Farmers National Bank, Punxsutawney, PA (Charter 5965)

An advertisement for the Farmers National Bank of Punxsutawney from October 1907. Total resources of the bank were $825,174.

Farmers National Bank, Punxsutawney, PA (Chartered 1901 - Liquidated 1908)

Town History

A 1908 advertisement for the Farmers and Miners Trust Company, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Punxsutawney is a borough in southern Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney is known for its annual Groundhog Day celebration held each February 2, during which thousands of attendees and international media outlets visit the town for an annual weather prediction by the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. The actual prediction location, Gobbler's Knob, is in adjacent Young Township.

The borough, located 84 miles northeast of Pittsburgh and 50 miles northwest of Altoona, was incorporated in 1850. The population in 1880 was 674 ad peaked in 1920 at 10,311. With a population of 5,769 in 2020, Punxsutawney is the largest incorporated municipality in Jefferson County.

Shawnee wigwam villages once occupied this site on the Mahoning Creek. The first settlement that included non-indigenous people was established in 1772, when Reverend John Ettwein, a Moravian Church missionary, arrived with a band of 241 Christianized Lenape. Swarms of gnats plagued early settlers and their livestock for years, and are blamed for Ettwein's failure to establish a permanent settlement there. The clouds of biting gnats eventually drove the indigenous people away. The indigenous people called the insects ponkies (living dust and ashes), and called their village Ponkis Utenink (land of the ponkies), from which the present name Punxsutawney evolved. One legend about the origin of the term ponkies concerned an old indigenous sorcerer-hermit who was said to have long terrorized indigenous people in the region. Eventually he was killed, his body burned, and his ashes were cast to the wind. According to the story, the ashes were transformed into minute living things that infested the swamp land.

In 1907, the Punxsutawney and Claysville boroughs were consolidated and incorporated as Greater Punxsutawney, resulting in a combined population of 9,058 in 1910. A high-grade bituminous soft coal was mined in the surrounding region. Shortly after 1850, mining was being supplanted by factories which included brickworks, glassworks, tanneries, foundries, ironworks, machine shops, and wood planing, flour, feed, and silk mills. By the 1930s these were mostly gone, and townspeople were dependent largely on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad repair shops north of town, and a meat packing plant, in addition to the remaining coal mining and batteries of beehive coke ovens. Punxsutawney is located in Jefferson County.

Punxsutawney had four National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, First National Bank of Punxsutawney, (Charter 3030), Punxsutawney National Bank (Charter 5702), Farmers National Bank of Punxsutawney (Charter 5965), and County National Bank of Punxsutawney (Charter 9863), and all four of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

• Organized June 28, 1901
• Chartered September 14, 1901
• Liquidated April 1, 1908
• Absorbed by Farmers and Miners Trust Company of

In June 1901, the comptroller of the currency authorized James H. Maize, William Elwood, J.B. Eberhart, J.G. Wingert and W.S. Calderwood to organize the Farmers National Bank of Punxsutawney with a capital stock of $50,000. The plan was to open in about 60 days in the J.L. North building, next door to the Spirit office.

In July 1901, the following officers and directors were elected: ex-County Commissioner Samuel States, president; Sanford Neale, vice president; Jas. H. Maize, cashier; William Elwood, Pogue North, Jefferson G. Wingert and James H. Prothero, directors.

On Thursday morning, December 5, 1901, the Farmers National Bank opened for business with capital stock $100,000. The directors were Samuel States, president; James H. Prothero, vice president; J.G. Wingert, Wm. Ellwood, J. Pogue North, and T.C. Zeitler. James H. Maize was cashier and William P. North, clerk.

In March 1903, there were eight national banks in Jefferson County, two in Brookville, three in Punxsutawney, one in Big Run one in Reynoldsville and one in Brockwayville. From the reports made by these banks to the comptroller of the currency in February, the Figures may be found in the Table below.

Jefferson County National Banks, March 1903

Bank	Capital stock	Deposits	Loans and Discounts	Total Assets
Jefferson County National Bank	50,000	713,657.61	289,334.14	914,994.56
National Bank of Brookville	100,000	469,156.49	292,339.87	654,345.94
First National Bank of Punxsutawney	100,000	636,270.16	532,434.75	895,100.75
Punxsutawney National Bank	100,000	618,749.21	499,442.93	774,361.53
Farmers National Bank of Punxsutawney	50,000	274,663.34	215,862.78	346,618.75
Citizens National Bank of Big Run	35,000	157,080.49	123,232.77	215,326.79
First National Bank of Reynoldsville	50,000	350,018.53	205,410.48	472,305.37
First national Bank of Brockwayville	35,000	196,715.72	131,396.78	256,508.28
Aggregate	520,000	3,416,311.55	2,289,554.50	4,529,560.96

In July 1907, a new financial institution was announced for Punx'y, a title and trust company with paid up capital of $150,000 and surplus of about $30,000. The incorporators were Samuel States James H. Prothero, Jeff. G. Wingert, J. Pogue North, William Elwood, T.C. Zeitler, James H. Maize, E.B. Henderson, J.H. Fink, F.O. Snyder, Albert Jordan, and Bernard Schneider, all well-known Punxsutawney businessmen and capitalists. As soon as the incorporators obtain their charter, it was intended to take over the capital stock and assets of the Farmers National Bank which owned the building in which the business was being conducted at the corner of Mahoning and Findley Streets. The officers of the new organization known as the Farmers' and Miners' Trust Company were Samuel States, president; J.H. Fink, vice president; James H. Maize, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Jeff. G. Wingert, Esq., pointed out benefits of the new trust company including all that a national bank then enjoyed plus the ability to make time loans on real estate, thus keeping a large sum of money employed at home instead of sending it abroad; acting as trustee for executors, administrators, assignees, receivers and guardians; bonding agents and all forms of surety.

In January 1908, the Farmers and Miners Trust company was ready for business. On Tuesday, January 14, 1908, directors were elected as follows: Samuel States, James H. Prothero, J.H. Fink, Jeff. G. Wingert, E.B. Henderson, William Elwood, F.O. Snyder, J. Pogue North, Albert Jordan, James H. Maize and James Kennedy, the latter was a new member succeeding T.C. Zeitler. Jeff G. Wingert, president; John H. Fink, vice president; James H. Maize, treasurer; and Glenn Shaffer, assistant treasurer.

In April 1908, announcement of the closing of the Farmers National Bank was published by James H. Maize, cashier. The business was taken over by the Farmers & Miners Trust Company of Punxsutawney with an authorized capital of $150,000 and surplus of $30,000.

In February 1970, the Savings and Trust Company of Indiana expanded its boundaries into Jefferson County when it merged with the Farmers & Miners Trust Company, Punxsutawney. C. Gilbert Wolfenden was re-elected as president and by December the headquarters had occupied its new building at 800 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, allowing for a fifth branch identified as the Midtown Office which occupied the old headquarters building.

Official Bank Title

1: The Farmers National Bank of Punxsutawney, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Brown Back $20 bank note with faded, stamped signatures of James H. Maize, Cashier and Samuel States, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $156,050 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1901 and 1908. This consisted of a total of 12,484 notes (12,484 large size and No 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 - 3121

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1901 - 1908):

Presidents:

• Samuel F. States, 1902-1907

Cashiers:

• James Hindman Maize, 1902-1907

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• Farmers National Bank, Punxsutawney, PA History (NB Lookup)
• Groundhog Day for Numismatists (SPMC PM#337)
• Pennsylvania Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Punxsutawney, PA, 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