1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

John R. Lindburg, president of the First National Bank of Pittsburg, Kansas, has been connected with the commercial and financial affairs of this city almost since its inception. In fact, when he came here, twenty-seven years ago, the population numbered forty-two persons. Pittsburg has assumed very important proportions since that time, and is now one of the leading industrial centers of the state. Mr. Lindburg, by his willing co-operation in this remarkable growth and upbuilding, has made himself an influential personality in the community, and is recognized as a foremost citizen in financial, social and purely civic matters.

Mr. Lindburg was born in the town of Wimmerby, Sweden, in 1849, and was reared to manhood there, receiving his college education in the old institution known as Wimmerby College. He was nineteen years old when he came to the United States in 1868, and his first location was in Chicago, where he worked in a sawmill for six months. From that city he went to Peoria, Illinois, but soon returned to Chicago and obtained a position in a store, and later was in the mercantile business for himself in that city. From Chicago he went to Red Oak, Iowa, where he clerked in a store for a time. He took up what has proved his permanent residence in Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1877. He had a store in those early days, and his own enterprises and success have increased with the progress of the city, which, a few years after his settlement there, entered upon a solid and substantial boom, and grew from a mere hamlet to a flourishing and wealthy city in the course of a decade of time.

The First National Bank, of which Mr. Lindburg is president, was established in 1886, T. J. Hale being its first president. In the following year Mr. Lindburg was made its vice president, and in 1888 was elected president. On assuming the responsibilities of this important position he disposed of his commercial interests, and has since devoted all his energies to making the bank a power and factor in the business activity of the city and county, which laudable ambition he can be said to have attained in a high degree. He has been an active working president since the day of his election, always on duty, and his genial temperament and wholesouled and happy manner of treating all his associates and customers have been important elements in the institution's success. The First National has had a somewhat remarkable growth and progress, and its permanence and financial integrity and conservatism of management are made much of by all its patrons. The prosperous history and present condition of the First National is shown at a glance in the following tables, one showing a comparison of assets from 1886 to 1905, and the other the statement of resources and liabilities as existing in February of 1905:

Mr. Lindburg is considered one of the most public-spirited men of Pittsburg. Seldom has a movement for the upbuilding or betterment of the city been without his active co-operation and assistance, often has been undertaken with his leadership and always with his entire sympathy. He is especially commended for his efficient administration of the affairs of the Pittsburg Building and Loan Association, of which he has been president for twenty years, and which during that time has never lost a dollar. He has built about ten brick business buildings in the city, and, with his associates, has put up about two hundred dwellings which have been sold to the laboring people on installments.

For a number of years Mr. Lindburg was president of the Commercial Club, of which he was the founder. He was a member of the first city council, and is now a member of the city school board, and in these places has done much for civic improvement and educational advancement. He is prominent in Free Masonry, being past eminent commander of the Knights Templar, and has held several other positions in the fraternity.

Mr. Lindburg was married at Cambridge, Illinois, in 1874, to Miss Emma Vaughn, a native of Vermont. They have three children: Lotta is the wife of Captain William J. Watson, an attorney at law and the present postmaster of Pittsburg; the two other children are Rolla R. and John R., Jr.

Pages 268-275 from A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas, by Home Authors; Illustrated. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, IL : 1905. 656 p. ill. Transcribed by Cody Crow, student at Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, in March, 2003.

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