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THREE QUARTERS of a CENTURY of PROGRESS published 1923
Automobile Business in Sioux City Gains Annually Everything for the auto from radiator cap to tail light handled in Sioux City-practically every nationally known car, truck and tractor handled. A QUARTER of a century ago the automobile business as a business was not known in Sioux City. Today it is one of the most important and one of the fastest growing institutions in Sioux City, amounting to over twenty million dollars annually. Over 1,800 people are directly engaged in the business and thousands of others indirectly. Practically every line of cars from small "flivvers" to Cadillacs and Lincolns are handled out of Sioux City. With leaps and bounds the automotive business has grown up in Sioux City and taken its place along with the other industries offering a service to the territory. Most of the distributors have large salesrooms where they carry enough cars in stock to assure their customers of being taken care of at all times. The small dealer in the territory no longer is forced to wait for a shipment from the factory since most cars are jobbed from here. Even now the automobile business is new and the man who goes into the business is still a pioneer. Even the youngest business men in the city can remember when the automobile was a novelty even rarer than the airplane is today. Who cannot remember the fervor created by the appearance of the first one-cylinder noisy machine that belched forth black smoke as it chugged wearily down the street at a speed impossible to be called speed? Today the automobile is a necessity and so numerous that but few families do not have some sort of a car to drive over the good roads surrounding Sioux City. So necessary is the truck in business that one of the
first pieces of equipment a factory, jobbing house or retail store buys
is a truck. Business has been speeded up by the use of gasoline propelled
vehicles. Situated as she is, Sioux City can use the truck to good advantage
in the territory. Many of the larger concerns have established truck
routes in the adjoining states and deliver from Sioux City by truck.
They save time and expense by this method. Forty-five ___________________
Forty-six ___________________
Forty-seven __________________ was laid up for repairs until the part could be shipped from the factory. Now it is either in stock or can be made in Sioux City. The automobile business has added its share to the manufacturing of the city. There are now numerous articles along this line made in Sioux City and sold to the world. Among these products are trucks, tools, tractors, bodies, tires, piston rings, radiators, tops, and many other accessories used the world over. The list is growing every year and will continue to grow. The increasing number of machines being used in the west makes better the business of supplying parts and accessories. The market for automobiles, trucks and tractors may become saturated in time but the demand for parts will continue to increase—there is no saturation point for them. The farm has made the automobile business grow in Sioux City. There are but few farms in the entire territory where at least one truck, tractor or car is used. By using these the farmer can take advantage of early markets and get more work done in good weather. The automobile has brought the farm closer to the city and has given the children of the farm the advantages of city and consolidated schools. Today the automobile and truck dealer considers the farmer his best customer. There are more farm owned trucks in the Sioux City territory than any other region of the United States except the densely settled truck garden regions on the eastern coast. This shows the possibility of the automotive business in Sioux City. Service plays no small part in the automobile business of any city. Sioux City has over 50 modern garages and numerous machine shops. The latter are equipped to handle any sized job that may be needed for automobiles, trucks, tractors and other kinds of mach1nery. Many of the machine shops have been established at a great cost in modern new buildings erected for the purpose. The foundries, too, are in position to be of great service to the automobile industry. The smaller shops that do not have heavy machinery are enabled to send their work to one of the larger machine shops or foundries and get quick service. Several of the nationally known tire companies have their jobbing houses in Sioux City for this territory which help to round out a complete automobile center. The distributor, the retail dealer, the accessory men, the tire wholesale houses, the machine shops and the foundries are bound together by a common tie of serving the motor driving public. There is little wonder that Sioux City has gained the name of "Motorists' Paradise" with the numerous good roads in the immediate vicinity and with every known facility for caring for the needs of the motoring public. Manufacturers are rapidly learning that Sioux City is an excellent distributing center for parts of the seven surrounding states. Forty-eight ___________________ Sioux City Well Financed With Fifteen Strong Banks First bank in 1855 had tin box for vault and wooden box for counter—total deposits of banks now over $32,000,000. THE financial standing of an industrial center is measured by the standing of the banks. Without good strong banks and good banking facilities, busness would soon stop. Almost from the start of the city, banking has played an important part in the business expansion. The first bank was started by George Weare in 1855. It was located upstairs over the government land office. The fixtures consisted of a tin box containing the $1,000 cash brought from Council Bluffs, and an empty dry goods box for a counter. Mr. Weare was a government land agent and operated the bank in conjunction with it. In 1857, John P. Allison joined Mr. Weare and the banking firm of Weare & Allison was formed. Thus began a system of banks in Sioux City which today has deposits of over $32,000,000. In 1867, T. J. Stone organized the First National Bank, one of the first national banks to be established in the west following the passage of the national bank law. In 1884, the Security National Bank was organized by W. P. Manley and other Sioux City business men. This bank has remained under the same name and management since that time. In 1890, the Northwestern National Bank was organized. The name of this bank was changed to Sioux National in 1920, but still operates under the same charter and management. John A. Magoun, the present president, is one of the oldest bankers in Sioux City. It was also in 1890 that James F. Toy moved his banking business from Storm Lake and established the Farmers Loan and Trust Company, which is still under his management. The Woodbury County Savings Bank came into existence in 1892. In 1895, the Live Stock National Bank was opened mainly to serve the rapidly growing live stock business in Sioux City. In 1901, the Iowa State National Bank took over the Weare & Allison Bank and later the First National took over the Iowa State National. These six banks--Security National, First National, Woodbury County Savings, Farmers Loan and Trust Company, Sioux National and Live Stock National-have each served the business interests of the city for over a quarter of a century. This fact alone attests to the strength of banking in the city. Other banks in Sioux City are Leeds Bank of Sioux City, 1903; Iowa State Savings, 1906; Mid-West State, 1912; Morningside State, 1912; Toy National, 1912; First Trust and Savings, Forty-nine ________________
Fifty __________________ 1916; Farmers Bank of Leeds, 1918; Morningside Savings, 1919, and Commercial State Savings, 1920. The Iowa Joint Stock Land Bank and the Chicago Joint Stock Land Bank were organized in recent years as farm loan banks. By 1886, the several banks found the necessity of close co-operation and organized the Clearing House Association which filled the long felt need. From that time on, banking became more of a real business, necessitating the full time of the men at the heads of the institutions. A glance back at the early bankers will disclose the names of men who have been responsible for the building of Sioux City. The small country banks soon found it convenient to deal with the Sioux City banks and the city became a clearing center for the hundreds of surrounding towns. The strong financial institutions of a central trading point are always a stabilizing influence to the surrounding territory. When money is needed to carry the farmer or the stockman in the country, the small town banker has a means of supplying them through loans from the larger banks in Sioux City. The banks of the city have been a great help in this respect. Millions of dollars from Sioux City are at work practically all the time throughout the territory. These facts are not always evident to the public and are lost sight of by business men in general. The banker in any city or town, whether a thriving industrial metropolis or a small country town, is looked upon as the substantial and conservative business man of the community. Upon him to a certain extent, depends whether or not a concern makes good or fails. A bank must then be controlled by some of the leading men of the city. In Sioux City he must be a manufacturer, a jobber, a grain man, a live stock man and a retailer. He must have the interests of the city and community at heart or his bank will be a failure. Most of the Sioux City banks are under the control of men who have been at the head of the institutions for many years. They have built these institutions from small country town banks to big city financial organizations, and have helped to build the city while building their bank. In 1900, the total bank clearings amounted to $60, 311,692. By 1910 these figures had been doubled and then doubled again in 1920. In 1922, the clearings were $290,854,112. In recent years a new basis for computing and comparing bank business is that of total debits against individual accounts in all the banks. These figures reached $767,497,200 in 1922, which was a decided increase over previous years. The deposits at the beginning of the present year totaled $32,584,848. The capital and surplus of the combined banks represented $3,544,615, while resources are over $50,000,000. Fifty-one
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