Commercial National Bank, Bradford, PA (Charter 4199)
Commercial National Bank, Bradford, PA (Chartered 1890 - Receivership 1935)
Town History
Bradford is a city in McKean County, Pennsylvania. It is located close to the border with New York state and approximately 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. The population was 7,825 at the 2020 United States Census. In 1880 the population was 9,197, peaking at 19,306 in 1930.
Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the Pennsylvania oil rush in the late 19th century. The area's Pennsylvania Grade crude oil has superior qualities and is free of asphaltic constituents, contains only trace amounts of sulfur and nitrogen, and has excellent characteristics for refining into lubricants. The Bradford & Foster Brook Railway was built in 1876 as one of, if not the first, monorails in America, when Bradford was a booming oil town. World-famous Kendall racing oils were produced in Bradford.
Bradford was the site of an important step in the development of personal aviation. In the 1930s, the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation produced an airplane called the Taylor Cub in Bradford. After a fire at the factory, the company was bought by William T. Piper. After relocating his factory to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, Piper resumed production of a revised design of the airplane first produced in Bradford, which became the world-famous Piper Cub. Bradford is the home of Zippo (est. 1932), a manufacturer of collectible pocket lighters, and Case (est. in Bradford in 1905), which is owned by Zippo and makes hunting, fishing, folding pocketknives, and collectibles.
Bradford had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 1, 1890
- Chartered January 8, 1890
- Receivership September 30, 1935
On January 8, 1890, the comptroller of the currency authorized the Commercial National Bank of Bradford to begin business with capital of $100,000.
The Commercial National Bank of Bradford, Pennsylvania had been occupying for a number of years a corner lot 26 feet wide by 88 feet deep. It was a location where they were extremely desirous of remaining. In February 1922, the bank had grown to such an extent that it was necessary to find ways and means of increasing its facilities. The adjacent portions of this corner property were in the hands of certain individuals who used the opportunity to boost the price of their real estate to an exorbitant figure in the hope that the bank would be forced into paying more than the property was worth in order to get the space sufficient for its requirements. This situation developed into an intensive study of the possibility of getting the required accommodations on the original 26 foot plot. This resulted in a development of the two story individual building which is illustrated in the accompanying photo graphs. By means of an ingenious balcony arrangement between the first and second stories, the bank has a building which provides facilities sufficient for the handling of at least 100% more business than they have at present, unusually luxurious accommodations for the comfort of their employees and a monumental building which placed this bank in a leading place in this community for many years. The building was constructed of face brick with limestone pilasters and arches. The banking room was finished in Florence and Oxford Fleuri marble, and bronze wickets, lighting fixtures and handsomely carved balcony rail. The designs of the building were developed by Hoggson Brothers, the bank building specialists of New York and Chicago who also constructed and equipped the building throughout.
On December 30, 1933, the bank had total resources of $4,041,994.56 with loans $2,821,434.28, banking house and furniture $123,706.69, U.S. Bonds $354,579.21 and cash and due from banks $690,254.72. The capital was $300,000, surplus $100,000, profits $124,338.42 with circulation of $100,000. The trust department had $1,736,563.52 in total trust funds. The directors were W.S. Gaffney, J.E. Golden, H.M. Wick, W.H. Powers, R.L. Mason. The officers were W.H. Powers, president; R.L. Mason, vice president; T.C. Kearns, second vice president; F.R. Parmenter, cashier and trust officer, F.W. Calkins, assistant cashier; and H.J. Benson, Asst. Trust Officer.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation prepared to pay more than $4,000,000 to depositors in the Commercial National Bank, of Bradford, which did not open on September 30, 1935. Leo T. Crowley, chairman, said he had been Informed the bank’s assistant cashier suddenly died after a $1,000,000 shortage had been disclosed. Crowley said the Bradford payoff would be the largest, and the 21st since the FDIC came into being. He estimated that of the $4,500,000 to $5,000,000 on deposit in the bank, approximately 90% was insured. Crowley said the payoff would probably exceed the total of all previous payoffs. Heretofore, $1,000,000 had been the largest liability, he said. Crowley said the FDIC would send men immediately to Bradford and the payoff would commence within ten days. Bank examiners audited the accounts of the Commercial National Bank of Bradford to determine the extent of a shortage discovered after the death of Frank W. Calkins, 47, assistant cashier. Calkins, well-to-do oil man and banker, and highly regarded in the community, was found dead in his garage last Saturday. Coroner W.E. Allen said that Calkins apparently died from carbon monoxide poisoning, but that further investigation was necessary to determine whether death was suicidal or accidental. In Washington, Leo T. Crowley, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said he had been informed a $1,000,000 shortage had been disclosed.
On June 20, 1940, another dividend, probably the final one, would be paid at some time in the future to depositors in the closed Commercial National Bank, C.V. Snader, liquidator for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, announced in connection with payment of a 10% dividend of $424,145.76. No estimate of the size of the next dividend was available from Mr. Snader. He commented, however, that the 75% that will have been paid out with the present 10% dividend constituted the original estimate of total repayment. Therefore, any additional dividend would be above estimates made at the time the bank closed. The dividend covered portions of claims on deposits in excess of the $5,000 insurance limit and uninsured interest on savings, as well as various other claims. Three previous dividends, amounting to 65% of the bank's total deposit liabilities of $4,241.457.60, had been paid. They amounted to $2,737,279.69. The remaining 25% of the deposit liability amounted to approximately $1,060,000, or less than the estimated shortage at the time the bank closed.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Commercial National Bank of Bradford, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $2,098,690 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1890 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 179,531 notes (152,708 large size and 26,823 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 4x5 1 - 3000 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 7800 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 1530 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 767 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 7800 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 7801 - 25080 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 2826 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 806 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 4116 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 915
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1890 - 1935):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
- Willis H. Powers, 1890-1905
- Robert Lee Mason, 1906-1925
- Floyd R. Parmenter, 1926-1934
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 Bradford (Wikipedia)
- General information on McKean County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Bradford, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford,_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
- Ther Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 106, Jan. 1923-June 1923, pp 735-736.
- Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Thu., Jan. 9, 1890.
- Bradford Evening Star and The Bradford Daily Record, Bradford, PA, Mon., Jan. 8, 1934.
- Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Mon., Sep. 30, 1935.
- Bradford Evening Star and The Bradford Daily Record, Bradford, PA, Thu., June 20, 1940.