Central City National Bank, Central City, PA (Charter 11967)
Central City National Bank, Central City, PA (Chartered 1921 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Central City is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,124 at the 2010 census. In 1920, the population was 1,051, peaking in 1930 at 2,107. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is approximately 10 miles northeast of Shanksville and 10 miles east of of Stoystown.
Central City is situated on lands originally owned by Shade Township's first settlers, Casper Stotler and George Lambert. It was founded in 1894 by Anthony Wechtenhiser and received its name from its central location along the projected Midland Railroad. The objective was to build a railroad into the large coal field known to exist in this region. However, the project failed to develop.
Mining on a large scale began when John Lochrie, a Windber coal operator, started the Reitz Coal Company. By the end of 1916, the first railroad car full of coal was on its way to markets. The No. 4 mine opening followed resulting in significant growth of Central City. Mr. Lochrie helped provide a Catholic Church, the American Legion Home, a recreation hall, municipal building, fire house and athletic field.
The town was incorporated into the borough of Central City in 1918.
Central City had one National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, and it issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized April 20, 1921
- Chartered April 30, 1921
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Merged with Windber Bank and Trust Company, June 30, 1962
Flathead Gang Robs Central City National Bank
On June 6, 1929, two bandits were captured, one escaped and a fourth member of the gang was believed wounded and surrounded in a swamp in this sparsely settled section of Somerset County.
The men were reported to have secreted themselves in the bank building over night, having gained entrance through a coal chute. They waited for the bank's employees to open the doors in the morning. Bank employees James M. Miller, cashier; Maurice Hoffman, teller; and Ernest Cook, assistant cashier entered shortly after 9 o'clock and were confronted by three masked men with revolvers. Miller said he was covered with guns as soon as he unlocked the doors of the bank. He was hurried to the safe and with guns pressed against his sides, he was ordered to unlock the safe. Two of the bandits watched Miller while the other gathered up the money and placed it in bags. As other bank employees and customers entered the bank they were forced to stand with their faces to the wall. Cook managed to pull a burglar alarm which frightened the bandits and they fled with the money. Immediately, a fourth member of the gang seated out front in a car sped away leaving his accomplices without means of escape. As the three burglars fled on foot, armed citizens showered them with a volley of bullets, wounding and capturing two. The third carrying about $1,400 was believed surrounded in a swamp near town. About $1,100 was found on the two that were captured.
John Wasmik [aka John Wozniak], 35, of Pittsburgh was severely wounded and in the Community Hospital at Somerset, closely guarded by two state policemen. He refused to talk but wrote a Pittsburgh address on a slip of paper, stating "send my body there if I die." John Misicik [aka Feliz Fertak], 45, also alias Frank Kraus, the other wounded bandit, was held in the Somerset County jail in Somerset. Wounded in the face and right leg, he also refused to talk except to say he was from Pittsburgh.
The gun battle in which more than 100 shots were exchanged, began when three of the robbers fled from the bank as a clerk, Ernest L. Cook, pulled the burger alarm. Amateurish work of preparation for the holdup resulting in the downfall of the two bandits. The robbers had disabled the bank's alarms, save one, seized the two revolvers kept in the counting room, but overlooked the cashier's "ace in the hole," a Winchester repeating rifle which he had concealed in a rear room. Miller took advantage of the confusion caused by the sounding of the outside alarm and fired almost simultaneously with M.E. Sell, chief clerk of the Reitz Coal company whose shotgun was trained from an upper window on the fleeing bandits as they crossed the street in front of the bank. The two men exchanged shots with Miller until Wasmik fell. Cook, who also had a rifle of small caliber hidden in the bank, blazed away at them from a corner of the building.
Aroused by the sounding of the alarm and gunfire, other citizens rushed up with shotguns and exchanged buckshot for bullets with the remaining gunman who stood over his fallen comrade until his ammunition was exhausted. The mines were idle only having been worked part time of late, so several hundred mine workers quickly assembled near the bank and formed a posse to follow the third bandit across the swamp. The posse was headed by Rufus Lochrie, superintendent of the Reitz Coal Company and son of the president of the bank, John Lochrie. Also directing the general search were Squire Sell and Burgess Frank Mulcahy who also was the justice of the peace. State police detailed to the case were under command of Lieutenant Thomas F. Martin and Sergeant James V. Buckley of Troop A, Greensburg.
"They came a day too late," the cashier explained "because yesterday we made a large shipment of currency. They evidently knew that payday in the mines was on the first of the month and waited a few days until they thought a large part of the miners' money was placed with us for safekeeping."
Swift Justice Served
On August 9, 1929, John Mosczenski, 28 of Buffalo, NY started on a journey to the Western penitentiary at Pittsburgh where he will be confined for 18 1/2 to 37 years for his part in the robbery of the Central City National Bank. Mosczenski pleaded guilty to charges of breaking, entering, robbery and felonious shooting before Judge John A. Berkey on July 29th and was sentenced August 5th. An offer of leniency from the court if he would reveal the hiding place of the more than $4,500 obtained in the robbery was refused by the prisoner. Earlier, a fruitless search was made of the woods where he claimed he threw away the money during the pursuit by a posse. He joined his co-defendants, John Lucian and John Wozniak, both of Detroit, and Feliz Fertak of Cleveland, who already were serving similar prison terms.
The four men composed what remained of the once notorious Flathead gang which for several years terrorized Allegheny County with bold daylight robberies that led to several murders. Paul Jaworski, once leader of the gang paid the ultimate penalty for the murder of a guard during one of the gang's payroll robberies. Other members of the gang were shot in encounters with officers, while others died natural deaths or just disappeared. Following the Central City bank robbery which according to one of the gang members was to serve as the first of a new series of operations by the reorganized gang, Wozniak and Fertak were shot down and captured by citizens' posses; Lucian escaped in an automobile and was apprehended in Detroit, Michigan; and Mosczenski was captured in Buffalo about a month earlier.
Merger with Windber Bank and Trust Company
In 1930, officers were John Lochrie, president; C.L. Simpson, vice president; and Joseph M. Miller, cashier. Capital was $50,000, surplus $50,000 and undivided profits of $10,000.
In January 1932, the officers were John Lochrie, president; C.L. Simpson, vice president; James M. Miller, cashier. The Directors were John Lochrie, C.L. Simpson, James M. Miller, W.M. Wechpenhiser, Charles Estep and C.C. Bowden.
In January 1960, despite the economic condition of the Central City area, the bank had a very good year with an 8% dividend. Officers were George Sura, president; Paul Wagner, vice president; Frank T. Mulvehill, cashier; Gladys Larson, assistant cashier; Peggy Rice and Joseph Sepety, tellers.
On Monday, July 2, 1962, The New Central City office of the Windber Bank and Trust Co. opened in the former quarters of the Central City National Bank. The merger of the two banks was effective on June 30 upon approval by the Federal reserve System Board of Governors. Authorization from the Department of Banking of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania arrived on July 2, for the bank to establish a branch at 104 Sunshine Avenue, Central City. With the merger, the Windber Bank and Trust Co. became the third largest commercial bank in Cambria and Somerset Counties. The branch manager was Frank Mulvehill.
On May 28, 1963, The United States National Bank in Johnstown received permission from James J. Saxon, Comptroller of the Currency, to acquire the Windber Bank & Trust Company. United States National with assets of $63.1 million was the largest commercial bank in the Johnstown area. The Windber bank was valued at $13.3 million.
In December 1973, U.S. Bank named Gladys Larson of Cairnbrook as manager of the Central City office. Miss Larson began her banking career in 1947 when she was employed by the former Central City National Bank.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Central City National Bank, Central City, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $582,470 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1921 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 47,278 notes (32,452 large size and 14,826 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 8113 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1702 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 410 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 1758 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 396
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1921 - 1936):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Pennsylvania Bank Note History
- General information on Central City (Wikipedia)
- General information on Somerset County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Central City, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_City,_Pennsylvania
- 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 News, Mount Carmel, PA, Thu., June 6, 1929.
- Lancaster New Era, Lancaster, PA, Thu., June 6, 1929.
- Altoona Mirror, Altoona, PA, Thu., June 6, 1929.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Fri., June 7, 1929.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., July 2, 1929.
- The Indiana Gazette, Indiana, PA, Fri., Aug. 9, 1929.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Tue., July 1, 1930.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Thu., Jan. 14, 1932.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Wed., Jan. 13, 1960.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Mon., July 2, 1962.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Wed., May 29, 1963.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Mon., July 22, 1968.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Mon., Dec. 10, 1973.