First National Bank, Boswell, PA (Charter 6603)

The Merchants' Coal Company store, Morris Avenue and Stonycreek Street, Boswell, Pennsylvania. The building was constructed around 1900. The First National Bank is to the right of the store. Picture from Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)

First National Bank, Boswell, PA (Chartered 1903 - Receivership 1932)

Town History

Needed: a contemporary postcard or other items from the bank.

Boswell was settled in 1901 and incorporated as a borough on February 22, 1904. The community's founder was Thomas Taylor Boswell, the first president and supervisor of the Merchants Coal Company. Mr. Boswell's company purchased 14,000 acres of mineral rights under local farmland and laid out 1,600 lots for coal company houses to house the miners for its new deep coal mine just to the north. Merchants Coal, and the related Orenda Coal, were subsidiaries of Hillman Coal and Coke Company of Pittsburgh, the same firm that built the neighboring town of Jerome, Pennsylvania.

Merchants Coal attempted to build Boswell to be a notch above surrounding coal company towns in that plans included a central business district, a high school, and homes constructed from brick, as opposed to the wood used elsewhere. This also helped to prevent the spread of fire, in the event that one would break out. Many of the original brick homes are still standing, with much of their original integrity. A branch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad served Boswell and its coal mine. At its economic peak shortly after World War II, Boswell boasted two movie theatres, three department stores, a bank, several jewelry stores, a druggist, two funeral homes, three grocery stores, nearly a dozen restaurants and taverns, a lumber yard, and a weekly newspaper. Earlier, pre-Prohibition, Boswell also housed its own brewery.

Boswell's streets generally run perpendicular to its avenues, in a grid. Many of the avenues in Boswell are named after coal company officials. For example:

Hower Avenue, after Charles E. Hower, a Surveyor from Johnstown.
Morris Avenue, after W.H. Morris, a known builder from Johnstown
Atkinson Way, after W.G. Atkinson, the Vice President of Merchants Coal Company.

The mine, Orenda Mine #1, extracted high quality, semi-bituminous coal. A steam engine hoisted the coal to the surface. The hoist pulled the coal cars up a coal tipple that was 1,080 feet long, 92 feet high, and 60 feet wide. In 1920, this was the largest coal tipple in the world. At its prime, 900 men were employed and over 3,000 tons of coal were mined daily. The company was eventually renamed the United Coal Company and in 1918 it became the Davis Coal Company.

For most of its history, the mine at Boswell operated without union representation. An early attempt to unionize workers led to an armed riot on January 17, 1904. Seven were wounded and 20 arrested in the melee. A prolonged struggle for unionization, which began at Jerome and Windber in northern Somerset County in early April, 1922, extended to Boswell on April 17. By April 24, 1922, miners at Acosta, Gray, Ralphton, Randolph and Jenners also joined the strike, which was to last sixteen months.

Boswell had one National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, and it issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Organized January 8, 1903
Chartered February 2, 1903
Opened for business Apr 1, 1903
Consolidated with the People's State Bank of Boswell, April 9, 1929
Receivership February 9, 1932

On December 4, 1902, a group of enterprising citizens of Boswell met to form the preliminary organization of the First National Bank of Boswell. Eight days later the papers were returned from Washington with the approval of the Comptroller of the Currency. W.H. Morris, Charles I. Shaffer, M.L. Hoffman, S.G. Morgan, J.J. Shaffer and others were the incorporators. Thomas T. Boswell was the first president. Four-fifths of the capital stock, $30,000, was subscribed by Edward Keane, W.H. Morris and M.L. Hoffman, and the papers were sent to Thomas T. Boswell of Baltimore for the remaining subscription.

On Tuesday, January 18, 1903, Dr. C.F. Livengood was chosen chairman of the board and the following were elected directors: M.L. Hoffman, secretary; Thomas T. Boswell, W.H. Morris, and Edward Keane. Mr. Boswell was elected president and W.H. Morris, vice president. Mr. Boswell agreed to furnish without cost the lower room of the Merchants' Coal Company office, including the vault for the bank room, for temporary quarters and he further agreed to donate a lot for the site of a permanent bank building.

At the close of business, June 9, 1904, Jno. K. Hite, cashier, reported loans and discounts $51,008.78, U.S. Bonds to secure circulation $7,500, Banking house, furniture and fixtures $7,144.87 with total resources of $74,797.75. The capital stock paid in was $30,000, surplus $1,000, undivided profits $960.91 and circulation of $7,500. J.O. Rauch, A.B. Shaffer, and Thos. T. Boswell, directors, attested to the correctness of the report.

In April 1918, Assemblyman Robert W. Lohr was elected president as successor to the late Dr. C.F. Livengood and Christ C. Schmucker was chosen vice president, succeeding Mr. Lohr. Dr. Jesse Crist of Ralphton was made a member of the board to fill the vacancy.

In 1914, there seemed to some of Boswell's businessmen an opening for a second bank and the People's State Bank was organized. This bank continued in business until April 9, 1929, when it was consolidated with the First National. This gave Boswell a financial institution with resources in excess of $1 million.

In July 1930, the officers were R.W. Lohr, president; C.I. Shaffer, vice president; and Park M. Weimer, cashier. The banks capital had not changed from $30,000, but $60,000 had been passed to surplus and undivided profits.

In January 1932, the directors were I.E. Biesecker, J.L. Brant, J.P. Christ, A.E. Fritz, R.W. Lohr, John S. Rhoads, Charles I. Shaffer, J.G. Shaffer, and John J. Walker. The officers were R.W. Lohr, president; Dr. Charles I. Shaffer, vice president; and Park M. Weimer, cashier.

On February 20, 1933, the first dividend of 20% was paid to depositors of the First National Bank of Boswell, which closed in January 1932. The distribution was made to 1,077 proven claims and the total amount of the dividend was $106,000.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The First National Bank of Boswell, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Red Seal $10 bank note with pen signatures of H. L. McVicker, Cashier and Thomas T. Boswell, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

NEEDED: a photo of a Small size bank note.

A total of $664,510 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1903 and 1932. This consisted of a total of 83,786 notes (74,840 large size and 8,946 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
1902 Red Seal	4x5	1 - 1450
1902 Red Seal	3x10-20	1 - 1160
1902 Date Back	4x5	1 - 3050
1902 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 2090
1902 Plain Back	4x5	3051 - 9925
1902 Plain Back	3x10-20	2091 - 6175
1929 Type 1	6x5	1 - 906
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 452
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 133

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1903 - 1932):

Presidents:

Thomas Taylor Boswell, 1903-1908 NOTE: a featured biography is available
Dr. Charles F. Livengood, 1909-1917
Robert Walter Lohr, 1918-1931

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.

Wiki Links

Sources

Boswell, 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
The Ligonier Echo, Ligonier, PA, Wed., Dec. 17, 1902.
The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Thu., June 23, 1904.
The Republic, Myersdale, PA, Thu., Apr. 25, 1918.
The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Tue., July 1, 1930.
The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Wed., Jan. 13, 1932.
The Republic, Myersdale, PA, Thu., Feb. 23, 1933.