Arch Glass Mainous, Sr. (April 7, 1899 – August 17, 1990) was an American banker and insurance executive who was the founder or chairman of a number of banks and insurance companies in Kentucky. This included Citizens Union National Bank & Trust Company in Lexington (merged out of existence), Kentucky, First Federal Savings and Loan of Lexington, Kentucky (closed), Kentucky Family Life (Merged with Jefferson Pilot).
He also became the executive Vice President of the American Bankers Association in 1955 and the president of the Kentucky Bankers Association in 1956
He was married Juanita Nell Cornett, the daughter of Kentucky politician William Manon Cornett.
Early life and education
During the late 1910s Mainous moved from the farm to Appalachia, Virginia to work for a bank founded by his half-brother, Edward Chester Mainous. Edward Chester Mainous (1882-1922) assisted his brothers, Arch Glass Mainous (1899-1990), William Lazarus 'Laz' Mainous (1890-1983), and Isaac 'Ike' Sylvester Mainous (1903-1955) to enter the world of Finance. Laz ran The First National Bank of Applachia, Arch ran the Citizens Union National Bank in Lexington, Kentucky and Ike was Assistant Vice President of First National Bank in Bristol, Tennessee.
When his brother, Edward Chester Mainous, was killed in an auto accident in 1922, Arch went to business school and attended what would become Sue Bennett College. After school, Arch Glass moved to Miami, Florida, and took a job working at First National Bank of Miami as head of its savings department. In Miami, Arch Glass Mainous appeared three (3) times in the Miami Herald newspaper discussing his management of the savings department.
Career
While working at the First National Bank of Miami, FL, Arch eventually lost his job after the 1926 hurricane caused a run on bank deposits. The hurricane caused an economic depression in South Florida at the time.
Nevertheless, on January 27, 1927, Arch Glass is recorded as obtaining a wedding license in Miami, Florida, to marry Juanita Nell Cornett. Arch stayed in Miami through 1927 continuing to work at the First National Bank of Miami while his first child was born at the end of 1927 at Victoria Hospital.
Upon returning to Kentucky in 1928 he left his wife and child at his parents house in Owsley County, Kentucky and lived with his sister in Cleveland, Ohio at 636 East 94th Street and worked for the Humphrey Company selling popcorn and peanuts in the Theater district for about a year. While there, a comedian named Bob Hope and his brother also sold popcorn and peanuts with Arch while trying to get into vaudeville. A reference to this event is recorded in a 1978 Lexington Herald Leader article about Arch Mainous.
In 1929, his father-in-law, former Deputy Insurance Commissioner William Manon Cornett helped his son-in-law Arch Glass obtain a job as a Trust Examiner for the Kentucky Banking Department and he and his family moved initially to Georgetown, Kentucky. During his examination of various banks he evaluated one in 1931 in Lexington, Kentucky called 'Deposit Guaranty Bank'. Arch moved to Lexington in 1930 and lived in several rental houses before purchasing his first home in the fall of 1931. Deposit Guaranty was closed due to insolvency and, in 1932 upon re-opening, Arch Glass was offered the position of Assistant Cashier and began purchasing stock.
Deposit Guarantee becomes Citizens Bank
After the closure of the Deposit Guaranty Bank, the bank was re-organized and re-opened as 'Citizens Bank and Trust Co' in 1932. During the period from its formation in 1932 through the 1950s the bank grew and eventually merged with the adjacent 'Union Bank' creating the 'Citizens Union bank'. The Merger of the two occurred on January 1, 1955.
Arch Mainous was appointed president of the Lexington Clearinghouse (a consortium of banks in Lexington, Kentucky) used to process the clearing of checks and bank drafts.
In December 1946 the existing chairman of Citizens Bank, Thomas C. Bradley died and Arch Mainous was elected to the position of chairman of Citizens Bank and Trust.
In 1958 the bank became a National bank becoming 'Citizens Union National Bank and Trust Company' whose offices were at 201 to 203 Short Street in Lexington, Kentucky, opposite Court House square.
