First National Bank of Parkton, MD (Charter 9444)
First National Bank of Parkton, MD (Chartered 1909 - Liquidated 1934)
Town History
Parkton is an agrarian unincorporated area in the northern part of Baltimore County, Maryland. It borders southern York County, Pennsylvania, which forms part of the Mason–Dixon line. The area is mostly agricultural in nature with corn, soy beans and other industrial use crops being the major plants grown. Approximately 6,600 people live within ZIP code 21120. The Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail that passes through Parkton used to be the Northern Central Railway that Abraham Lincoln once traveled to Baltimore.
Parkton had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized May 1, 1909
- Chartered June 15, 1909
- Opened for business June 16, 1909
- Conservatorship March 16, 1933
- Liquidated February 12, 1934
- Succeeded by 13867 (First National Bank in Parkton, MD)
- Circulation assumed by 13867 (First National Bank in, Parkton, MD)
In May 1909, the following were elected officers of the First National Bank of Parkton: John Mays Little, President; George W. Carr, vice president; James N. Frederick, Secretary, Howard M. Gore, assistant secretary. The officers and the following constituted the directors: Grandison Almony, Frank P. Lewin, G.Albert Mays, Joshua G. Hoshall, and Jacob C. Stifler. Mr. Ernest Krout of New Freedom was elected cashier and the bank planned to open in a few weeks.
In June 1910, work on the new building was progressing rapidly and when completed it would be a substantial structure and of fine appearance. It was being built of Port Deposit granite.
On the morning of July 23, 1912, five rough-looking customers pried open a window of the First National Bank at Parkton, on the Northern Central Railway, between 2 and 3 o'clock, and once inside broke through a door and tackled the vault. They failed to open it, however, and were captured by railroad detectives, local police, and citizens at 8:30 o'clock. Officials were running down all possible clues, but they are not believed to be professional bank robbers, as their work was clumsy, they even turned on the electric lights. There was a considerable amount of cash in the vault at the time, but they did not even get the outer door open, although they were seen working industriously. About $6,500 in cold cash rested snugly at the heart of a modern, up-to-date time vault, the clocks set to open only at the bank's start of business. Disgusted with their failure they beat a retreat to the woods but came back later and loafed around the outskirts of the town, where they were picked up. Edward Brady, night watchman for the railway, saw the whole business. He was on duty when he saw forms flitting about the bank office, some of them trying cash drawers and some working on the vault. He did not care to tackle them himself, as he was only a single man and they were a crowd. So instead of going into a one-sided battle he kept an eye on them and when they left the bank watched the course of their retreat. Then the lone watchman called up citizens and by daylight the word had been quietly passed around. The men made the mistake of waiting for breakfast, hoping to get something to eat and make one of the early trains on the bumpers or catch a through freight. They were together when rounded up and did not make a fight. A.A. Clark simply gathered them in and turned them over to the railroad officers.
On October 28, 1912, the criminal docket for the September term of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County was taken up at Towson before Judge Duncan. The docket was the largest in the history of the court with half of it devoted to violations of the Sunday liquor laws. The first case on the docket was that of Elmer Harr, charged with aiding prisoners to escape jail at Towson. He was charged with passing two saws to the men accused of breaking into and robbing the Parkton First National Bank. The effort to break jail was discovered by Warden Price resulting in the arrest of Harr, who had previously visited the men in jail. Those charged with robbing the bank were Claud Wheeler, William Gaunt, Raymond Arnold, Miles Crow, and Clarence Freeland. Their names appeared second on the docket.
On February 4, 1913, Miles Crow and Claude Wheeler, sentenced to the Maryland Penitentiary and House of Correction, respectively, by Judge Duncan at Towson for robbing the Parkton First National Bank and who were released last Thursday by Judge Stump, of Baltimore, on habeas corpus proceedings, were again in the institutions to which they were sentenced. They were released on a technicality, the commitments made out for a charge of house breaking instead of larceny. Their reimprisonment was due to the action of State's Attorney Hartman, who instructed the court clerk at Towson to issue bench warrants for the men. They were arrested in Baltimore and turned over to the Sheriff of Baltimore county at the Northern Police Station, who was armed with proper commitments. It was understood by State's Attorney Hartman that an effort was being made to have Clarence Freeland, William Gauntt and William Arnold, also sentenced in the bank robbery, released on habeas corpus proceedings. Crow and Wheeler were sentenced to 18 and 15 months, respectively.
On March 17, 1933, H.E. Krout, cashier, was named conservator. Hugh Leach, managing director, Baltimore branch, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, announced that the day's gold intake totaled $333,000, of which $185,000 was in coin and $148,000 in certificates. It brought the gold intake since March 6 to $3,460,000, of which $2,224,000 was in coin and $1,236,000 in certificates. This was the final day for hoarders of the yellow metal to return it and escape the threat of Federal prosecution.
On December 11, 1933, two Maryland banks remained closed, the First National Bank of Hancock with $486,000 frozen and $28,000 unrestricted deposits, and the Firat National Bank of Parkton with $804,000 frozen and $6,000 unrested deposits. The comptroller of the currency reported 46 national banks licensed in November while 49 were licensed during October. He hoped to terminate practically all conservatorships by the first of the year.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Parkton, MD
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $426,660 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1909 and 1934. This consisted of a total of 34,411 notes (28,272 large size and 6,139 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2380 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 2381 - 7068 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 778 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 192 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 284 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 35
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1909 - 1934):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- Maryland Bank Note History
- General information on Parkton (Wikipedia)
- General information on Baltimore County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Maryland (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Parkton, MD, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkton,_Maryland
- 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 Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Fri., May 7, 1909.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Wed., June 29, 1910.
- The Evening Sun., Baltimore, MD, Tue., July 23, 1912.
- The Evening Sun., Baltimore, MD, Wed., July 24, 1912.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Sun., Oct. 27, 1912.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Fri., Feb. 21, 1913.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Sun., Nov. 26, 1926.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Sat., Mar. 18, 1933.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Tue., Dec. 12, 1933.