Central National Bank, Wilkinsburg, PA (Charter 5265)
Central National Bank, Wilkinsburg, PA (Chartered 1900 - Closed 1930)
Town History
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with a population of 15,930 as of the 2010 census. Wilkinsburg is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough of Wilkinsburg was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army officer who served as Quartermaster General of the United States Army from 1796 to 1802.
Modern broadcasting as known in its current form began when Wilkinsburg resident Frank Conrad spearheaded a radio laboratory at his home, coordinated with Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the United States Signal Corps, under a special war time permit (using call signs 2-WM and 2-WE). After moving from Swissvale to Wilkinsburg, Conrad installed a radio station on the top floor of his backyard two-story garage, with a microphone, where he worked into the wee hours of the morning, eventually resulting in the development of modern broadcasting, as do it yourself listeners who had made their own crystal radio sets began to respond, some quite enthused by the music broadcast when Frank Conrad coupled a phonograph to radio. Wilkinsburg thus became the original location for modern broadcasting, combining the concepts of "the station, the audience, the programs, and a means to pay for the programs" after Conrad accepted a donation from a Wilkinsburg music store to promote its musical offerings. This was all before and leading up to KDKA and the development of commercial radio. In 1916, KDKA began broadcasting, as experimental station 8XK, from the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh and in a small garage owned by Frank Conrad, before it was launched with its current call letters on November 2, 1920. In 1923, Wilkinsburg-based Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin designed and patented the iconoscope, the photocell "eye" of early television cameras.
Wilkinsburg had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 18, 1900
- Chartered March 14, 1900
- Closed June 16, 1930
- Consolidated with 4728 July 16, 1930 (First National Bank of, Wilkinsburg, PA)
- Circulation assumed by 4728 (First National Bank of, Wilkinsburg, PA)
Authority to organize the Central National Bank of Wilkinsburg with a capital of $100,000 was granted by the comptroller of the currency to R.A. and James Balph, C.D. Armstrong, Dr. Charles W. Smith, James H. Harlow, and James A. Wilson. The charter followed in March with William S. Evans, president and J. Frank Miller, cashier.
In January 1907, the directors elected were C.W. Smith, R.A. Balph, T.M. Allen, H.F. Texter, J.R. Wylie, C.S. Marshall, S.H. McKee, E.B. Milligan, and Daniel Carhart.
On May 25, 1908, the Rev. Dr. Charles W. Smith, editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, was chosen as bishop on the 12th ballot of the Methodist Episcopal general conference. In October 1908, Rev. Dr. C.W. Smith resigned as president of the bank on account of his absence from the city necessitated by his recent election as bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his assignment to the Seattle district. The board of directors elected as president C.S. Marshall, a practical conservative businessman of Wilkinsburg.
On January 13, 1925, the following were elected directors: T.M. Allen, Daniel Carhart, James E. Hindman, C.S. Marshall, David McAllister, J.R. Wylie, D.B. Milligan, and Daniel A. Taylor.
On January 11, 1927, the following were elected directors: T.M. Allen, James E. Hindman, C.S. Marshall, David McAllister, J.R. Wylie, E.B. Milligan, and Samuel A. Taylor.
On Monday June 16, 1930, the First and Central National Banks merged and opened for business as the First National Bank of Wilkinsburg. The banks were consolidated the previous week and were now a part of the associated group of the Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Company with 15,000 depositors and resources of over $10,000,000. Business was being conducted at the First National, 701 Penn Ave., Wilkinsburg. On July 18, the comptroller of the currency authorized the consolidation under the corporate title of the First National Bank of Wilkinsburg, with a capital stock of $400,000. The old First National was capitalized at $250,000 and the Central National at $400,000.
A lad of Fayette County could have followed in the steps of his father and gone into the mines and into obscurity for all time. But this particular lad was George Rankin, Jr., and in 1932, a vice president of the First National Bank of Wilkinsburg and a leader in civic and community affairs. He went a roundabout way to reach his goal. He worked behind the counter in a country store and served as a machinist in the Union Switch & Signal Company for several years. While such jobs as these were not in direct line with his future career as a banker they served the purpose of making him ambitious for a more broadening and responsible position. He was born in Scotland. While still an infant he was brought to America by his parents. The first family home was in McKeesport, the next in Turtle Creek. As members of the family grew up, with five sisters following young George, it became evident the boy must be depended upon for help. His father, crippled and unable to earn much money, leaned on George, too, and looked to the day when the lad would be able to shoulder a large share in the support of the family. From Turtle Creek, the family moved to Fayette County. Although he had left day school, George by no means had finished with studying. He bought text books for study at home and when a night school was started in Fayette City, he planned to enroll. It was a different story, however, when he learned the tuition would be $1 a month; that was more than his parents could afford to pay. "I paid a call on the teacher and told him my plight," the banker said. "I volunteered to act as janitor at the night school sessions, clean off the blackboard, sweep up the room and tend the fire. The teacher agreed this would offset my tuition, and I started night school. Thereafter, whenever night school classes were held in the district, I was the pupil-janitor, paying in service instead of in money." At Gillespie, George found a job as clerk in the crossroads store, selling everything from a paper of pins to a horse and wagon. Rankin earned $10 a month in the store but not in money. It was very rarely, in fact, that this lad had any coins or bills for himself, his salary was given in groceries or dry goods, to the amount of $10. When the family moved again to Roscoe, Washington County, Rankin continued to attend night school, but he had made so much progress that now, instead of doing the janitor work, he assisted the teacher in the instruction of elementary pupils. In return he was tutored in some of the higher subjects. The youth was about 17 when he went to Wilkinsburg. His first job was that of laborer in the Union Switch & Signal Company plant. Moving up into the machine shop, he served his apprenticeship and later became a foreman. At night, or in spare time, he did clerical work for the company manager. He realized he was getting into a groove in this type of work and although he knew it required skill and precision to be a machine shop foreman, it was not the occupation he wanted for life. About the turn of the century, he was elected borough clerk of Wilkinsburg. He took off his overalls and cap, put his tools aside and said: "I'll not be back for these. You can divide them among the boys." And although he was assured his job would be waiting for him when he wanted it. After serving as borough clerk for one year, Rankin took a position in the Central National Bank of Wilkinsburg, first working as a clerk and later as cashier. Enrolling in the American Institute of Banking, Rankin studied finance and economics. He led the debating team of the institute, winning the national championship on three occasions. Merger of the bank with which he was first affiliated, and reorganization of the First National Bank of Wilkinsburg found Rankin chosen a vice president. He had traveled a round-about road to reach this office. Despite this, the banker found time for many other activities. He was a thirty-third degree Mason and commander of Pittsburgh Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar. He served as vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Prison Board for seven years. He was president of the Tri-Valley Bankers Association, and past president of the Wilkinsburg Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Sergeant David L. Rankin of Company L, 111th Infantry, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Rankin, Jr. was reported missing in action in September 1918. But his parents had been informed from soldiers who knew the corporal stating that he was mortally wounded on August 11 and expired August 12. He was killed by a German bullet in the village of Fismette, France. In 1920, a newly organized post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Wilkinsburg was named after the banker's son.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Central National Bank of Wilkinsburg, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $1,656,630 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1900 and 1930. This consisted of a total of 132,960 notes (125,076 large size and 7,884 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 4700 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 8200 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 8201 - 11529 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 15040 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1075 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 239
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1900 - 1930):
Presidents:
- William Eli Evans, 1900-1904
- Rev. Dr. Charles Wesley Smith, 1905-1908
- Curtis Sylvester Marshall, 1909-1915
- Samuel Alfred Taylor, 1916-1929
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 Wilkinsburg (Wikipedia)
- General information on Allegheny County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Wilkinsburg, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkinsburg,_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
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Jan. 14, 1900.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Thu., Mar. 15, 1900.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., Jan. 8, 1907.
- The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, Tue., May 26, 1908.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., Oct. 13, 1908.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Sep. 25, 1918.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Feb. 14, 1920.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Jan. 14, 1925.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., Jan. 11, 1927.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., June 16, 1930.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., July 19, 1930.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Dec. 11, 1932.