First National Bank at Wilkinsburg, PA (Charter 13823)
First National Bank at Wilkinsburg, PA (Chartered 1933 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with a population of 15,930 as of the 2010 census. Wilkinsburg is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough of Wilkinsburg was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army officer who served as Quartermaster General of the United States Army from 1796 to 1802.
Modern broadcasting as known in its current form began when Wilkinsburg resident Frank Conrad spearheaded a radio laboratory at his home, coordinated with Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the United States Signal Corps, under a special war time permit (using call signs 2-WM and 2-WE). After moving from Swissvale to Wilkinsburg, Conrad installed a radio station on the top floor of his backyard two-story garage, with a microphone, where he worked into the wee hours of the morning, eventually resulting in the development of modern broadcasting, as do it yourself listeners who had made their own crystal radio sets began to respond, some quite enthused by the music broadcast when Frank Conrad coupled a phonograph to radio. Wilkinsburg thus became the original location for modern broadcasting, combining the concepts of "the station, the audience, the programs, and a means to pay for the programs" after Conrad accepted a donation from a Wilkinsburg music store to promote its musical offerings. This was all before and leading up to KDKA and the development of commercial radio. In 1916, KDKA began broadcasting, as experimental station 8XK, from the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh and in a small garage owned by Frank Conrad, before it was launched with its current call letters on November 2, 1920. In 1923, Wilkinsburg-based Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin designed and patented the iconoscope, the photocell "eye" of early television cameras.
Wilkinsburg had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized October 23, 1933
- Chartered November 2, 1933
- Succeeded 4728 The First National Bank of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Acquired by The Colonial Trust Company, Pittsburgh, November 1953
In August 1933, plans went ahead rapidly for the opening of the new bank to replace the restricted First National Bank of Wilkinsburg at a meeting of stockholders and depositors. The meeting took up the procedures involving the transfer of funds from the comptroller-operated bank to the new institution to be known as the First National Bank at Wilkinsburg. With formalities virtually completed, leaders in the bank reorganization movement said that the new bank would soon be open and ready for business probably by late September, thus making available more than half of the $4,000,000 frozen in the restricted bank. The First National, although the largest bank in Wilkinsburg, with 17,000 depositors, failed to resume general business following the banking holiday. The reorganization was made possible through the raising of a capital structure of $250,000. This amount was oversubscribed by Wilkinsburg citizens. The meeting in the auditorium of the Wilkinsburg High School was presided over by Thomas M. Allen, general chairman. Among the speakers were J.C. McQuiston. George R. Craig, W.H. Guffey and Joseph T. Miller. Dr. Gordon in July declared that the only plans for reopening of banks which will be considered were those which guarantee complete restoration of impaired capital and enough cash on hand to meet any emergency. State bank examiners for the previous two months had been examining the reorganization plans.
On November 15, 1933, Wilkinsburg's new bank, successor to the closed First National Bank of Wilkinsburg, opened for business, freeing more than $2,000,000 in frozen deposits. Celebrating the opening, depositors met with directors and officials of the bank in Wilkinsburg High School. Thomas M. Allen, general chairman of the depositors committee, which was mainly responsible for the organization of the new bank, introduced W.H. Cheffey, who presided. Each of the 11 directors of the new bank, The First National Bank at Wilkinsburg, were introduced and short talks were made by L.P. Noble, president; L.E. Huseman, vice president, and C.G. McKee, assistant cashier. George P. Craig, attorney for the bank, explained that each of the 12,000 depositors would be notified by postal card when to appear to receive a 50 per cent payment.
In October 1953, The Colonial Trust Company, Pittsburgh's third largest bank offered to buy the First National Bank at Wilkinsburg. Colonial had assets of more than $112,000,000 and four branches. The First National had assets of more than $16,000,000 and a branch at Monroeville along the William Penn Highway. On November 30, 1953, the Wilkinsburg and Monroeville offices of the Colonial along with a new office at 8005-8007 McKnight Road gave the bank seven offices in addition to its downtown headquarters. All personnel of the First National were retained. Sterling L. Wandell, president of the Wilkinsburg bank, became a vice president of the Colonial and remained in charge of the Wilkinsburg office. The other officers were Karl M. Hewitt, assistant vice president; Clifford G. McKee, assistant vice president; Harry M. Chapman, assistant secretary; Clyde A. McAllister, assistant auditor; and Norman H. Sanderson, manager of the Monroeville office.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank at Wilkinsburg, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $269,350 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1933 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 24,655 notes (No large size and 24,655 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 7100 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 11725 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 5830
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1933 - 1936):
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 Wilkinsburg (Wikipedia)
- General information on Allegheny County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Wilkinsburg, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkinsburg,_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 Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., Aug. 29, 1933.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Nov. 15, 1933.
- Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Oct. 10, 1953.
- The Pittsburgh Post-Gaette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Oct. 17, 1953.