First National Bank, Mount Carmel, PA (Charter 3980)
First National Bank, Mount Carmel, PA (Chartered 1889 - Closed (Merger) 1972)
Town History
Mount Carmel is a borough in Northumberland County, located in the Coal Heritage Region of Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. The population was 5,725 at the 2020 census. It is located 53 miles northwest of Reading and 71 miles northeast of Harrisburg, in the Anthracite Coal Region. It is completely encompassed by Mount Carmel Township.
Sawmill operator, Albert Bradford, gave Mount Carmel its name because of its elevation and beautiful setting in the mountains. He decided that it deserved a special name and named it after the holy mountain in Israel. Mount Carmel began as a logging town. Coal wasn't discovered until 1790 by Isaac Tomlinson. It took twenty-four years until the first load of anthracite was shipped from the borough. Mount Carmel Inn was opened in 1812 by Richard Yarnall and was strategically located on the Centre Turnpike (also known as the Reading-Sunbury Road or Old Reading Road) halfway between Pottsville and Danville. During the latter part of 1854 the Philadelphia and Sunbury Railroad was completed from Shamokin to Mt. Carmel, which led to the opening and development of a number of collieries in the region. During the same year, the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company commenced making extensive openings and improvements upon their valuable coal lands in the vicinity of Mt. Carmel, building coal breakers for two collieries – the Coal Ridge and Locust Mountain collieries. The township was erected in 1854, formed from part of Coal Township; by 1862 the borough was incorporated within the township.
Mount Carmel was among the first towns in the country to have its streets lit by electricity. Thomas Edison placed one of his first generator plants here in 1883. The Edison Plant in Mount Carmel was the 7th in the world.
In the past, there were extensive anthracite mining interests here and in the vicinity. In earlier years, the borough had manufactories of miners' caps, cement blocks, cigars, shirts, stockings, etc., and large silk and planing mills, foundry and machine shops, a knitting mill, lumber yards, a packing plant, and wagon works. Currently that area supports light manufacturing in paper and plastics.
Mount Carmel had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 29, 1889
- Chartered February 19, 1889
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into First National Trust Bank in Sunbury, PA October 2, 1972
This article and a picture of the bank appeared in the Mount Carmel Item in May of 1908. Organized in 1889, the First National Bank of Mount Carmel has for nineteen years been guided always by a management whose methods have been characterized by conservatism and perfect security. This bank has a capital of $50,000, a surplus and undivided profit fund of $132,000 and deposits totaling $552,000. The bank building was erected in 1894 and is thoroughly equipped in all its appointments having large vaults and individual safe-deposit boxes. Hon. Voris Auten is president; George W. Davis, vice-president; and M.K. Watkins, cashier. Directors: Hon. Voris Auten; W.A. Phillips; William Kiefer, Jr.; William McFee, Sr.; James H. Smith; J.H. Reed; and M.K Watkins.
In 1972 the First National bank of Mount Carmel merged with The First National Bank of Sunbury, creating the new First National Trust Bank with assets of $80 million making it the largest bank based in Northumberland County. Five new directors were named to its board: William F. Albertini, owner of Albertini Motor Company, Mount Carmel; Harold G. Green, vice president of the D.A. Kessler Construction Co., Mount Carmel; Edward W. Helfrick, president of Glen Burn Colliery in Shamokin; David H. Lenker, secretary- treasurer of Lenker Manufacturing Co., Sunbury; and H. Marshall Stecker, formerly president of the First National Bank of Mount Carmel. Stecker had been president of the First National Bank of Mount Carmel since 1942. He is also president of Stecker & Co., Mount Carmel and has served as president of the Mount Carmel Water Company, director and secretary-treasurer of the Pemberton Coal & Coke Co., director of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Co., and director of the Geisinger Medical Center. The new directors join James G. Apple, John A. Apple, Gorden H. Griffith, Richard Henry Klein, Richard F. McClure, Donald H. Miller, Truman H. Purdy, Scott C. Rea, George W. Robinson, Francis L. Shaffer, Charles S. Shuman, Norman E. Walz, and Robert F. Weis.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Mount Carmel, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $1,501,100 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1889 and 1972. This consisted of a total of 162,171 notes (119,908 large size and 42,263 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 - 5705 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 250 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 3900 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 11520 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 3901 - 12502 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 2788 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1534 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 506 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 8124 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 3259 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1912
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1889 - 1972):
Presidents:
- Edmund Cathcart Tier, 1889-1898
- Judge Voris Auten, 1899-1926
- William Kiefer, 1927-1933
- John J. Laughlin, 1935-1935
Cashiers:
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 Mount Carmel (Wikipedia)
- General information on Northumberland County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Mount Carmel, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Carmel,_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
- Mount Carmel Item, Mount Carmel, PA, Sat., May 16, 1908.
- The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, Tue., Aug. 29, 1972.
- The News-Item, Shamokin, PA, Tue., Nov. 7, 1972.