Aberdeen’s Financial Fortification
Local industry titans consolidate control over the newly incorporated Aberdeen Bank with a quarter-million-dollar capital injection.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Aberdeen Bank has been further strengthened. On Tuesday, there were added to the institution W. P. Book, Sam’l Benn, and A. J. West, three of the wealthiest men in Southwestern Washington. C. T. Wooding, G. S. Thomas, W. P. Book, Sam’l Benn, and A. J. West now constitute the stockholders of this corporation. The new institution is incorporated as the Aberdeen Bank, with $250,000 capital stock, of which $50,000 has been paid in, with the following officers: W. P. Book, president; C. T. Wooding, vice president; G. S. Thomas, manager. It is the intention of the trustees to keep the institution well to the front in this progressive community, and to supply ample funds to meet all legitimate demands and needs in safely and surely building up this locality.
“It is the intention of the trustees to keep the institution well to the front in this progressive community.”
The consolidation of capital by a handful of 'wealthiest men' in the 1890s was the primary mechanism of early city building. This reflects the perennial tension in Aberdeen between local wealth concentration and the desire for broad economic stability.
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