The American Trust Company — the line that runs to PNC

1903 – present, by merger

The founding, two dates: The American Trust Company banked at the northwest corner of Washington and Michigan, in the heart of the downtown banking district. Two founding dates stand in the record and both are printed: the FDIC's institution history dates the establishment of the institution to 23 July 1903, while Polk's 1921 directory, listing the bank with capital of $200,000 under president E. H. Miller, says it commenced business in 1904. In 1904 the bank set the street clock at Washington and Michigan that became a downtown landmark. Its banking house at 111 West Washington Street, built 1922–1924 of Indiana limestone to the designs of Virthum and Burns, still stands and is described in the Architecture section.

The run of 1931: The American Trust was caught in the June 1931 crisis that closed the First National and the Union Trust. A run forced its suspension on 13 June 1931 — and then, unlike its two downtown neighbors, it reopened: the Indianapolis Times of 27 June 1931 shows the deputy state bank examiner Thomas D. Barr still studying the affairs of the American Trust and the Union Trust, both then in the state banking department's charge; the Union Trust never emerged, but the American Trust stands in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's list of banks licensed and operating on 30 June 1935. In September 1968 it converted to a national charter as the American National Bank and Trust Company of South Bend.

The chain out — and the Mishawaka boundary: On 1 October 1983 the American National Bank and Trust Company was acquired by the Valley Bank and Trust Company, which moved its headquarters from Mishawaka to South Bend and took the name Valley American Bank and Trust Company. Valley Bank was a Mishawaka institution, established 5 June 1920; Mishawaka is a separate city with its own history, and the Valley line enters this section only at that 1983 crossing, when a Mishawaka bank bought a South Bend one and moved in. The Valley American name stood over the 25-story tower on the Oliver Hotel site at Main and Washington — the tower long known as the Valley American Bank Building, now the Chase Tower. On 20 November 1998 Valley American merged into the National City Bank of Indiana; on 22 July 2006 that bank merged into the National City Bank of Cleveland; and on 6 November 2009 National City merged into PNC Bank, National Association, of Pittsburgh. The American Trust Company of 1903 thus ends, by the FDIC's chain of record, inside PNC.

Sources:

1. FDIC institution-history record for the American line (certificate 15234 lineage) — establishment 23 July 1903; the merger of 1 October 1983 into the Valley Bank and Trust Company and the change of title to Valley American Bank and Trust Company; the chain through National City Bank of Indiana (20 November 1998), National City Bank (22 July 2006) and PNC Bank, N.A. (6 November 2009).
2. Polk's South Bend city directory, 1921, "Banks and Bankers" — the American Trust Company, "commenced business 1904," northwest corner of Washington and Michigan, capital $200,000, president E. H. Miller.
3. University of Notre Dame, Building South Bend — the American Trust building at 111 West Washington (1922–1924, Virthum and Burns), the 1904 street clock, and the Valley American tower on the Oliver Hotel site.
4. The bank-suspension database derived from Federal Reserve historical data — the American Trust Company's run, suspension and reopening, June 1931; Indianapolis Times, 27 June 1931 — examiner Barr studying the American Trust and Union Trust affairs.
5. Federal Reserve, G.4.5 changes in banking structure, September 1968 — the conversion of the American Bank and Trust Company to the American National Bank and Trust Company of South Bend.