First National Bank, Ambler, PA (Charter 3220)

Postcard of the First National Bank of Ambler and Hotel Wyndham, ca1900s. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

First National Bank, Ambler, PA (Chartered 1884 - Receivership 1934)

Town History

Photo of the old First National Bank of Ambler and site of the old Wyndham Hotel, corner of Butler Avenue and Spring Garden Street, ca2020. Courtesy of Google Maps

Ambler is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 16 miles north of the city center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1900 it had a population of 1,884 and in 2020 it had grown to 6,807.

William and George Harmer are listed among the Quakers who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1682. In 1716, William and George Harmer purchased a 408-acre tract from William Penn, an area including most of what now is Ambler Borough. William Harmer built a grist mill powered by the Wissahickon Creek, the first commercial venture in the Ambler area. He also built a stone dwelling with casement windows and diamond shaped leaded glass, near what is now the intersection of Butler Pike and Morris Road. After his death in 1731, the house, mill, and property were sold to Morris Morris and his wife Susanna Heath Morris.

In 1829, Mary Johnson of Bucks County married a weaver named Andrew Ambler. The couple purchased the Fulling Mill and land in Wissahickon. When Andrew died in 1850, Mary took over the mill operations. In 1855, Wissahickon Station became a stop on the North Pennsylvania Railroad line. On July 17, 1856, the town was the site of a disastrous train accident: The Great Train Wreck of 1856. The northbound Shackamaxon, a picnic excursion train, and the southbound Aramingo collided head on, killing 59 people instantly, with another 86 injured. Mary Johnson Ambler, a local Quaker woman, walked two miles to the crash site, bringing medical supplies and directing rescue efforts. She turned her house at Tennis Avenue and Main Street into an impromptu hospital for nursing the survivors. Thirteen years later, in 1869, the railway company renamed the station Ambler in her honor. The post office followed suit, and when the borough was formally incorporated on June 16, 1888, it too took the name of Ambler, in honor of Mary Johnson Ambler.

In 1881, the Keasbey and Mattison Company, whose business included the manufacture of asbestos, moved to Ambler from Philadelphia. Ambler's location along the railroad line was a primary consideration in the location of the company in Ambler, as it meant that raw asbestos could be easily brought in from Quebec and finished products sent out to markets. Another consideration was the availability of magnesium carbonate from local dolomite mines. In Ambler, where more than 1.5 million cubic yards of asbestos waste were discarded in a 25-acre area known as the "White Mountains", contamination remains an issue. From 1973 to 1993 the United States EPA oversaw remediation of the "Ambler Asbestos Piles." It was proposed to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site on October 10, 1984, and formally added to the list as of June 10, 1986. Various remedies were completed as of August 30, 1993 and the site was consequently deleted from the National Priorities List on December 27, 1996.

Ambler had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and one of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Organized May 12, 1884
Chartered July 11, 1884
Conservatorship March 16, 1933
Receivership March 26, 1934

Three Companions Caught and Money Found in Apartment CASHIER KIDNAPPED Samuel R. Horst Forced to Open Bank at Ambler: On February 16, 1933, the leader of a gang of bank bandits was killed by Philadelphia police machine-gun bullets and his three companions were arrested shortly after the First National Bank of Ambler, north of the city, was robbed of $30,000. Lying in wait for Samuel Horst, 45, cashier of the bank and his wife to return to their Ambler home from a party, the bandits kidnapped him, took him to the bank and forced him to admit them to the institution. There they waited for the time lock to open the vaults which they looted. The money, Philadelphia detectives said, was recovered less than an hour later in a Philadelphia apartment, where William Ferguson, 35, was shot and killed in a gun fight with state police and detectives. Three other men, whom police charged with aiding Ferguson in the Ambler robbery, were arrested. They gave their names as Barney Wacht, 31; Samuel Mitchell, 38, and James Magee, 35. With two women also found in the apartment, they were taken to City Hall Police Station for questioning. Detective Captain James Malone said the men were involved in the robbing of the Gloucester City branch of the Camden Safe Deposit Co., the Farmers' National Bank of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, a National Bank in Florence, New Jersey, and the attempt to loot the 7th Street and Oregon Avenue branch of the Sixth National Bank of Philadelphia. Ferguson and Magee, according to Malone, recently were freed in Baltimore after serving eight years there for a bank holdup and had been arrested here in 1919 by Malone and Detective Captain John Creedon in connection with the holdup of the now closed Overbrook National Bank. Trapped in their apartment the bandits barricaded themselves in a bathroom. When police started pumping machine gun bullets through the door, Ferguson was killed. The others surrendered, police said. The money was found in several satchels which had been used to carry it from the Amber First National Bank.

Samuel Mitchell, 42, member of the bandit gang that looted the First National Bank of Ambler of $33,000 was convicted on 11 bills of indictment on April 4, 1933. Two bills of aggravated assault and battery and a second of the same charge resulted in verdicts of not guilty. Mitchell and his two companions, Barney Wacht and James Magee, were facing as high as 125 years. Wacht and Magee pleaded guilty, and sentencing was scheduled for Friday April 7, 1933. At sentencing, Mitchell received a term of 20 to 40 years. Lesser sentences were handed down to the two that pleaded guilty. James Magee, 34, and Barney Wacht, 30, were given sentences of 17 to 34 years and 15 to 30 years, respectively.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The First National Bank of Ambler, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Red Seal $50 bank note with pen signatures of W.A. Davis, Cashier and David J. Ambler, Vice President. Courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions, www.lynknight.com

1902 Plain Back $5 bank note with printed signatures of Wm. A. Davis, Cashier and J. Watson Craft, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

1929 Type 1 $10 bank note with printed signatures of Samuel R. Horst, Cashier and Jos. M. Haywood, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $2,586,720 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1884 and 1934. This consisted of a total of 294,127 notes (232,788 large size and 61,339 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 - 4110
1902 Red Seal	4x5	1 - 3166
1902 Red Seal	4x10	1 - 1667
1902 Red Seal	50-100	1 - 1080
1902 Date Back	4x5	1 - 9750
1902 Date Back	4x10	1 - 8350
1902 Date Back	3x50-100	1 - 200
1902 Plain Back	4x5	9751 - 15450
1902 Plain Back	4x10	8351 - 33064
1929 Type 1	6x5	1 - 6214
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 3104
1929 Type 2	5	1 - 3862
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 1569

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1884 - 1934):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

David J. Ambler, Vice President 1901...1909
There are currently no known Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.

Wiki Links

Sources

The Evening Times, Sayre, PA, Thu., Feb. 16, 1933.
The Mercury, Pottstown, PA, Wed., Apr. 5, 1933.
The Mercury, Pottstown, PA, Wed., Apr. 12, 1933.
Ambler, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambler,_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