| Financing Business Development
The creating and expanding of businesses requires capital, or money,
to finance construction. Sidney, Ohio, was fortunate to have had both the organizations
and men necessary to meet this need. A primitive form of money lending was present here by
the early 1850s. The first permanent banking establishment, the Citizens National Bank,
was founded in 1870. It is now known as Bank One. The Peoples Savings and Loan Company, now Peoples
Federal, was established by L. M. Studevant in 1886.
A number of business leaders acted as financiers by loaning
money to others to create or expand a business - and, in turn, sometimes receiving stock
in the enterprise for their efforts. L. M. Studevant, who also founded what is now Star
Bank, provided capital for such ventures as the Tucker
Woodworking Company, R. Given and Sons Tannery, the Bimel Buggy Company, and the Eclipse
Folding Machine Company.
Others helped to create a powerful circle of financial assistance. I. H. Thedieck, the local retailer who
also founded Monarch in 1909,
helped establish Sidney Tool Company, the Sidney Telephone Company, the Anderson Body
Company, and others. E. J. Griffis, although
principally a grain merchant, was deeply involved in financing and operating Peerless Bread Machine Corporation, Sidney
Machine Tool Company, Monarch Machine Tool and other companies.
Industry segment
written in January, 1998 by Rich Wallace
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