois. 
 
 The turn of the century found The Millikin Bank with rapidly grow- 
 ing deposits and recognized as one of the strongest banking institutions 
 in the state outside of Chicago. Its fame, largely due to the widely known 
 genius of Mr. Millikin, had become national; it had the reputation of 
 being one of the strongest and best managed small city banks in 
 America. It now ranks as one of the five largest banks in Illinois outside 
 of Chicago. 
 
 An interesting bit of history of the bank was contributed to the 
 compilers of this book by Albert G. Webber, Sr., one of Decatur's lead- 
 ing lawyers and a longtime friend of Mr. Millikin. 
 
 In the early years after the bank obtained its national charter, it 
 found itself unable, according to the banking laws, to make loans on 
 real estate. Mr. Millikin 's private bank had been in the habit of making 
 real estate loans, and much of its business and goodwill had been built 
 up through providing this kind of service. 
 
 The directors and stockholders met this situation, Mr. Webber re- 
 called, by having a meeting and adopting a resolution to forego pay- 
 
 29 
 
ment of dividends and let them accumulate into a fund from which loans 
 on real estate could be made. This was done and a large fund was 
 accumulated from the undistributed dividends; Mr. Millikin's bank was 
 in this manner enabled to resume the making of loans on real estate. 
 The national banking laws later were changed to permit banks to 
 handle this kind of business. 
 
 Grew With The City 
 
 Growth of The Millikin Bank had closely paralleled that of the City 
 of Decatur, and it has continued to do so in its second forty years. 
 
 From a village of 3,800 population in 1860, Decatur had grown to a 
 modest city of 20,754 in 1900. During that 40 year period it had de- 
 veloped from a rural trading center to a city of extensively diversified 
 industry. At the same time the city had extended its retail and whole- 
 sale trading activities to cover a wider and much more populous area. 
 
 In 1900 the Mueller Company was expanding its manufacture of 
 plumbing goods and other products; two coal mines were in operation; 
 the milling of grains was flourishing; three foundry plants were in oper- 
 ation, and harness, furniture, coffins, farm implements and other goods 
 were being manufactured here. 
 
 The Millikin Bank, in the 40 years, had grown from a small private 
 institution with small deposits and a modest beginning capital to a 
 national bank with deposits of $1,582,910 and capital, surplus and undi- 
 vided profits of $262,821. 
 
 Since the turn of the century, both the growth of the bank and the 
 city have been much more rapid than in the previous 40 years. The 
 city, including the heavily populated fringes that extend beyond the 
 incorporated limits, now has a population of approximately 65,000 — 
 more than triple that of 1900. The Millikin National Bank, at the close 
 of business on December 30, 1939, had deposits of $13,451,347, and 
 capital, surplus and undivided profits of $1,384,265. 
 
 Along with its rapid population growth, Decatur expanded its 
 educational and recreational facilities, and other municipal services. 
 
 Its educational institutions include James Millikin University, with 
 an enrollment of over 700 students; 21 public schools, including one 
 senior high and four junior high schools, and seven parochial schools. 
 
 31 
 
There are 10,458 pupils in the public schools, with 1,011 in the parochial 
 schools. 
 
 The city today has 135 miles of streets, with 89.99 miles paved; 149 
 miles of sewers, 15,000 water meters, a daily average pumpage at the 
 waterworks of 7,000,000 gallons. In the Fire Department are 63 men, 
 with six stations and 1 1 pieces of motor equipment; the fire department 
 property is valued at $250,000. The Police Department has 51 men, with 
 one station and 10 pieces of motor equipment. 
 
 There are 59 churches here, representing 15 denominations; five 
 hospitals, with 531 beds; five hotels, with a total of 735 rooms, four golf 
 courses, and six motion picture houses, with a seating capacity of 5,500 
 persons. 
 
 Decatur's larger parks rank with the best in the big cities. There 
 are 12 parks altogether, with an aggregate area of 959 acres. The larger 
 of these have beautiful wooded sections, with well landscaped open 
 spaces and excellent pavilions and other facilities. 
 
 Adding greatly to the beauty of Nelson Park and providing a water 
 supply for the city's large milling plants is Lake Decatur, an artificial 
 body of water 13 miles long which was created by the building of a dam 
 across the Sangamon River which was completed in 1923. The lake, 
 developed during the administration of Mayor Charles M. Borchers, 
 rivals the best natural bodies of water with the opportunities it affords 
 for all types of aquatic sports. Bordering the east and southeast sides 
 of the city, it is easily accessible, and is greeted with wide-eyed surprise 
 as it bursts suddenly on the vision of the traveler approaching Decatur 
 for the first time from across the flat prairies. Old-time residents of the 
 city still marvel at the presence of the lake, nearly a mile wide in places 
 where before it was built they could walk across the river at times of 
 low water. 
 
 Decatur boasts an unusually high percentage of native-born white 
 population — 92.5 per cent. The foreign-born constitute 4.1 per cent and 
 the Negroes 3.4 per cent. 
 
 The present seat of government is the new $754,000 Macon County 
 Court House, free from debt, into which the County Government has just 
 moved and in which the City Government will be housed before the end 
 
 33 
 
of the year. The county was established in 1829 and the city of Decatur 
 incorporated in 1836. 
 
 Expanded Scope of Service 
 
 As in the days when its operation was guided by the genius of its 
 founder, The Millikin Bank since the death of Mr. Millikin in 1909 has 
 continued to grow and expand the scope of its service. 
 
 With Decatur's other two banks, The Millikin Bank is now serving 
 a community that has not only tripled in population in the last 40 years, 
 but has greatly expanded its business and industrial activity. 
 
 The city today has an industrial payroll of 12,000 persons, the exact 
 total fluctuating above and below that figure with seasonal changes in 
 the size of the forces employed at the various plants. 
 
 The Wabash Railroad, which has its locomotive and car shops here, 
 leads in size of payroll, followed by the A. E. Staley Manufacturing 
 Company and the Mueller Company. The Staley Company has the 
 largest independent corn products plant in the world, and pioneered the 
 soybean processing industry. 
 
 That industry is in the midst of an expansion here that has made 
 Decatur the soybean processing center of the United States. Besides 
 Staley's there are the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, the Spencer 
 Kellogg 6c Sons, Incorporated, both with large new mills, and the Decatur 
 Soy Products Company, which has a small plant. The combined bean 
 storage capacity of the four plants, after completion of a new battery 
 of elevators constructed this summer at the Spencer Kellogg plant, will 
 be approximately 15,000,000 bushels. 
 
 Among other important present day industries in Decatur are two 
 malleable and three gray iron foundries, and six cotton dress goods 
 factories with approximately 1,000 machines. There is one coal mine, 
 employing 300 men, and a good variety of small plants making specialty 
 goods, including fly swatters and kites. 
 
 Supplying the banking services needed by these manufacturing 
 firms, whose products are sold in every state in the Union and in many 
 foreign lands, requires a constant expansion and frequent modernization 
 of banking services and methods. 
 
 Decatur from the beginning was a rural shopping center, and with 
 the coming of the automobile and the paved highways, its retail and 
 
 35 
 

wholesale establishments have served an ever widening area. The 
 present retail area is figured as having a radius of 50 miles, with a 
 population of 300,000. The evolution from the horse and buggy days 
 in transportation has not only increased the radius from which shoppers 
 come to the Decatur stores, but also the area from which farm and 
 village residents come here to do their banking. Permanent closing of 
 some of the country banks in the 1933 depression has added further to 
 the number of rural customers of the Decatur banks. 
 
 Served Big Farm Area 
 
 From the beginning, The Millikin Bank always has enjoyed the con- 
 fidence and extensive patronage of the farmers of this locality. The 
 land in this part of Illinois is rich and productive, and a continuing 
 agricultural prosperity has been an important part of the foundation of 
 Decatur's industrial growth. 
 
 Contributing greatly to the city's commercial and industrial develop- 
 ment has been its superior transportation facilities. Its first railroads, 
 the Illinois Central and the Great Western (now the Wabash) both came 
 in 1854. For the last half century Decatur' has had the most extensive 
 railroad facilities of any city in the state outside of Chicago. At present 
 it is served by the Wabash, the Illinois Central, Pennsylvania, Baltimore 
 6c Ohio Railways and the Illinois Terminal Electric System. 
 
 Five of the state's main highways, two of which also are U. S. 
 routes, run through Decatur, giving quick and easy inter-city truck and 
 bus service. 
 
 James Millikin chose well when he cast his fortunes with Decatur 
 back in 1856. He recognized in the early settlers here a sturdy people 
 who were sure to prosper and build a community that would always 
 keep abreast if not ahead of the times. 
 
 Those early settlers had come principally from Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
 Virginia and Kentucky, and they were of the right stock. They possessed 
 courage, integrity and industry, and they recognized and appreciated 
 those qualities in others. It was this insight that enabled them quickly 
 to recognize the sterling qualities of Mr. Millikin and to invite him, 
 although then a young man, to become their banker. Mr. Millikin 
 accepted that invitation and its attendant responsibilities, and made 
 good. 
 
 37 
 
And so did the descendants of those early settlers make good. 
 Scions of the best families of the older states, they proved themselves 
 worthy of their ancestors in point of honesty, industry, thrift and pro- 
 gressiveness. Thus it is that for solid prosperity and splendid prospects, 
 this region is unsurpassed today by any locality in the Middle West. 
 
 U. S. Depository 
 
 The Millikin Bank has been a regular depository of the United 
 States for public money since 1901. Daily deposits are made by the 
 several government offices, the postoffice, internal revenue offices, etc. 
 
 In 1901 a representative of this bank called one morning on Lyman 
 J. Gage, Secretary of the Treasury, at Washington, for the purpose of 
 having the Millikin National Bank made the regular U. S. Depository 
 in Decatur. Mr. Gage after saying that it was the policy of the Govern- 
 ment to reduce rather than to increase the number of regular deposi- 
 tories, asked for a few hours to consider the matter. In the afternoon 
 he gave this decision: 
 
 "I know Mr. Millikin very well, and he and The Millikin National 
 Bank stand so high in Illinois that we have decided to make your bank 
 the regular depository. Present my best respects to Mr. Millikin and tell 
 him it gives me great pleasure to be able to grant your request. I will 
 instruct the revenue office at Decatur to send its receipts to your bank 
 until $200,000 shall have been deposited." 
 
 A Savings Department, opened in this bank in June, 1909, has grown 
 so rapidly as to far exceed the expectations of the bank officers who 
 inaugurated it. 
 
 Today, the Savings Department is an important part of the bank's 
 operation. It has 6,785 depositors, exclusive of the Christmas Savings 
 Deposits, and their total deposits are $2,863,409. While the earnings on 
 savings deposits are not so large as they were up to a few years ago, 
 the public has formed the habit of using a savings account as a cushion 
 of reserve to be called into use in sickness or other emergencies where 
 moderate sums may be needed quickly. For the average family de- 
 pendent on a wage or salary, the savings account constitutes about the 
 only reserve of readily available finances. 
 
 The Millikin Bank is departmentalized in the same manner and to 
 almost as great an extent as the large city banks. In addition to the 
 
 39 
 
MAIN B, 
 
FLOOR 
 
Savings Department there is the Credit Department, Personal Loans De- 
 partment, Legal Department, Real Estate Loans Department, Bookkeep- 
 ing Department, and Auditing Department. The latter in effect has 
 charge of the Bookkeeping Department and Proof Department. 
 
 No greater changes and increases in efficiency have taken place 
 in any part of banking activity than in the bookkeeping work. A big 
 part of this has occurred in the last 10 years. 
 
 In 1929, when the Millikin Bank moved its Bookkeeping Department 
 to more commodious quarters on the second floor of its building, the 
 bank had 10 bookkeepers. Now there are four, due mainly to the intro- 
 duction of the most modern equipment. 
 
 There are four bookkeeping machines, which count the checks as 
 they post them. The bank's Recordak photographs all checks that go 
 through the bank, and also the personal notes the bank handles. Use 
 of this machine enables the filing of 7,500 checks on a small 100-foot roll 
 of film and the Recordak projector greatly facilitates reference to these 
 filed checks. Use of the Recordak not only makes possible a tremen- 
 dous saving of space in the filing of records, but eliminates much re- 
 handling of the checks and duplicate posting, and is a great protection 
 to the bank's customers. 
 
 An even more amazing piece of equipment is the International 
 Business Proof Machine, which proves the deposits, sorts and lists out 
 the checks to the various banks and the departments in this bank on 
 which they are drawn. This machine saves a vast amount of sorting 
 and handling of the checks and enables a much more smooth and con- 
 tinuous flow of the checks to the departments within the bank. 
 
 Among the department's other time-saving equipment is a folding 
 machine that folds 5,000 month-end statements in one and a half hours. 
 
 Personal Loans Department 
 
 A Personal Loans Department has been developed at this bank over 
 the last five years, and is one of the institution's fastest growing 
 branches. 
 
 While loans made in this department average $300 to $500, much 
 larger sums are loaned. The borrower 1 is carefully analyzed, to see if 
 he is entitled to the credit he is asking, and is put on a monthly payment 
 
 43 
 
basis. Most income is on a monthly or weekly basis, and loans made 
 on this kind of repayment plan provide a most advantageous means of 
 financing important household purchases, home improvements and the 
 buying of automobiles. 
 
 Character loans are made on the purchase of household appliances 
 and on home improvements. Other types include auto loans, to finance 
 the purchase of automobiles; co-maker 1 loans, with two signers, and 
 chattel mortgage loans. 
 
 This department, although only five years old, has 2,200 notes out- 
 standing, for a total of $625,000. 
 
 Safety Deposit Vault 
 
 In its safety deposits service, the Millikin Bank has spared no effort 
 and expense in insuring the safety of the customers' valuable papers, 
 and in providing easy accessibility to the private boxes. 
 
 Our Safety Deposit Vault is not only handsome of design and com- 
 modious, but is absolutely proof against fire and burglars. Its heavy 
 walls of concrete make it like a solid stone box without joint or crack. 
 It is lined inside — sides, top and bottom — with heavy steel rails set 
 flush one against another, bolted together and concreted; inside all 
 of this is a heavy steel-plate lining. The safety deposit boxes are also 
 made of steel. 
 
 The door to this vault is one of the largest, finest and strongest ever 
 brought into Illinois. It is circular in form, IV2 feet in diameter, and 
 weighs, with the massive steel casing, about 56,000 pounds or 28 tons. 
 The door is provided with four time locks, and two combination locks. 
 If three of the time locks were to get out of order at the same time, 
 which is a practical impossibility, the other one would throw the bolts 
 at the proper time. But even then the door would be locked by the two 
 combination locks, which can only be worked by hand. Thus the vault 
 cannot be opened until the time locks throw the bolts ready for the 
 combination locks, and then only by an officer of the bank who knows 
 the combination. 
 
 The first major alterations made by the bank on its present building 
 came in 1909 after the death of Mr. Millikin. At that time the property 
 adjoining the Millikin Building to the east, which was formerly occupied 
 
 45 
 
by the Decatur Herald Company, was purchased by the Millikin estate. 
 It was 88 by 25 feet and four stories high. 
 
 Expansion into the ground floor of the newly acquired property 
 gave the bank 2,200 square feet of additional floor space. At that time 
 the cash vault was moved from its original position to a position 25 or 
 30 feet to the east. A new safety deposit vault was built at the east end 
 of the lobby. 
 
 In 1926 the north side of the lobby which had been used as private 
 consultation rooms for customers, was remodeled into tellers' cages, 
 providing the present five receiving tellers' cages. 
 
 In 1929 the cash vault and the safety deposit vault were dismantled. 
 A new cash vault was constructed at a point 10 feet east of the old 
 vault and a new safety deposit vault built in the east end of the ell- 
 shaped lobby of the original Millikin Building. A new vault was built 
 along the east wall of the old Herald Building to be used as a vault for 
 the Millikin Trust Company and the Collection Department of the bank. 
 At the same time the Bookkeeping Department and Proof Department 
 were moved from the first floor to the second floor of the old Herald 
 Building, leaving the entire first floor for quarters occupied by officers 
 and tellers of the bank. 
 
 The attractive and spacious bank lobby, during banking hours, is 
 one of the busiest places in Decatur. The consultation desks of the 
 bank's officers are out in the open, and greetings are exchanged be- 
 tween these men and the customers, and between the patrons who 
 mill about through the lobby much in the same atmosphere that pre- 
 vailed in the days of "Jim" Millikin's private bank. 
 
 47 
 
ORVILLE B. GORIN 
 
 48 
 
ORVILLE B. GORIN 
 
 His life a saga in the annals of banking, Orville B. Gorin has, with 
 the exception of its founder, contributed the most illustrious career thus 
 far connected with the Millikin Bank. 
 
 Beginning as a barefoot messenger boy of 11, when he worked 
 before and after school and on Saturdays cleaning the kerosene lamps 
 and polishing the chimneys, Mr. Gorin at the time of his death in 1935 
 had rounded out 75 years with the bank. He served for the last 26 of 
 those years as its President. 
 
 Born in Taylorville January 25, 1849, he was a son of Jerome R. 
 Gorin, who for a time conducted a general store there. When Orville 
 was five years old the family moved to Decatur, where the father prac- 
 tised law for a number of years in partnership with Charles Emerson, 
 later Circuit Judge here. 
 
 At the time his father became a partner of James Millikin in the bank 
 in 1865, Orville was a veteran of five years service as messenger boy 
 for the institution. He attended the grade schools here and later studied 
 for a few years at Knox College in Galesburg. All of that time he was 
 preparing himself to be a banker, and his vacations were spent working 
 at the bank. 
 
 Following completion of his work at Knox, Mr. Gorin became a full 
 time employe of the bank, and in 1880 he bought out his father's interest 
 and became Mr. Millikin's partner. 
 
 When, in October, 1897, the bank was incorporated as The Millikin 
 National Bank, Mr. Millikin was made President and Mr. Gorin, Cashier. 
 The following year Mr. Gorin was advanced to Vice President and held 
 that office until, on the death of Mr. Millikin in 1909, he became the 
 bank's second President. 
 
 Held Every Position 
 
 During his three-quarters of a century with The Millikin Bank, Mr. 
 Gorin held every position in the institution. By the time Mr. Millikin 
 converted his private bank into a national bank, Mr. Gorin had become 
 his "right hand man." Major E. A. Vandeveer of Taylorville, a member 
 
 49 
 
of the bank's first Board of Directors who served for 30 years on the 
 board, said of Mr. Gorin's role in the bank at that period: 
 
 ' l We all had the utmost confidence in his business ability. Mr. 
 Millikin, when faced with an important question, invariably would say, 
 'Well, I'll speak to Orville about it.' The phrase became a byword 
 among us. To the best of my recollection, no decision of importance 
 ever was made without first gaining his favorable opinion. 
 
 "Mr. Gorin was the power behind the throne in The Millikin National 
 Bank and impressed all who knew him, intimately or casually, with his 
 integrity, fairness and high code of ethics." 
 
 So high did Mr. Gorin stand in financial circles that his advice was 
 sought frequently on important business matters outside his own city. 
 In 1910 he was made a member of the Board of Advisers of the Public 
 Securities Company, organized in Chicago with a capital stock of 
 $20,000,000. In April, 1928, he was appointed a member of the national 
 panel of arbitration by the American Arbitration Association, of which 
 there were 3,170 members in 1,135 communities. 
 
 In addition to serving as President of The Millikin National Bank, 
 Mr. Gorin was President of The Millikin Trust Company, the Mutual 
 Home 6c Savings Association, and a member of the Board of Trustees of 
 the James Millikin Estate. He was treasurer of the Decatur College and 
 Industrial School of the James Millikin University from the time of its 
 organization in 1901 to 1925. From that time until his death he was a 
 trustee of James Millikin University. 
 
 Mr. Gorin served on the Decatur Public Library Board during the 
 period when the present building was started. In 1926 he was elected 
 Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Decatur and Macon County 
 Hospital, a position he held until 1933. 
 
 Many and extensive were Mr. Gorin's philanthropies. These in- 
 cluded numerous private gifts of which no public mention ever was 
 made. He was a liberal giver to Millikin University, the founding of 
 which he talked over in advance many times with Mr. Millikin. On one 
 occasion in 1919, Mr. Gorin made the university a personal gift of $40,000 
 for its endowment fund, founding a chair in memory of his father. 
 
 On the campus at Millikin today there stands a monument to Mr, 
 Gorin. It is the Orville B. Gorin Library, built by the Trustees of the 
 
 SO 
 
Millikin Estate in 1931 at a cost of $150,000. The library was named in 
 Mr. Gorin's honor by the University Board of Managers as a tribute to 
 his loyalty to the interests of the institution and his earnest endeavors, 
 with other trustees, to interpret the desires of James Millikin, founder of 
 the university. 
 
 Boosted Worthy Projects 
 
 Mr. Gorin could always be found in the front ranks of those who 
 were boosting worthwhile movements for the benefit of the community 
 and its people. For six straight years, from 1929 to 1934, he served as 
 Chairman of the Macon County Christmas Seals Mail Sales, sponsored 
 by the Macon County Tuberculosis and Visiting Nurse Association. 
 
 Every fall, the busy banker was called upon to serve as Chairman 
 of the drive. How faithfully he performed this service is shown by the 
 fact that, during that period, a total of between $30,000 and $35,000 was 
 raised by sale of the seals. In 1930 Macon County won the Silver Cup 
 for having the largest per capita sale. 
 
 In the drive for subscriptions to the first Liberty Loan early in 1917, 
 Mr. Gorin took an active part. An out of town banker came to consult 
 Mr. Gorin about it. He and all other bankers knew that if their patrons 
 invested largely in the Liberty Bonds it would greatly reduce the cash 
 deposits in the banks. 
 
 "We are subscribing, and we are telling our customers to sub- 
 scribe," Mr. Gorin said. "The United States has got to be on the winning 
 side in this war. Those cash deposits won't do any of us much good 
 if we are on the wrong side when the war is over. We must win and 
 this is one way to help win." 
 
 Largely due to his efforts, The Millikin Bank turned in more sub- 
 scriptions for Liberty Bonds than any other bank in Illinois outside of 
 Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Gorin was interested in everything worth while, and especially 
 in character building among young people. He took great interest in 
 young people's groups at the First Presbyterian Church, of which he was 
 a member, and was a valuable friend of the Boys' Opportunity Home 
 and the Girls' Welfare Home. In March of 1927 Mr. Gorin headed a 
 drive for the Boys' Opportunity Home, and a speech he made at a meet- 
 
 51 
 
o 
 
ing of the Kiwanis Club in behalf of the fund is said to have been the 
 first public speech he ever made. His friends were amazed at his oratory 
 and the forcefulness of his manner of presenting facts. He was unaware 
 of the impression he had made until the subscriptions began to roll in. 
 He was talking on a subject that was close to his heart and was at no 
 loss for words with which to present his appeal. 
 
 One of the old members of the Decatur Club, Mr. Gorin served as 
 its President in 1896. He was an ardent golfer and baseball enthusiast, 
 and was a charter member of the Country Club of Decatur. Before its 
 old golf course had been developed, Mr. Gorin and other members of 
 the club played golf on the Johns pasture land. 
 
 "I owe 15 years of my life to golf," he said one time, "and they 
 have been mighty enjoyable years." 
 
 He was encouraging a group of young men who were talking of 
 organizing what is now the Sunnyside Golf Club. He advised them to 
 go ahead and organize a club for young men, and to make the dues low 
 enough that those invited to join would not be prevented because of the 
 expense. Thus encouraged, those interested in the project went ahead, 
 and O. B. Gorin became one of the charter members. 
 
 Often Mr. Gorin was torn between the desire to play golf and see a 
 ball game. It was said he chose the ball game on the occasions when 
 he did not particularly feel the need of exercise. 
 
 Few men in the community had a wider circle of acquaintances 
 than did Orville Gorin, and none was more universally liked and re- 
 spected. His interest in young people, in advancing worthwhile com- 
 munity projects and his sympathetic personal knowledge of the affairs 
 of almost every farmer and business man in the county made him in- 
 valuable to the banking institution that he served so long. 
 
 Mr. Gorin died June 19, 1935, following the failure of his health 
 while on a vacation trip in Arizona. His wife, the former Miss Ella Mc- 
 Clellan, whom he married here in 1872, preceded him in death in 1920. 
 They are survived by a daughter, Miss Gussie Gorin. 
 
 53 
 

 
 in. 
 
 19 0^ 
 
 9* 
 
 **4 
 
 1 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 1 ^'S *^u9HBfl^^^^fl^^E 
 
 silas e. McClelland 
 
 Chairman of the Board of Directors 
 
 54 
 
BUILT STRONG STAFF 
 
 In no way was the business genius of lames Millikin better dis- 
 played than in the selection of the men with whom he surrounded 
 himself in his bank staff. 
 
 Their loyalty and ability added greatly to making his bank the 
 outstanding institution it came to be. Mr. Millikin recognized this, and 
 took pleasure in acknowledging it publicly to his friends and business 
 acquaintances. 
 
 Besides O. B. Gorin, Mr. Millikin had on the staff of his private 
 bank at the time it was converted into a national bank in the fall of 
 1897, two men who later played important roles in its operation. They 
 were William A. Hammer and Joseph M. Brownback. 
 
 Mr. Hammer had started with the bank in 1888, at the age of 17, as 
 an assistant to his brother, Parke Hammer, who had entered the bank's 
 employ in 1878 as teller and became Mr. Millikin's partner. The Hammer 
 brothers were among the most efficient tellers the bank has known in 
 its long history. The uncanny accuracy of W. A. Hammer in handling 
 long lines of customers at the teller's window without making a single 
 mistake in months, was long the marvel of younger men working their 
 way up in the bank. 
 
 Parke Hammer died, at the age of 40, from a severe cold he con- 
 tracted while the bank was moving from temporary quarters into its 
 new building back in 1896. His brother, W. A. Hammer, became an 
 original stockholder when the bank obtained its national charter the 
 next year, and worked his way up until in 1931 he was made cashier. He 
 had a wide acquaintanceship and was regarded as an excellent judge 
 of character and collateral. He died, after a brief illness with pneu- 
 monia, on May 10, 1933, at the age of 62. 
 
 Mr. Brownback, who grew up on his father's farm in Shelby county, 
 got his first banking experience while working for six months in the 
 bank in LeRoy, Illinois, after finishing his college course at Illinois State 
 Normal University in Normal. He engaged in other pursuits for a num- 
 ber of years, and then founded a private bank of his own in Blue Mound. 
 
 55 
 
W. R. McGAUGHEY 
 President and Director 
 
 56 
 
Became Millikin's Partner 
 
 Mr. Millikin had observed the success with which he handled the 
 little bank in Blue Mound, and when Parke Hammer died in 1896 and 
 he needed a new partner in his bank here, Mr. Millikin invited Mr. 
 Brownback to come to Decatur. Mr. Brownback did so, purchasing 
 most of the share Mr. Hammer had owned in Mr. Millikin's bank. 
 
 Mr. Brownback was assistant cashier when the bank became a 
 national bank, after which he was made cashier. A year later, in 1898, 
 he was advanced to vice-president, which position he held until his 
 retirement because of poor health, in 1934. He died October 23, 1935, 
 at the age of 82. 
 
 Following Mr. Brownback up the ladder was Smith E. Walker, a 
 native of Bethany, who obtained his first banking experience in that 
 village. At about the time Mr. Millikin converted his bank into a 
 national bank he brought in Mr. Walker as teller. 
 
 Mr. Walker advanced to assistant cashier and cashier. He was 
 genial and well posted on banking procedure, and came to be known as 
 one of the most capable bankers in the state. He died at the age of 
 65 in St. Petersburg, Florida, on April 16, 1926. 
 
 Succeeding Mr. Walker as cashier was Guy P. Lewis, a native of 
 Bloomington, who joined the Millikin bank staff in 1901. Only five years 
 old when the family moved here, Mr. Lewis was educated in the Decatur 
 schools and obtained his first banking job at the age of 14. This was 
 as messenger boy and clerk in the old Peddecord and Burrows bank. 
 
 Mr. Lewis was exceptionally quick and accurate at figures, and 
 made an excellent paying teller. He later, as assistant cashier and 
 cashier, specialized in credits and developed a fine business judgment 
 and became a keen judge of human nature. Like Mr. Millikin, he seldom 
 made a bad selection of the customers to whom he loaned the bank's 
 money. 
 
 Many a man was surprised when negotiating a loan at the bank, to 
 have his request complied with so promptly and with so few questions 
 asked. It was because Mr. Lewis' estimate of the character of the bor- 
 rower convinced him there would be no trouble over that loan. He one 
 time remarked, "J- Pierpont Morgan and I have one thing in common. 
 
 57 
 
C. A. IMBODEN 
 Vice President and Director 
 
 58 
 
We both loan money on 25 per cent security and 75 per cent individ- 
 uality." 
 
 Mr. Lewis lent his good advice to a number of nearby small banks, 
 linking their goodwill to the Millikin Bank. These included the Hard- 
 ware State Bank of Lovington, of which he was Vice-President; and the 
 Mt. Zion State Bank, the State Bank of Niantic, and the Hight State Bank 
 of Dalton City, in all of which he was a stockholder. 
 
 Stricken At Desk 
 
 Stricken with a heart attack, Mr. Lewis died at his desk on January 
 13, 1931, at the age of 58. 
 
 Another who entered the employ of the bank as a young man and 
 worked his way up was Benjamin A. Imboden, a brother of Charles A. 
 Imboden, who is now vice-president. 
 
 B. A. Imboden was employed at the bank in 1900, at the age of 19, 
 as a bookkeeper. He had graduated from Decatur High School in 1898, 
 and had studied bookkeeping in Brown's Business College nights while 
 working as bookkeeper in the meat market operated by his father, C. M. 
 Imboden. 
 
 From bookkeeper, Mr. Imboden worked his way up to assistant 
 cashier at the bank, which position he held at the time of his death from 
 pneumonia on February 16, 1934. 
 
 It is said that Mr. Millikin, although during the last 10 or 15 years 
 of his life he let Orville B. Gorin, then Vice-President, do practically all 
 the hiring, always insisted on having the first interview with an appli- 
 cant for a position. It is related that he would seat the young man be- 
 side him on a leather-upholstered sofa in the front office and quiz him 
 just long enough to size him up as to character and industry. Then he 
 would send the young man on in to "see Orville." 
 
 Today's Staff 
 
 Either by good fortune or the keenness of selection exercised by its 
 chief executives, the Millikin bank always has had a strong staff of 
 officers and department heads. The same is true today. 
 
 During its 80 years of operation, this bank has been served by only 
 three presidents. Mr. Millikin was its head for 49 years, Orville B. 
 Gorin for 26, and W. R. McGaughey, the present president, has been 
 head of the bank for five years. 
 
 59 
 
LEE BOLAND 
 General Counsel and Director 
 
 60 
 
Mr. McGaughey is a veteran of 34 years of experience in the bank- 
 ing business. He began in small town banks, and was the founder of 
 the Mt. Zion State bank, which he started as a private institution in 1908. 
 He came to Decatur in 1919 and served as cashier and vice president 
 of the Citizens National bank here 12 years, joining the Millikin staff 
 nine years ago. 
 
 Senior vice president at the Millikin Bank is Charles A. Imboden, 
 who started at the bottom of the ladder 44 years ago, at the age of 17, 
 one week before the bank moved into its present building. From assis- 
 tant bookkeeper and passbook clerk he worked his way up through the 
 positions of teller and cashier. 
 
 Nearly all the other members of the staff, most of whom are vet- 
 erans, have worked their way up from the ranks to their present posi- 
 tions. 
 
 E. E. Joynt, vice president, has been with the Millikin Bank 30 years; 
 Bernard Graliker, cashier, 38 years; O. F. Kuny, assistant cashier, 21 
 years; W. H. Hipsher, assistant cashier, 12 years; H. F. Nalefski, auditor, 
 20 years. J. C. Hostetler, manager of the bank's real estate loan depart- 
 ment, joined the staff four years ago. 
 
 Lee Boland, a veteran Decatur attorney, has been general counsel 
 for the bank and the Millikin Trust Company for five years. Mr. Boland 
 has been a member of the board of trustees of the Millikin estate and a 
 director of the bank for the same length of time. 
 
 Chairman of the board of directors of the bank is Dr. Silas E. McClel- 
 land, who ranked so high in the confidence of James Millikin that at his 
 death he was made Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the estate. 
 
 No other man now connected with the bank knew Mr. Millikin so inti- 
 mately, and understood so well his wishes in handling the properties 
 the pioneer banker founded here. Dr. McClelland is the only surviving 
 member of the original board of trustees of the estate. He has been 
 chairman of the board of the bank since the death two years ago of 
 Jerome P. Gorin. 
 
 The present members of the bank's board of directors besides Dr. 
 McClelland, are Lee Boland, Bernard Graliker, R. M. Hamilton, C. A. 
 Imboden, E. E. Joynt, W. R. McGaughey, and Adolph Mueller. Mr. 
 Mueller, veteran Decatur industrialist and long time head of the Mueller 
 Co., has been on the Millikin Bank board for 34 years. 
 
 61 
 
E. E. JOYNT 
 Vice President and Director 
 
 62 
 
BERNARD GRALIKER 
 Cashier and Director 
 
 63 
 
* I* 
 
 ROY M. HAMILTON 
 
 Director 
 
 Secretary-Treasurer Union Iron Works 
 
 64 
 
ADOLPH MUELLER 
 
 Director 
 
 Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mueller Co. 
 
 65 
 
O. F. KUNY 
 Assistant Cashier 
 
W. H. HIPSHER 
 Assistant Cashier 
 
 67 
 
\ 
 
 «".:.. -.,'■"". 
 
 J. C. HOSTETLER 
 Manager Mortgage Loan Department 
 
 68 
 
H. F. NALEFSKI 
 Auditor 
 
C. L. WAGGONER 
 Auditor Emeritus 
 
 70 
 
J—O&kiua ^y&twa'zJL 
 
 Many changes have taken place in banking practises and methods 
 since the days of the early banking experiences of James Millikin and 
 Orville B. Gorin. The old days are gone when a banker can place 
 money in the hands of men whose only assets are character and 
 capacity. 
 
 As our country has prospered and become more thickly populated, 
 banks have multiplied and many laws have been enacted governing 
 their establishment and regulation, until today we have only state and 
 national chartered banking institutions. The fundamentals of character 
 and mutual confidence of banker and patron still prevail, but the tech- 
 niques of modern banking have been refined to meet the requirements 
 of a more complicated economy. 
 
 While bankers of the old school find many occasions today when 
 they wish they could exercise some of the leniency of the earlier years, 
 it is only natural that as society becomes more complex, banks should 
 be more carefully regulated. 
 
 Despite the fact the history of The Millikin National Bank dates back 
 to the time of "wildcat" banking, and almost half of its eighty years of 
 existence was spent as a private bank unsupervised and unregulated 
 by state or national authorities, its affairs were so conducted that its 
 reputation for safety and security to depositors was more than state- 
 wide. Although it was chartered as a national bank in 1897, it is still 
 universally referred to as "The Millikin Bank", the name it bore as a 
 private institution. 
 
 This bank has seen many nation-wide economic depressions, but it 
 has always stood ready to meet withdrawals without being required to 
 discount or borrow money. Even the guarantee of bank deposits under 
 the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has not relaxed the deter- 
 mination of the bank's management to continue independently strong 
 and solvent in its own right. 
 
 It is recognized that the F. D. I. C. has had a very wholesome effect 
 in stabilizing confidence in all banks, which is good for the country and 
 the banking business as a whole. 
 
 71 
 
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The Millikin National Bank has taken every opportunity to expand 
 its service in such manner as to meet the growing needs of the com- 
 munity. In doing so it has taken advantage of the Federal Housing 
 program and the various new agencies sponsored by the Government, 
 while at the same time retaining the individuality and character upon 
 which its progress and growth have been founded. 
 
 That this bank has more than kept pace with the growth of the 
 community may be seen by the following comparison of population 
 figures and the working capital and deposits of the bank. 
 
 1900 1920 1940 
 
 Population 20,754 43,818 59,129 
 
 Capital, Surplus and 
 
 Undivided Profits . . .$ 262,821 $ 677,921 $ 1,370,034 
 
 Deposits $1,582,910 $7,945,994 $12,851,671 
 
 Eighty years of continuous service to a community lends dignity 
 and added responsibility to an institution that has built such a record. 
 The Millikin Bank, in establishing that record, has grown with and con- 
 tributed to the growth of Decatur. 
 
 Those who have directed the bank's affairs in the past and those 
 now in charge have been ever mindful of this responsibility. In the case 
 of The Millikin Bank the responsibility in the last 30 years has been 
 greater than with the average bank, because in this case it has involved 
 a public trust. 
 
 James Millikin, the founder of this bank, left his estate in perpetual 
 trust for charitable purposes. The Millikin National Bank constitutes an 
 important portion of that estate. The bank management thus has a duty 
 not only to the stockholders but to the public, which benefits from this 
 trust in direct proportion to the success of the bank's operation. 
 
 The character and vision of the pioneers who built this institution 
 have been the guiding star which their' successors in the management 
 of The Millikin Bank have followed. With this inspiring background, 
 the present management is confident that future generations entrusted 
 with the destinies of the institution will carry on with the same earnest- 
 ness and devotion that has characterized their predecessors. 
 
 73 
 
THE 
 
 MILLIKIN TRUST 
 
 COMPANY 
 
 Organized as a state bank but acting in a fiduciary 
 capacity only. 
 
 75 
 
CHARLES H. RUEDI 
 Vice President, Secretary and Director 
 
 76 
 
THE MILLIKIN TRUST COMPANY 
 
 The Millikin Trust Company was formed June 7, 1915. The com- 
 pany started with a capital stock of $100,000 and had the same owners 
 and officers as The Millikin National Bank. 
 
 A newspaper account at the time, pointing out that such an insti- 
 tution long had been needed in Decatur, said the organization of a trust 
 company "has been talked over many times." On two or three occa- 
 sions, it added, "steps have been taken looking to the formation of such 
 a company but the project was never carried out." Stock of the new 
 company was held by stockholders of the Millikin Bank in exact propor- 
 tion to their holdings in the bank. 
 
 At the time of the organization of The Millikin Trust Company, 
 national banks were not permitted to qualify under the Trust Act of this 
 state nor were national banks permitted to make real estate loans. State 
 banks could qualify, and so a state bank — The Millikin Trust Company- 
 was organized and immediately qualified under the trust act. 
 
 Although permitted by its charter to do a general banking business, 
 the trust company has confined its activities to serving in trust capaci- 
 ties and the making of real estate loans. Since the organization of the 
 trust company, national banks have been authorized to qualify under the 
 Trust Acts of the respective States in which such national banks are 
 located, and also to engage in the making of real estate loans. 
 
 The trust permit of The Millikin Trust Company authorized it to 
 "accept and execute trusts, and to be appointed assignee or trustee by 
 deed and executor, guardian or trustee by will." Also the trust act pro- 
 vided that any court in the state to which application was made could 
 appoint any such corporation to serve as "trustee, receiver, assignee, 
 guardian, conservator, executor or administrator." 
 
 The members of the first board of directors of the new company 
 were: 
 
 O. B. Gorin J. P. Gorin William A. Hammer 
 
 J. M. Brownback Guy P. Lewis William T. Vandeveer 
 
 S. E. Walker Adolph Mueller 
 
 77 
 
The officers elected at the first meeting of the board were: 
 
 President O. B. Gorin 
 
 Vice-President J. M. Brownback 
 
 Vice-President J. P. Gorin 
 
 Cashier S. E. Walker 
 
 Assistant Cashier Guy P. Lewis 
 
 Assistant Cashier William A. Hammer 
 
 By the end of 1925, the company had an earned surplus account of 
 $100,000 and it became necessary to increase its deposit with the State 
 Auditor from the original deposit of $50,000 to $125,000, the maximum 
 required for a city of less than 100,000 population. 
 
 At present The Millikin Trust Company devotes its entire efforts to 
 acting in fiduciary or trust capacities, this being the purpose for which 
 it was organized. During its twenty-five years of existence it has served 
 in all the capacities authorized by law and has handled many millions 
 of dollars of trust assets. 
 
 Decatur being located in the center of an agricultural community, 
 many of the estates handled by the trust company have farm land. To 
 supervise many thousands of acres of farm land, the trust company has 
 a farm management department. In addition to the farms handled in 
 estates, many farms are managed as agent for business and professional 
 men and others. 
 
 A trust company has many advantages over an individual ap- 
 pointed in a fiduciary capacity. A trust company does not die, move 
 away, or become incompetent. It maintains at all times an impartial 
 viewpoint when there is a conflict of interests. Estates left in its hands 
 are administered by competent persons who devote their entire time to 
 the management of trust estates. Investments of the funds in trust 
 estates held by The Millikin Trust Company are made and sold on the 
 recommendation of a Trust Committee consisting of five members of the 
 trust company's board of directors. 
 
 The right to dispose of property by will is a most valuable privilege. 
 In addition to the safeguards which may be specified in a will, there 
 are many other safeguards that automatically come into existence by 
 naming The Millikin Trust Company as executor of a will and as trustee. 
 Among these is the financial responsibility of The Millikin Trust Com- 
 
 79 
 
pany. In addition there is the assurance that there will be no "self- 
 dealing," since the only financial gain that can be acquired by a trust 
 company from an estate is the compensation allowed by law for ser- 
 vices performed. There is complete segregation of trust securities of 
 estates from one another and from the assets of the trust company; fre- 
 quent examinations of the activities of the company and review of 
 trust assets; group judgment and experience; modern accounting and 
 bookkeeping; periodical reports to beneficiaries; adequacy of protec- 
 tion of securities from fire and theft; knowledge of changes in trust laws, 
 estate taxes and other laws affecting trust estates. 
 
 Under certain circumstances a trustee, either by consent of the 
 beneficiaries or by order of a court, may be enabled to depart from the 
 literal terms of a trust. The Millikin Trust Company, however, places 
 above all, as its first and primary obligation, its duty to carry out the 
 exact provisions of the trust instrument under which it acts, regardless 
 of all influences to defeat or alter it. It regards the trust provisions 
 as its word of law, and only in those cases where conditions have ren- 
 dered literal execution impossible, has it resorted to the courts for 
 amendment of its terms. Its practise is based upon the belief that the 
 trustor has placed his wishes in writing, and that it is the duty of the 
 trustee to carry them out. 
 
 It is this known policy which has influenced the naming of The 
 Millikin Trust Company as trustee of many large estates, which inci- 
 dentally include those of Smith E. Walker, William A. Hammer, Orville 
 B. Gorin and Joseph M. Brownback, all long officially connected with 
 the trust company. These men knew and understood the company's 
 policies, and evidenced their confidence in them by leaving their own 
 estates, aggregating approximately $1,000,000, to be administered by 
 this corporation as executor and trustee. 
 
 By coincidence of the times of their founding, The Millikin Trust 
 Company is observing its twenty-fifth anniversary in the same year the 
 Millikin National Bank is celebrating its eightieth anniversary. 
 
 From the time of the organization of The Millikin Trust Company 
 until November, 1938, J. P. Gorin, who was one of the first vice-presi- 
 dents, devoted all of his time to the work of the company. After serving 
 
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MARY J. MILLER 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
 82 
 
many years as vice-president, he was elected president in January, 1935, 
 and served in that capacity until his death in November, 1938. 
 
 The quarters of the Trust Company from the date of its organiza- 
 tion until Sept. 19, 1939 were with the Millikin National Bank, the Trust 
 Company occupying the east end of the banking floor of the Millikin 
 building. On the latter date the Trust Company moved to its enlarged 
 quarters on the second floor of the Millikin building. There it has ap- 
 proximately four times its original floor space, and private conference 
 rooms are provided. 
 
 A representative, specially trained, has been recently added to 
 the staff of the Trust Company to assist interested persons in estate 
 planning. 
 
 The Board of Directors of the Trust Company includes four of the 
 five trustees of the Millikin estate, and is now composed of the following 
 stockholders: 
 
 Silas E. McClelland W. R. McGaughey 
 
 Adolph Mueller Bernard Graliker 
 
 C. A. Imboden E. E. Joynt 
 
 Lee Boland R. M. Hamilton 
 
 Charles H. Ruedi 
 
 The officers of the Trust Company are: 
 
 President C. A. Imboden 
 
 Vice-President and Secretary Charles H. Ruedi 
 
 Assistant Secretary R. W. Snyder 
 
 Assistant Secretary Mary J. Miller 
 
 General Counsel Lee Boland 
 
 83 
 
RALPH W. SNYDER 
 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
 and 
 
 Farm Manager 
 
 84 
 
FRANK E. WALKER 
 Special Representative 
 
 85 
 
THE 
 
 JAMES MILLION 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 The following explanation is made for inserting a brief 
 chapter on the James Millikin University: 
 
 The enduring memorial to Mr. Millikin is not to be found 
 only in the Millikin National Bank, the Millikin Trust Com- 
 pany, or in the magnificent buildings and physical equip- 
 ment of the University. Valuable as these great institutions 
 are, they are simply means to an end in contributing to a 
 most worthy cause. The true memorial to Mr. Millikin is to 
 be found in the great army of young people who have gone 
 out from the University to play their part in the world and 
 help to make a better civilization. 
 
 87 
 
88 
 
MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY 
 
 Any account of the 53 years spent by James Millikin as a citizen 
 of Decatur would be incomplete without special mention of the greatest 
 memorial the pioneer banker left behind him. 
 
 This memorial is the university he founded here and which still 
 derives a large share of its support from the income from the trust fund 
 he set up in his will for educational and charitable purposes. 
 
 Since its opening in 1903 Millikin university has been attended by 
 many thousands of college students, in addition to many others who 
 have taken special instruction in music and other work, and also in 
 addition to those who attended the Millikin academy in the years when 
 academy students also were enrolled at the institution. 
 
 These students, a large portion of whom have graduated, have 
 gone out to take positions and make their residence in all parts of the 
 United States, and have carried the name and fine reputation of the 
 university with them. Millikin numbers among its graduates many 
 who have gone far in the business and professional world, including 
 some who are leaders in those fields in Decatur. 
 
 All this has been a great benefit to the city of Decatur, and has 
 helped to advertise it throughout the nation. The fact our city has 
 a sizeable university marks Decatur as a cultural and educational 
 center as well as a trading and manufacturing center. The presence of 
 the university here has enabled many Decatur young men and women 
 to obtain college educations who would not have had sufficient funds 
 to go away to school. 
 
 The university campus occupies approximately 35 acres of slightly 
 rolling ground on most of which stand rugged and stately white oaks, 
 elms and other beautiful trees. The green trees and lawns, the flower- 
 ing shrubs, with the red brick of the Elizabethan style buildings, make 
 a combination that is pleasing to the eye. The university buildings 
 and grounds, ever since the university was built, have been one of the 
 show places of the city. 
 
 69 
 
r'-\W'-i 
 
 j. sherman McClelland 
 
 President of the Board of Managers 
 
 90 
 
On the campus are eight buildings, four of which were erected as 
 the original group and opened in 1903. They are the Liberal Arts 
 hall, Engineering hall, Household Arts hall, and Machinery hall. 
 
 Liberal Arts hall contains, on the first floor, the administration of- 
 fices, the university's main auditorium, rededicated a year ago and 
 named in memory of Dr. Albert Taylor, first president of the university, 
 and some lecture rooms. On the second floor are the physics and 
 biological laboratories, museum and lecture rooms. The third floor, 
 with its exceptional lighting facilities, contains the studios for the art 
 department, and lecture rooms. 
 
 Engineering hall is west of Liberal Arts hall, and is connected with 
 it by corridors. It contains the chemical laboratories, mechanical draw- 
 ing rooms, and the departments of Industrial Arts, Economics and Busi- 
 ness Administration. 
 
 Household Arts hall east of Liberal Arts hall is similar in design 
 to Engineering hall, and like it is connected with the main building by 
 corridors. The building is devoted to the work of home economics. 
 
 Directly north of the main buildings is Machinery hall which houses 
 the forge, machine, pattern making and wood turning shops and auto 
 mechanics laboratory. The university heating plant is in the east half 
 of the building. 
 
 Aston hall, erected in 1907 and named in memory of Mr. Millikin's 
 wife, Anna Aston Millikin, has accommodations for about 80 women. 
 It stands on a heavily wooded slope near the east side of the campus. 
 Practically half of the first floor is devoted to the reception room, draw- 
 ing room, and the chaperon's apartment. The dining hall is a sunny, 
 white-tiled room overlooking the east campus. There is an infirmary 
 and a part-time resident nurse. 
 
 The Gymnasium, completed in 1912, is located adjacent to the ath- 
 letic field which stretches across the northeast part of the campus. It 
 has a floor space 100 by 55 feet, and houses the offices of the athletic 
 directors, the trophy rooms, bath and locker rooms for men and women, 
 a running track, and an apparatus room. 
 
 The Conservatory of Music, also erected in 1912, is on the southwest 
 corner of the campus. In addition to the administration offices, the 
 
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^W"! 
 
 
 92 
 
building contains about 80 practise and recitation rooms. The sound- 
 proofing system is one of the most effective to be found in any conser- 
 vatory. The interior is in Tudor style. The library, with its open fire- 
 place, is an inviting place for study. Kaeuper hall, named for Hermann 
 K. Kaeuper, director of music at the university from 1903 to 1914, is 
 used for recitals and lectures. It is a beautiful and inviting room, with 
 a seating capacity of 200. 
 
 The $150,000 Orville B. Gorin Library was built in 1931, and is 
 north of Engineering hall. This building provides space for modern 
 library uses, including an excellently equipped reading room, numerous 
 seminar rooms, rooms for private study, and a well-appointed lecture 
 room. 
 
 In keeping with the desires of James Millikin and in fulfilling the 
 vision he had for the institution long before he undertook its founding, 
 the university management has provided a liberal program of extra- 
 curricular activities designed to broaden the training received by the 
 students. 
 
 These activities include dramatics, debating, journalism, athletics, 
 music organizations, religious groups, departmental clubs, honor socie- 
 ties, social organizations, and a student governing agency. 
 
 The university provides numerous opportunities for young people 
 to support themselves partially during their university course, either by 
 work in the offices and buildings on the campus, or in business estab- 
 lishments or homes in the city. Every effort is made by the university 
 to enable as many students as possible to earn part of their expenses. 
 Decatur offers exceptional opportunities for student part-time work, and 
 ever since its founding many of the students at Millikin have been 
 young men and women of moderate means who had to earn part of 
 their expenses while obtaining their education. 
 
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94 
 
95 
 
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