The Failure of the T.C. Shove Bank

T. C. Shove Bank, located at 118 S 8th Street in Manitowoc, corner of S. 8th & Quay.

Theodore Churchill Shove was born in 1831 in New York and came to Manitowoc with his family in 1850. Shove studied to be an attorney and soon turned his focus to the growing banking industry. He began as a teller at the Wollmer Bank and opened his own bank, the T.C. Shove Banking in 1858. The bank operated until tragedy struck in 1892.

Historian Ralph Plumb describes the event that led to the closing of the T.C. Shove Bank:

“The Bank of Manitowoc and the Shove Bank weathered the stress of the Civil War period, although the former was twice obligated to reduce its capital. …[In 1884] the Shove Bank was reorganized into the T.C. Shove Banking Company, including several new stockholders and with a capital of $45,000.”

“At 10:45 p. m. of the 11th of April 1892 fire, caused by an explosion, broke out in the plant of the Manitowoc Manufacturing Company and in a few hours the leading industry of the city, employing two hundred men, was no more.  The loss was $175,000 and the insurance but $60,000. On the following morning the doors of the T. C. Shove Banking company were closed.  It then transpired that the latter concern had been carrying the factory for large amounts, the factory being in reality under the same management as the bank.”

The loss of the plant and the bank was felt throughout the growing city of Manitowoc. A comment from the Manitowoc Tribune on April 14, 1892 stated, “Much sympathy has been offered to T.C. Shove. The loss of the Manitowoc Manufacturing Company has wiped out the bank. The T.C. Banking House is a failure. Assignee Pienning is looking into the Shove books. He has found too many advances, although the businesses are legitimate. He has been too liberal with bank funds.”

Not only did the Manitowoc Manufacturing fire and failure of the T.C. Shove Bank have a disastrous effect on the community, soon the Panic of 1893 swept through Northeast Wisconsin.  The Bank of Two Rivers, the Bank of Mishicot, and the State Bank of Manitowoc all temporarily closed their doors as a result of the severe economic depression. The Manitowoc Pilot on June 18, 1893 reported, “People seem to have lost their heads and have no trust in any bank.”

A trial against T.C. Shove took place in Sheboygan in 1894. As the Manitowoc Pilot explained on April 12, 1894: “To begin with, the sense of pecuniary loss made the feeling against him strong on the part of many who had lost money in the bank. The failure was so bad that people could not be blamed for believing there was dishonesty and the Shove profited by it. But it is certain that today Shove is financially in as poor circumstances, almost, as the poorest depositor who lost money in the bank.”

“The bank’s losses came from a wild attempt to build up home industries and the foolish part in the proceeding was that he did not inform himself sufficiently of the conditions of the enterprises he was to make flourish.”

Following the failure of the Shove bank, the Shove family moved to Minnesota where they became involved in the insurance business. T.C. Shove was required to return to Wisconsin for the numerous court proceedings that followed. He passed away in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1905 and he body was brought back to Manitowoc for burial.

Shove wanted to see his city prosper and he worked hard to make that happen. The fire of the Manitowoc Manufacturing Company led to the collapse of his life’s work in our community. Perhaps the Manitowoc Tribune on December 8, 1892 summarizes it best: “Shove believed in the Manitowoc Manufacturing Company and aided it to prove it ultimately as a paying investment. Fire surely put out it out of existence and with it went the bank. Mr. Shove has been mercilessly persecuted and charged with all sorts of crimes. (He) showed a lack of business acumen by putting so much in one place his was an error in judgement not a criminal act. His own losses were so great they wiped out a lifetime of work and accumulation of property. If the fire hadn’t occurred, and the Manitowoc Manufacturing Company had been a success as he felt it would be, he would not be judged a criminal, but a public benefactor.”