Belmar National Bank, Belmar, NJ (Charter 13848)
Belmar National Bank, Belmar, NJ (Chartered 1933 - Closed (Merger) 1974)
Town History
Belmar is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, situated on the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 5,907.
What is now Belmar was originally incorporated as Ocean Beach borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 9, 1885, from portions of Wall Township, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. On April 16, 1889, it became the City of Elcho borough, which lasted for a few weeks until the name was changed to the City of Belmar Borough on May 14, 1889. The city acquired its current name, Borough of Belmar, on November 20, 1890. The borough's name means "beautiful sea."
Belmar had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized November 20, 1933
- Chartered November 28, 1933
- Succeeded 5363 (First National Bank, Belmar, NJ)
- Assumed circulation of 5363
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into The First Jersey National Bank in Jersey City, NJ, August 2, 1974
On December 1, 1933, Belmar celebrated the re-opening of the one and only bank of the community. At 9 o'clock the doors of the Belmar National Bank opened and $750,000 in deposits frozen in the old bank were made available for unrestricted use. It replaced the First National Bank of Belmar which was closed when President Roosevelt called the bank holiday last March. It was a gala day for the town and members of the board of commissioners, headed by Mayor Joseph Mayer, and the depositors' re-opening committee with former State Senator E. Donald Sterner, chairman, who were on hand to greet the new officers and directors. Thirty-eight per cent of the deposits, it was announced, were represented in unacceptable assets of the old bank and three trustees, Edward F. Lyman, Jr., George W. Van Note and Claude W. Birdsall would seek to convert those assets into cash as quickly as possible. With the opening of the bank, George W. Van Note, former mayor of Belmar and supervisor of the Wall Township schools, became president. Harry J. Lewis, owner of the Lewis Department Store of Belmar, was vice president. John P. Mulvihill of Fair Haven was the new cashier. Edward F. Lyman, Jr., cashier and director of the old bank and the only official of that institution, would serve as chairman of the board of directors. The directors were William H. Hurley, owner of Hurley’s Men’s and Boys’ haberdashery store; John Guinco, owner of Guinco’s fruit and produce market; Vernon H. King, West Belmar grocer, and E. Donald Sterner, vice president and treasurer of Sterner Coal and Lumber Company.
George W. Van Note, former mayor of Belmar and state director of prohibition in 1920-21, died early on April 24, 1940 at Fitkin Hospital where he had been a patient for the past seven months. Mr. Van Note began his career as a teacher at Brielle in 1914. He was later superintendent of Wall Township schools and served 12 years on the Belmar borough council and three years as mayor.
On June 11, 1940, Harry J. Lewis was elected president to succeed the late George W. Van Note at a special meeting of the board of directors. Mr. Donald Sterner was named vice president and Leon T. Abbott was appointed to the board to fill the vacancy. The directors were John Giunco, Harry J. Lewis, Leon T. Abbott, E.F. Lyman, Jr., E. Donald Sterner, Vernon H. King, William H. Hurley, and John P. Mulvihill.
On March 7, 1958, the Belmar National Bank announced plans for the construction of a new building on the southeast corner of Rt. 35 and 18th Avenue in Wall Township and a change in the title to the Belmar-Wall National Bank. The new building would be built on a site of four acres with complete facilities including a drive-in window. Calvin F. Woolley, executive vice president of the bank, announced that a transfer of $100,000 in undivided profits would be made to provide a stock dividend of 100% to present stockholders who would receive an additional share for each share held. The headquarters was located at 9th Avenue and F. Street in Belmar. The parent building was also being enlarged.
On February 21, 1974, an agreement was announced whereby the Belmar-Wall National Bank would be acquired by First Jersey National Bank, Jersey City, for cash in excess of $9 million, subject to approval by shareholders and the comptroller of the currency. Under terms of the agreement, holders of Belmar-Wall's 89,989 shares, following a previously announced stock dividend, would receive $102 a share for a total of $9,178,878. The latest quote on Belmar-Wall's stock was $72 bid. For First Jersey it was $17 bid, $17 asked. Both are traded over the counter. Announcement of the agreement by the boards of directors of the two banks was made by Merle Simpson, president and chief executive officer of Belmar-Wall, and Thomas J. Stanton Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Jersey City bank, which was founded in 1864 as the First National Bank of Jersey City. First Jersey National was wholly owned by the one-bank First Jersey National Corp. holding company, and reported deposits of more than $477 million on December 31, 1973. Earnings for the bank corporation totaled $3,825,000 or $2.64 per share for 1973. First Jersey National Corp. had 1,532,405 shares outstanding. First Jersey National Bank operated 20 offices in Hudson, Essex, and Bergen counties. Belmar-Wall had five offices in Monmouth County. Belmar-Wall reported earnings of more than $500,000 or $6.42 a share for last year. Deposits at the end of 1973 were more than $51.5 million. Mr. Simpson said all employees of Belmar-Wall would be retained in the merged institution. On May 16, the stockholders of Belmar-Wall National overwhelmingly approved the merger. The board of directors unanimously supported the merger because the rapid growth of Monmouth County made it increasingly difficult for Belmar-Wall to keep pace with the expanding financial needs of the area. In addition, it was doubtful whether Belmar-Wall, which was organized in 1933 as the Belmar National Bank, would be able to effectively compete with the large statewide banking organizations which had established their presence in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Belmar National Bank, Belmar, NJ
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $18,270 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1933 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 2,334 notes (No large size and 2,334 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 1422 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 708 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 204
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1933 - 1935):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- New Jersey Bank Note History
- General information on Belmar (Wikipedia)
- General information on Monmouth County (Wikipedia)
- General information on New Jersey (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Belmar, NJ, on Wikipedia
- Don C. Kelly, National Bank Notes, A Guide with Prices. 6th Edition (Oxford, OH: The Paper Money Institute, 2008).
- Dean Oakes and John Hickman, Standard Catalog of National Bank Notes. 2nd Edition (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990).
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- The Daily Record, Long Branch, NJ, Fri., Dec. 1, 1933.
- The Daily Register, Red Bank, NJ, Thu., Apr. 25, 1940.
- Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ, Wed., June 12, 1940.
- Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ, Tue., Dec. 24, 1940.
- The Daily Record, Long Branch, NJ, Fri., Mar. 7, 1958.
- Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ, Thu., Feb. 21, 1974.
- Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ, Fri., May 17, 1974.