First National Bank, Shamokin, PA (Charter 3045)
First National Bank, Shamokin, PA (Chartered 1883 - Liquidated 1903)
Town History
Shamokin (/ʃəˈmoʊkɪn/; Saponi Algonquian Schahamokink, meaning "place of eels") (Lenape Indian language: Shahëmokink) is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, surrounded by Coal Township at the western edge of the Anthracite Coal Region in central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. It was named after a Saponi Indian village, Schahamokink. At the 2020 Census, the population was 6,942.
The first human settlement of Shamokin was probably Shawnee native migrants. A large population of Delaware Indians (also known as the Lenapes) were forcibly resettled there in the early 18th century after they lost rights to their land in the "Walking Purchase" along the eastern border of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania in the upper northern reaches of the Delaware River in 1737.
The city of present-day Shamokin lies along Shamokin Creek. Shamokin was founded in 1835 by the coal speculators John C. Boyd and Ziba Bird, it was early known as Boyd's Stone-coal Quarry, Boydtown, and New Town. The discovery of anthracite coal resources in the region, became the basis of much industry. Railroad companies, such as Reading Railroad, bought interests in coal and became major employers of the area, building railroads to ship coal to markets and controlling most jobs.
Shamokin was incorporated earlier as a borough under the Commonwealth constitution on November 9, 1864, and subsequently as a city 85 years later, on February 21, 1949. In addition to anthracite coal-mining, it became an industrial center in the 19th century, with silk and knitting mills, stocking and shirt factories, wagon shops, ironworks, and brickyards. The dominant Eagle Silk Mill became the largest textile manufacturing building under one roof in the United States.
Famous inventor, scientist and entrepreneur Thomas A. Edison (1847–1931), briefly a resident of nearby Sunbury, established the Edison Illuminating Company of Shamokin in the fall of 1882. When the Shamokin power generating station on Independence Street started on September 22, 1883, St. Edward's Roman Catholic Church which was connected, became the first church in the world to be lit by electricity.
Shamokin had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all five of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized September 4, 1883
- Chartered September 12, 1883
- Liquidated September 4, 1903
- Succeeded by 6942 (National Bank/National-Dime Bank, Shamokin, PA)
The First National Bank of Shamokin organized with a capital of $100,000 on Tuesday, September 4, 1883. The officers were Conrad Graeber, president; Alexander Fulton, vice president; George C. Graeber, cashier. The directors were C. Graeber, Alexander Fulton, Isaac May, Sr., John Mullen, George Marshall, George Hack, John S. Graeber, George C. Graeber. The banking rooms were in C. Graeber's building on Sunbury Street, near Washington Street. They were formerly occupied by the Shamokin Banking Company.
In January 1887, the officers were C. Graeber, president; George C. Graeber, cashier; and Philip Goodwill, teller.
In September 1888, Frederick W.V. Lorenz was appointed as a teller and served on the borough council of Shamokin. In 1892 he would run for county surveyor.
On January 14, 1890, at a meeting of the directors, John Mullen was elected president. The bank had a surplus fund of $35,000 and undivided profits of $15,000. In April, Peter E. Buck of Ashland purchased the controlling stock in the First National Bank from Isaac May, Sr.
On December 1, 1895, W.A. Richardson, paymaster for the Mineral Railroad and Mining Co. resigned and became assistant cashier of the First National Bank. In January 1903, H.C. Richardson, son of W.A. Richardson and an ensign, was on the battleship Massachusetts where an explosion occurred resulting in the loss of seven members of the crew. He was not among the injured. On January 1, 1906, W.A. Richardson, teller of the First National Bank, died at his home after a brief illness. He left a wife, two sons and a daughter. Ensign Holden was in the U.S. Navy stationed at the construction yard at Boston.
The National Bank of Shamokin opened their doors for business on Saturday morning, September 5, 1903. It succeeded the First National Bank of Shamokin whose twenty year charter expired earlier on Friday.
In May 1919, Holden C. Richardson would pilot NC3, the flagship of the naval seaplanes in a flight across the Atlantic. He had contributed to the design of the seaplane and with Commander Towers, developed the catapult for launching a seaplane from a battleship. In 1912 he was ordered to the Washington Navy Yard for experimental work on naval hydro-airplanes and became one of the first aeronautical engineers in the country. For the previous six years, Commander Richardson had been engaged in the design and construction of seaplanes. Only one of the three seaplanes would reach the European mainland at Lisbon, Portugal. Richardson's plane was forced to set down 200 nautical miles short of the Azores and was eventually taken in tow by a Navy ship.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Shamokin, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $455,900 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1883 and 1903. This consisted of a total of 44,788 notes (44,788 large size and No 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 4x5 1 - 3465 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 7732
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1883 - 1903):
Presidents:
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 Shamokin (Wikipedia)
- General information on Northumberland County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Shamokin, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamokin,_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://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- The Sunbury Weekly News, Sunbury, PA, Fri., Sep. 14, 1883.
- The Sunbury Weekly News, Sunbury, PA, Fri., May 9, 1884.
- Pottsville Republican, Pottsville, PA, Thu., Jan. 13, 1887.
- The Sunbury Weekly News, Sunbury, PA, Fri., Jan. 17, 1890.
- Miltonian, Milton, PA, Fri., Aug. 5, 1892.
- Republican and Herald, Pottsville, PA, Mon., Nov. 11, 1895.
- Pottsville, Republican, Pottsville, PA, Mon., Jan. 19, 1903.
- Miners Journal, Pottsville, PA, Mon., Sep. 7, 1903.
- Pottsville, Republican, Pottsville, PA, Sat., May 17, 1919.