East Pittsburg NB/First NB, Wilmerding, PA (Charter 5000)
East Pittsburg NB/First NB, Wilmerding, PA (Chartered 1895 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Wilmerding is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is located 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. At the start of the twentieth century, it had extensive foundries and machine shops of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. Wilmerding is adjacent to the borough of Turtle Creek, which takes its name from a small stream that flows past both places.
George Westinghouse purchased land in the Turtle Creek valley in 1887 and 1888 as a site for his Westinghouse Air Brake Company and related facilities. Westinghouse then sold the land to the East Pittsburgh Improvement Company, incorporated in December 1888, to develop the site, and it began the sale of lots in June 1889.
The community was named for Joanna Wilmerding (Bruce) Negley, wife of William B. Negley, who in turn was a local landowner and nephew of Thomas Mellon.
Wilmerding officially became a borough on March 8, 1890. The population was 2,190 at the 2010 census. In 1900 the population was 4,179, peaking in 1920 at 6,441.
Wilmerding had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized April 27, 1895
- Chartered June 3, 1895
- 1: Assumed 6325 and its circulation by consolidation July 9, 1923 with title change (Wilmerding National Bank, Wilmerding, PA)
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Acquired by Mellon National Bank and Trust Company in December 1947
On July 1, 1895, the fist banking institution in the Turtle Creek valley opened at Wilmerding, known as the East Pittsburgh National Bank. Their new building was located on Westinghouse Avenue with John F. Miller, a wealthy resident of near Wilmerding as one of the heaviest stockholders and president of the bank. The cashier, P.W. Morgan, had almost a score of years in the banking business. The officers of the East Pittsburgh Improvement Company were reportedly heavily invested; the capital was $50,000.
In August 1903, the new banking room of the East Pittsburgh National bank of Wilmerding opened with hundreds of visitors. The directors maintained that the room was one of the finest in the state. The bank was organized eight years earlier, with a capital of $50,000. The capital was doubled at the end of seven years out of the earnings. By 1903, deposits were $622,000 and the total resources $852,000. The floor of the new banking room was marble laid in mosaic, and the walls and ceiling were of stucco work. The furnishings were of mahogany. The officers were John T. Miller, president; P.W. Morgan, vice president and cashier; Charles F. Bell, assistant cashier; Charles A. Gittens, bookkeeper; W.A. Keene and Carl J. Miller, tellers; directors, J.R. McGinley, capitalist; John F. Miller, secretary of the Westinghouse Airbrake Company; W.L. Hankey, druggist; P.W. Morgan, cashier; J.P. Taylor, president of the First National Bank of Irwin; C.E. Mullin, cashier of the Farmers and Mechanics' bank of Mt. Pleasant, and John I. Rankin, superintendent of production and store of the Westinghouse Airbrake Company.
On January 14, 1923, stockholders of the East Pittsburgh National Bank and the Wilmerding National Bank approved the consolidation and the new name of The First National Bank of Wilmerding. The directors of the new organization were John J. Miller, P.W. Morgan, J.R. McGindy, W.L. Hankey, J.D. Flude, S.E. Nowry, Charles A. Rowan and F.A. Faller. The combined banks had capital of $200,000, surplus and undivided profits of $300,000 with total assets approaching $6 million. Of the new capital stock, 1,600 shares of $100 par value were awarded to stockholders of the East Pittsburgh National Bank and 400 to shareholders of the Wilmerding National Bank. The books and other equipment of the Wilmerding National were transferred to the quarters of the East Pittsburgh National at Westinghouse Ave. and Commerce St., with extensive alterations planned to provide increased facilities to handle the combined business. The Wilmerding National Bank was organized in 1902 and had assets of approximately $1 million. The officers and directors were F.A. Faller, president; H.D. Patch, vice president, G.W. Van Gorder, cashier; F. Floyd Askin, assistant cashier; directors: H.D. Patch, F.A. Faller, C.L. Wageley, Thomas S. Patch, Dominick Genrs, Jacob Ruoff, F.L Muth, George L. Beswick and Fred Bauer.
In December 1935, the bank purchased the First National Bank of Pitcairn for $20,000 as authorized by Judge Nelson McVicar in U.S. district court. Thomas J. Donahue, receiver of the Pitcairn bank signed the petition filed in Federal court. By 1936, the First National Bank of Wilmerding operated a branch in Pitcairn as part of the 19 member Mellbank Corporation. Each member of the group was a complete bank in itself with its own officers and board.
In December 1947, The First National Bank of Wilmerding, with two branch offices at Pitcairn and Trafford, became the Wilmerding offices of Mellon National Bank and Trust Company. P.W. Morgan, former vice president and cashier of the Wilmerding bank was appointed manager of the three new offices. The Mellon National with its new office in Trafford crossed the Allegheny county line which under state law, a bank was permitted to establish branches in a contiguous county.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The East Pittsburg National Bank of Wilmerding, PA
2: First National Bank of (7/9/1923), Wilmerding, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $2,835,580 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1895 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 211,736 notes (149,164 large size and 62,572 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1: 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 5380 1: 1882 Brown Back 50-100 1 - 890 1: 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 6295 1: 1882 Date Back 50-100 1 - 160 1: 1882 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 73 1: 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 1500 1: 1902 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 300 1: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1501 - 7100 2: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 17618 2: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 6724 2: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 1930 2: 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 8282 2: 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 2366
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1895 - 1936):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
- P. W. Morgan, 1895-1907
- Charles Foster Armstrong, 1908-1908
- P. W. Morgan, 1909-1910
- William Laird Hankey, 1911-1918
- John Audley Black, 1919-1935
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 Wilmerding (Wikipedia)
- General information on Allegheny County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Wilmerding, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmerding,_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 Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., July 1, 1895.
- Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Aug. 9, 1903.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., May 19, 1923.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., June 24, 1923.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Feb. 22, 1936.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Dec. 14, 1935.
- Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., Dec. 1, 1947.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., Nov. 4, 1947.