The Plankinton Bank was organized under the laws of Wisconsin early in 1887, with a capital of $200,000, with John Plankinton as president, Frederick T. Day as vice president, and J. P. Murphy as cashier. The original list of Milwaukeeans who were stockholders in the bank, with the amounts of their stock subscriptions, included John Plankinton, $43,500; Frederick T. Day, $63,000; William Plankinton, $10,000; F. W. Noyes, $10,000; A. K. Hamilton, $10,000; James H. Thompson, $5,000; C. E. Lewis, $7,500; J. G. Jenkins, $6,500; J. P. Murphy, Roswell Miller, Charles J. Cary, and S. A. Fields, each $5,000; William H. Momsen, $1,500; and A. A. L. Smith, $1,000. Out-of-city holders of stock were P. D. Armour of Chicago, H. O. Armour of New York City, A. F. Leopold of Chicago, and J. A. Kimberly of Neenah, each with $5,000, and the A. G. Rising estate, $2,000.
The bank first opened for business on February 7, 1887, and was said to have obtained a large line of mercantile deposits and time savings accounts, the latter attracted by the high rate of four per cent interest. The bank also carried on a large collection business.
On the death of John Plankinton in 1891, Frederick T. Day was elected president of the bank, and at the same time he increased his holdings of stock to $96,000, and William Plankinton and the Plankinton estate reduced the amount of stock which they held in the institution. Judge Jenkins and William H. Momsen slightly increased their holdings, while Thompson, Lewis, Murphy, Miller, Smith, Hamilton, P. D. Armour, Leopold, Kimberly, and Rising withdrew entirely. William Sanderson, C. L. Clausen, E. S. Elliott, M. Grigsby, Mary Thompson, and Joseph Moody were new stockholders taken into the firm. In January 1893 the institution was reorganized, and at the same time W. H. Momsen succeeded Murphy as cashier.
The immediate cause of the failure of the bank was the long line of loans made to Frank A. Lappen & Company, totaling $250,000 -- more than the capital stock of the bank. Frank A. Lappen & Company was organized in 1888 as the Lappen House Furnishing Company, and in 1889 was reorganized as Frank A. Lappen & Company. The store was located at 317-327 Grand Avenue, and the Lappen Furniture Company, another of the business firms of which Frank A. Lappen and his brother Owen Lappen, Jr. were the principal owners was located at 407-411 East Water Street. On May 12, 1893, the sheriff took possession of both stores, and the general opinion seemed to be that Mr. Frank A. Lappen, the active manager of the business, had extended his operations beyond his capital resources. Claims filed up to the evening of the day of the closing of the stores aggregated $375,000.
At the same time that a series of apparently unwise and large loans were made to the Lappen companies, President Day was listed as a borrower from the bank to a total of about $300,000, and there were said to be two or three other large borrowers. The bank survived the run on it which began on May 14, 1893 as a result of the failure of the Lappen companies, but efforts to reorganize the bank and interest other large investors failed to materialize. The bank closed its doors on June 1, 1893. William Plankinton was immediately appointed as assignee, and was eventually succeeded by Irving M. Bean, who was followed by Henry Herman.
