First National Bank, Lansford, PA (Charter 5234)

Post Card of the First National Bank of Lansford, PA ca1930s. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

First National Bank, Lansford, PA (Chartered 1899 - Closed (Merger) 1971)

Town History

Lansford is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, located 37 miles northwest of Allentown and 19 miles south of Hazleton in the Panther Creek Valley about 72 miles from Greater Philadelphia and abutting the cross-county sister-city of Coaldale in Schuylkill County. The whole valley was owned and subdivided into separate lots by the historically important Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (locally called "the Old Company") which likely settled some structures on the lands by 1827.

Lansford grew with the development of local anthracite coal mines, and was named after Asa Lansford Foster, who was an advocate for merging the small "patch towns" that developed in the area surrounding the anthracite coal mines. The population was 3,941 at the 2010 Census, a steep decline from a high of 9,632 at the 1930 census common to many mining towns in northeastern Pennsylvania.

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

Bank History

Organized October 19, 1899
Chartered November 29, 1899
Bank was Open past 1935
For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
Closed (Merger) June 23, 1971

On Tuesday, January 14, 1930, the stockholders elected the following officers: Charles Riebe, president; G.M. Harris, vice president and cashier; Milton Kleckner, second vice president; Robert W. jones, assistant cashier; G.M. Davies, John P. Davis, Wallace Drumheller, John J. Humphries, John A. Hackash, Michael T. Dougherty, Dr. R.H. Kistler, T.D. Lewis, Charles F. Storch, J.B. Warriner, Max Plocinik, Thomas J. Hall, and Leo Valentine.

In July 1969, Atty. George M.D. Richards of Lansford was elected president, succeeding the late Harry Knies. D.C. Helms was elected vice president to fill the post left vacant by Atty. Richards. Richards maintained an office in Lansford and had been practicing law in Philadelphia and Carbon County for 37 years.

On September 28, 1969, bank officials said the vote on the merger of the First National with the Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Co. failed to meet approval of the shareholders. An affirmative vote from two-thirds of the shareholders was required to approve the merger. Pennsylvania National had a family of 16 banks in Schuylkill, Northumberland and Columbia Counties with its central office in Pottsville.

On February 10, 1970, the officers elected were George M.D. Richard, president; Fred Johnson, vice president; Thomas Coxe, secretary and cashier; and Wallace Kleckner and David Norwood, assistant cashiers. Named as new members of the board were George Bright of Mahoning Valley, John Kovatch, Jr. of Nesquehoning and Claude Reinhard of Palmerton. Renamed to the board along with Atty Richards, Coxe and Johnson, were Calvin Frantz, Sr., William McDonald, John Havel, and E.J. Hall, all of Lansford, and Herman Reibe of Palmerton.

Advertisement from June 1971 for First Valley Bank after adding The First National Bank of Lansford as its 12th office.

On October 21, 1970, the boards of directors of the First Valley Bank, Bethlehem, and the First National Bank of Lansford approved a plan to merge. If the merger were to receive approval from stockholders and regulators, the union would extend First Valley Bank services into Carbon County as well as Northampton and Lehigh Counties. It would be the largest bank in Carbon County. First Valley Bank was a wholly owned subsidiary of First Valley Corp., Bethlehem, operating 11 offices. Total assets of Frist Valley were reported as of September 30 as $154,704,788.33, with total deposits of $132,468,763.72. On the same date First National of Lansford reported total assets of $6,180,374.59 and total deposits of $5,530,155.43.

On June 23, 1971, the First National Bank of Lansford joined First Valley Bank as the Lansford Office at 12 West Ridge Street. Total assets for First Valley at the end of 1970 were $161,035,181, a 16.4% increase over the prior year. First Valley Corporation was established on April 30, 1969, as a one-bank holding company by the First National Bank & Trust Company of Bethlehem. Clayton Bernhardt, chairman of the board, and Reese Jones, bank president, saw this reorganization as an opportunity for greater efficiency and adaptability throughout a wider geographical market area.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The First National Bank of Lansford, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Date Back $20 bank note with pen signatures of C. Fred Kline, Cashier and Albert J. Thomas, President. Courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions, www.lynknight.com

1929 Type 2 $10 bank note with printed signatures of George M. Harris, Cashier and Charles Riebe, President. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

A total of $2,134,930 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1899 and 1971. This consisted of a total of 172,034 notes (141,408 large size and 30,626 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 - 4050
1882 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 10700
1882 Value Back	3x10-20	10701 - 14772
1902 Plain Back	3x10-20	1 - 16530
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 3356
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 834
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 4383
1929 Type 2	20	1 - 1103

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

First National Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1899 - 1971):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

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

Wiki Links

Sources

Lansford, 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://bbdata.banknotehistory.com
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Fri., Jan. 17, 1930.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Thu., Feb. 27, 1969.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Sat., July 5, 1969.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Wed., Sep. 24, 1969.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Wed., Feb. 11, 1970.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Thu., Oct. 22, 1970.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Thu., Feb. 11, 1971.
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, Thu., June 24, 1971.