First National Bank, Huntingdon, PA (Charter 31)
First National Bank, Huntingdon, PA (Chartered 1863 - Closed (Merger) 2008)
Town History
Huntingdon is the county seat of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. It is located along the Juniata River, approximately 32 miles east of Altoona and 92 miles west of Harrisburg. In 1768, Rev. Dr. William Smith began selling lots on the Standing Stone Tract along the Juniata, land he had recently acquired. The tract's two prior owners had not attempted to lay out a town, so Dr. Smith is considered the founder. Huntingdon sits at the site where Standing Stone Creek flows into the Juniata River. It was once a port on the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Canal.
With a population of 7,093 at the 2010 census, Huntingdon is the largest population center near Raystown Lake, a winding, 28-mile-long recreational and flood-control reservoir managed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The borough is located on the main line of the Norfolk Southern (formerly Pennsylvania) Railroad, in an agricultural and outdoor recreational region with extensive forests and scattered deposits of ganister rock, coal, fire clay, and limestone. Historically, the region surrounding Huntingdon was dotted with iron furnaces and forges, consuming limestone, iron ore and wood (for charcoal production) throughout the 19th century. Dairy farms dominate the local agriculture. Huntingdon is home to Juniata College, a private liberal arts college originally known as Brethren's Normal School as it was founded by members of the Church of the Brethren in 1876.
Huntingdon had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Chartered July 22, 1863
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Consolidated with The Grange Trust Company, May 31, 1958, becoming The First-Grange National Bank of Huntingdon
- Merged with The First National Bank of Alexandria (Charter 11263) on October 30, 1965
- Merged with The Central National Bank of Mount Union (Charter 10206) on December 31, 1966
- Merged into FNB of Pennsylvania in Greenville, PA, April 1, 2008
The original charter was granted July 11, 1863 shortly after the battle of Gettysburg. The new institution succeeded the private banking firm of Messrs. Bell, Garrettson and Company that organized in July 1854. It began operations in September 1863 with capital of $100,000 and J.M. Bell was president. The original home of the bank was located on the identical site occupied by the new building that opened in 1927 on the northeast corner of Fifth and Penn streets.
During the years immediately following World War I, the business of the bank experienced such a growth that it could no longer be conveniently handled in the Penn Street building, occupied since 1891. Under the able leadership of president O.H. Irwin, the plot of ground located at the northeast corner of Fifth and Penn streets was purchased in 1922 as the site for the new bank building. It was deemed wise, however, to await a lower price level than that which prevailed at the time, so the work was not begun until April 1926. John H. Wickersham, Lancaster, received the contract. Construction was carried out by Miles B. Bleacher who had recently completed the Lebanon National Bank.
The building represented a radical departure from old ideas in bank construction, where heavy masonry carried with it a sense of forbidding aloofness to the general public. The interior of the new banking room could be viewed from by the passer-by, imparting a welcoming sense deemed essential in banking service of the 1920s.
The bank is entered from the level of the sidewalk, through a doorway over which is seen a replica of the Coat of Arms of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. The Countess was a benefactress of William Smith. D.D. first provost of the College of Philadelphia, (now the University of Pennsylvania), in the early days when the educational institutions of America were almost destitute. It was in her honor that Dr. Smith, in 1767, gave the name of Huntingdon to the borough. Thus the new bank memorializes this significant event closely related to historic Huntingdon.
Simplicity marked the decorative scheme throughout the main banking room. The travertine walls had a rich variety in tone and were most attractive. The perfectly plain ceiling was surrounded by a heavy travertine cornice, so that the two large chandeliers, of artistic pattern, were in striking relief. The bronze work in the vestibule, counter screen, lobby, check desks, grills and doors harmonized with the rich tones of Rose Travernelle marble used for the counter, wainscot and moldings, and with the deeper tones of Tennessee pink marble of which the floors were made. The furniture in the officers' space, conference room, bank lobby and directors' room, was in solid walnut, upholstered in Spanish leather. Window draperies in the main bunking room were of buff colored mohair. In the directors' room the draperies were over-lined with a silk material of heavy texture. Oriental rugs were used throughout, thus completing the interior decorative scheme of rare beauty.
In 1927 after opening the new bank building, the executive officers and members of the Board of Directors of the bank were as follows: Charles F. Zimmerman. President, who succeeded Oscar H. Irwin in 1926; John D. Dorris, Esq., vice-president, elected a director in 1896; Hon. Thomas F. Bailey, 1899; Harry W. Koch, 1907; Thomas Fisher, Philadelphia, 1915; Herbert Miller, 1919; Clare M. Taylor, 1923; and Warren B. Simpson, Esq., 1923. Other officers and employees were: Robert W. Fleck, cashier; W. Clair Hall, John W. Strait, assistant cashiers; J. William Edwards, Oscar D. Vaughan, Samuel D. Fleming, tellers; Misses Fanny Hankey and Lillian Orner, bookkeepers; Miss Jessie E. Confer, stenographer; Jesse Stever, custodian of building and equipment.
On May 12, 1958, stockholders of The Grange Trust Company and The First National Bank voted to consolidate those institutions into one bank to be known as The First-Grange National Bank of Huntingdon. The effective date of the merger was May 31, 1958 and the bank operated under charter 31 issued to the First National in 1863. John W. Strait became president of The First-Grange National Bank and he held the executive position at the First National. Howard W. Shilling became vice president and he held the position of executive vice president of The Grange Trust Company. The new bank became the largest in Huntingdon County with total assets of approximately 12,700,000 given recent statements by the First nation ($8,200,000) and Grange Trust ($4,500,000). Thomas F. Miller was chairman and John H. Biddle was vice chairman of the 18-person board.
On Thursday, July 28, 1966, a proposal to consolidate the First-Grange National Bank of Huntingdon and the Central National Bank of Mount Union was approved unanimously by the two boards of directors. A joint announcement was issued by I. Cloyd Taylor, president of Central National and John H. Biddle, president of First-Grange. Details of the merger were being worked out by committees of the two banks headed by Frederick M. Simpson for First-Grange and John H. Kinsloe for Central National. The pooling of resources of the two banks would create an institution with approximately $30 million in resources, $26 million in deposits, and loans and discounts of about $18.7 million. The combined capital would be $490,500, surplus $1,429,500 and undivided profits of $475,155. The consolidation would result in offices as follows: one in Mount Union, two in Huntingdon and one in Alexandria. The comptroller of the currency gave final approval to the merger effective at the close of business on December 31, 1966.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Huntingdon, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $3,554,020 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1863 and 2008. This consisted of a total of 451,412 notes (380,176 large size and 71,236 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Original Series 4x5 1 - 8250 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 2300 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 1175 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 4000 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 8585 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 5418 1902 Red Seal 4x5 1 - 5250 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 4000 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 7975 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 5400 1902 Plain Back 4x5 7976 - 35184 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 5401 - 20882 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 5884 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 3132 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 752 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 7588 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 3828 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1212
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1863 - 2008):
Presidents:
- James Martin Bell, 1863-1869
- William Penn Orbison, 1870-1877
- Thomas Fisher, 1878-1882
- Col William Dorris Jr., 1883-1904
- William Malcolm Phillips, 1905-1914
- John Phillips, 1915-1922
- Oscar Hamilton Irwin, 1923-1925
- Charles Fishburn Zimmerman, 1926-1935 -- NOTE: A featured biography is available
Cashiers:
- George W. Garrettson, 1863-1880
- John Simpson Africa, 1881-1882 -- NOTE: A featured biography is available
- Samuel Robert Shumaker, 1883-1902
- Oscar Hamilton Irwin, 1903-1921
- Robert Witham Fleck, 1922-1935
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 Huntingdon (Wikipedia)
- General information on Huntingdon County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Huntingdon, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntingdon,_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://bbdata.banknotehistory.com
- Lebanon Semi-Weekly News, Lebanon, PA, Mon., June 14, 1926.
- Mount Union Times, Mount Union, PA, Fri., Oct. 7, 1927.
- The Daily News, Huntingdon, PA, Mon., May 12, 1958.
- Mount Union Times, Mount Union, PA, Fri., July 29, 1966.
- Mount Union Times, Mount Union, PA, Fri., Sep. 16, 1966.
- Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Fri., Nov. 25, 1966.