First National Bank, Malden, MA (Charter 588)
First National Bank, Malden, MA (Chartered 1864 - Closed (Merger) 1982)
Town History
Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people.
Malden is a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River that was settled by Puritans in 1640 on land purchased in 1629 from the Pennacook tribe, with a further grant in 1639 by the Squaw Sachem of Mistick and her husband Webcowet. The area was originally called the "Mistick Side" and was a part of Charlestown. It was incorporated as a separate town in 1649 under the name "Mauldon". The name Malden was selected by Joseph Hills, an early settler and landholder, and was named after Maldon, England. The city originally included the adjacent cities of Melrose (until 1850) and Everett (until 1870).
Malden had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, The First National Bank (Charter 588) and The Second National Bank (Charter 11014), and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized November 5, 1864
- Chartered November 30, 1864
- Succeeded Malden Bank
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into Malden Trust Company in Malden, MA, October 30, 1982
The Malden Bank
In January 1851, there were three applications to the Legislature for new banks, viz: Faneuil Hall Bank, Boston, $500,000; Malden Bank, Malden, $100,000; and Eliot Bank, Roxbury, $100,000.[1] On May 24, 1851, bills approved at the late session of the Legislature included one to incorporate the Malden Bank and one to incorporate the Faneuil Bank in Boston.[2]
On July 1, 1851, at a meeting of the stockholders of the Malden Bank, the following were chosen directors: Timothy Bailey, John G. Webster, Henry S. Downs, Franklin L. Fay, Gardner Green Hubbard, Nathan French, Elisha S. Converse, and Daniel P. Wise. At a subsequent meeting of the directors, Timothy Bailey was chosen president,[3] and Charles Merrill, Esq., was elected cashier by a unanimous vote.[4]
On Thursday night, November 18, 1852, Timothy Bailey of Malden, president of the Malden Bank, died.[5] He came to Malden in 1799.[6]
On October 30, 1856, at a meeting of the directors, John G. Webster, Esq., resigned the office of president and Elisha S. Converse, Esq., of Malden, was unanimously elected president for the ensuing year.[7]
On Tuesday, May 8, 1860, The Malden Savings Bank was organized at a meeting of the corporators and the following gentlemen chosen officers of the institution: Gilbert Haven, president; W.J. Eames, George P. Cox, Henry Barrett, H.W. Van Voorhis, Matthias Crocker, vice presidents; Caleb Wait, Uriah Chamberlain, William Pierce, George Vannevar, C.F. Syffermans, Gershon L. Fall, Asron Green, William Hunter, E.S. Converse, Ira Bradley, John G. Webster, and Hubbard Russell, trustees; and Charles Merrill, treasurer. The institution would commence business on Monday, May 21st and the accounts would be kept at the banking house of the Malden Bank.[8]
In October 1860, the stockholders of the Malden Bank chose E.S. Converse, A.D. Lamson, George Emerson, Caleb Waite, G.D.B. Blanchard, John J. Newcomb, and Isaac Emerson, Jr., as directors. A dividend of 3 1/2 percent was declared.[9]
About noon, Tuesday, December 15, 1863, the bank at Malden was entered and the bookkeeper, Frank E. Converse, 17 year old son of the bank's president, was murdered and some $5000 in bills of the bank were taken, $3000 in $100 bills and $2000 in small bills. This sum was counted out by Mr. Merrill the cashier for young Converse to do business with while the cashier was temporarily absent in Boston. About 20 minutes before noon, a son of the cashier, a lad of 14 years, went into the bank on an errand and found young Converse lying on the floor behind the counter. He ran out for assistance and the persons who came in placed Converse in a comfortable position on a cushion. He tried to speak, but was unable to make himself understood and died in about 15 minutes. He was shot in the left temple. A stranger was seen to enter the bank shortly before and the report of a pistol was heard by a woman who lived near the bank. A reward of $5,000 was offered by the directors of the Malden Bank for the arrest of the murderer and the recovery of the money.[10]
On the 17th, this statement from the directors appeared, "The fearful tragedy enacted at the Malden Bank and the robbery of a portion of its funds, seem to demand the following authorized statement of the Directors of the Institution. Mr. Merrill, the cashier of the bank, on leaving the rooms, placed in the hand of the assistant cashier, Mr. Frank E. Converse, five thousand dollars in bills of the Malden Bank, and this sum comprises the whole amount obtained by the robbers. All the other valuables and specie of the bank were locked securely in the fire-proof safe, situated within the vault, and the cashier had the key in his own possession. Of the money stolen, $3000, was in one hundred dollar bills of the Malden Bank, near $2000 in bills of smaller denomination of the same bank and one hundred dollar bill, two twenties and a ten of the Exchange Bank of Boston. The bills of the bank will continue to be redeemed as usual at the Bank of Mutual Redemption. But few one hundred dollar bills are in circulation and no more will be issued at present. The public are [sic] informed that a sum equal to twice the amount stolen has been reserved by the bank from its earnings after paying all dividends so that the stability of the bank is in no way impaired by the robbery. To the afflicted parents and relatives of the estimable young man whose life has been inhumanly sacrificed, while in faithful discharge of his duties and trust committed to his care, we offer our heartfelt sympathy." A.D. Lamson, G.D.B. Blanchard, Jno. J. Newcomb, Caleb Wait, Isaac Emerson, D.W. Wilcox, directors of the Malden Bank.[11]
On Monday evening, February 8, 1864, at the Malden Post Office, postmaster Edward W. Green was arrested by Boston detectives Jones and Heath who had been investigating the case. Mr. Green, 28 years of age, was a native of Malden with a wife and infant child. A weapon and very nearly all the money had been discovered in the possession of Green. While he was known to have been largely in debt, he had been paying away considerable sums in Malden bank bills since the murder. He was brought to Boston in a carriage after his arrest and placed in the Tombs on Court Square.[12][13] A report of Green's confession may be found in the Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express.[14]
First National Bank of Malden
On Sunday, April 1, 1934, Walter Elbridge Piper, chairman of the Sudbury finance committee and for many years prominent in the rubber industry, died at the New England Sanitarium and Hospital after an illness of six weeks. Mr. Piper was born at Hyde Park, October 8, 1871, and was graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1894. He was former treasurer of the Tyer Rubber Company of Andover and for many years served as general manager of the Boston Rubber Company. In addition, he had been for several years treasurer of the President Suspender Company and a director of the Baird & Bartlett Company of Boston. He was also a former trustee of the Malden Savings Bank and former director of the First National Bank of Malden and the Morris Plan Bank of Malden. During the war, he was chief of the rubber footwear division of the Quartermasters Corps.[15]
On Tuesday, May 18, 1948, Sidney M. Price, cashier of the First National Bank of Malden for the past 14 years was elected president at a meeting of the directors. He succeeded that late Joseph Wiggin who was president for 25 years. Vice president Ernest L. Chandler was named to the new position of chairman of the board. He had been a director since 1923. Mr. Price was a native of Woburn and entered the banking business as a clerk in the First National Bank of Woburn. He later became cashier of that institution. He was a past president of the Massachusetts Bankers' Association, of the Eastern Middlesex Clearing House Association, state president of the American Bankers' Association, president of the Malden Hospital and Malden Community Chest. He was a trustee of the Malden Public Library and Malden Y.M.C.A.[16]
On Sunday, January 17, 1960, Ralph Kelley, assistant cashier at the First National Bank of Malden where he was employed for 40 years died at Malden Hospital. He was a member of Converse Lodge, AF&AM in Malden and First Congregational Church.[17]
In January 1960, Sidney M. Price, president at the 126th stockholders annual meeting, reported total resources of $19,915,000, earnings before taxes of 16.77/share and 10.42 after taxes. This compared with 9.23 the previous year, a 13% increase. Albert S. Kahn, president of Northern Products Co. and treasurer of Purity Food Stores was added to the board of directors. Raymond H. Blanchard was elected chairman, succeeding Ernest L. Chandler who remained a director.[18]
On February 6, 1962, Emily C. Nash, 70, former head of the Morris Plan department of the First National Bank of Malden, died in a Bangor Hospital. A native of Harrington, she taught school for several years in Sanford after graduating from Gorham (Maine) Normal School. Miss Nash went to Malden to become clerk of the Morris Plan Bank in that city. She joined the First National Bank when it absorbed the Morris Bank, retiring in 1948 when she returned to Harrington.[19]
On Thursday, December 13, 1963, a New England-wide police search was issued that night for a stocky gunman wearing a yellow slicker who held up the Maplewood Square branch of the First National Bank of Malden at 46 Pleasant Street, escaping with $2,500. It was the first robbery of the bank in 100 years. During that theft in 1863, the son of the bank's president, Frank E. Converse, was killed. Elisha Converse built the Malden Library in memory of his son. The robber was later caught and hanged. In the recent robbery, the hooded man walked up to assistant manager James Mahoney, shoved a gun in his abdomen and told him to fill up a bag. Mahoney did. The man ran off in the snowstorm and disappeared with the cash.[20]
On Tuesday, May 28, 1996, Richard Hardwick of Melrose, bank chairman, a clothier and World War I Army veteran, died of old age in his home. He was 100. Born and raised in Malden, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1917. He was a 2d lieutenant in the Cavalry with the Army in World War I stationed within the United States. After the war, Mr. Hardwick was an investment stockbroker in Boston, joining E.M. Hamlin & Co. in 1926. In 1934, he started Hardwick's, a women's clothing store. He was also employed as chairman of the board for the First National Bank of Malden for many years, and was a former trustee for Malden Savings Bank. At his 100th birthday party last August, Mr. Hardwick played the piano for family and friends in his Melrose home. He was a member and former president of both the Malden Chamber of Commerce and the Malden Rotary Club. He was also a member and former master of both the Converse Lodge of Malden and the Mt. Scoupus Lodge in Malden.[21]
Official Bank Title
1: The First National Bank of Malden, MA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $4,410,640 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1864 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 623,114 notes (496,980 large size and 126,134 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 - 5000 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 2200 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 4090 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 1246 1882 Brown Back 4x5 1 - 22600 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 4770 1902 Red Seal 4x5 1 - 4750 1902 Red Seal 4x10 1 - 2000 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 2700 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 7950 1902 Date Back 4x10 1 - 8825 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 400 1902 Plain Back 4x5 7951 - 39214 1902 Plain Back 4x10 8826 - 35275 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 10906 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 5474 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 18680 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 9174
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1864 - 1935):
Presidents:
- Elisha Slade Converse, 1865-1903
- Albert H. Davenport, 1904-1905
- Everett Jewett Stevens, 1906-1922
- Joseph Wiggin, 1923-1935
Cashiers:
- Charles Merrill, 1865-1883
- Arthur Thompson Tufts, 1884-1897
- Edward P. Kimball, 1898-1919
- Harry Winthrop Fenn, 1920-1928
- David Bradford, 1929-1932
- Sidney Millet Price, 1934-1935
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Malden, MA, 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
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Sat., Jan. 18, 1851.
- ↑ The Springfield Daily Republican, Springfield, MA, Tue., June 3, 1851.
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Thu., July 3, 1851.
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Sat., July 12, 1851.
- ↑ The Springfield Daily Republican, Springfield, MA, Mon., Nov. 22, 1852.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Thu., Mar. 5, 1959.
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Tue., Nov. 11, 1856.
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Tue., May 15, 1860.
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Fri., Oct. 5, 1860.
- ↑ The Springfield Daily Republican, Springfield, MA, Wed., Dec. 16, 1863.
- ↑ Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA, Thu., Dec. 17, 1863.
- ↑ Portland Press Herald, Portland, ME, Tue., Feb. 9, 1864.
- ↑ Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, Bangor, ME, Tue., Feb. 9, 1864.
- ↑ Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express, Washington, DC, Wed., Feb. 10, 1864.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Mon., Apr. 2, 1934.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Wed., May 19, 1948.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Mon., Jan. 18, 1960.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Fri., Jan. 22, 1960.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, Ma, Wed., Feb. 7, 1962.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Fri., Dec. 13, 1863.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Mon., June 3, 1996.