Lamberton National Bank, Franklin, PA (Charter 5221)
Lamberton National Bank, Franklin, PA (Chartered 1899 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Franklin is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania. The population was 6,078 in the 2018 census. It is the county seat of Venango County. Franklin is part of the Oil City, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Franklin is known for its three-day autumn festival in October, Applefest, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. It is located at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River, an important site used for centuries by Native Americans. They had long before developed what became known as the Venango Path, passing from the head of French Creek north to Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie. Via French Creek and the Allegheny River, the portage effectively linked the waterways of the Ohio River and the Great Lakes.
After the French and Indian War, the British Americans constructed Fort Franklin, named after Benjamin Franklin. In 1787 Andrew Ellicott, who surveyed Washington, D.C., was hired to lay out the town of Franklin, which had developed around the fort. It became a trading center for a largely rural, agricultural region. Once oil was discovered in the late 19th century in nearby Titusville, Franklin became a booming oil town. After other fields were discovered in Texas and Oklahoma, and oil companies moved west, Franklin developed an industry of machinery companies.
Franklin had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized September 22, 1899
- Chartered October 9, 1899
- Succeeded Lamberton Savings Bank
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Acquired by The Exchange Bank & Trust Company of Franklin, PA, 1941
A merchant in Franklin by the name of Robert Lamberton bought a safe in 1859. Since he had what was considered to be the only secure safe in the area, Lamberton received many requests from local residents to store their cash and valuables. The Lamberton Savings bank was established in 1860 by Robert Lamberton under the name of R. Lamberton, Banker. In 1872 the name was changed to the Lamberton Savings Bank, having been purchased by a son, R.G. Lamberton, C.W. Gilfillan and R.L. Cochran. In 1883, W.J. Lamberton and Harry Lamberton purchased the Cochran interest and the bank continued to do business until 1899 when it was reorganized into the Lamberton National Bank.
In May 1899, the Comptroller of the Currency, Dawes, authorized the organization of the Lamberton National Bank of Franklin, Pennsylvania, with capital stock of $1,000,000. The organizers were C.W. Gilfillan, Robert G. Lamberton, Lewis T. Lamberton, Harry Lmaberton and William L. Gilfillan and they were changing the Lamberton Savings Bank to a national bank. The charter was granted on October 9, 1899 and the officers were C.W. Gilfillan, president; Harry Lamberton, vice president; W.L. Gilfillan, cashier; and Fred C. McGill, assistant cashier. W.L. Gilfillan was for several years assistant cashier of the Austin National Bank in Texas, but left that place to accept the position in the Lamberton National Bank.
On January 6, 1911, the bank awarded the contract for erecting a new banking building on the corner of 13th and Liberty Streets to John Osborn of Franklin. Mr. Osborn was the lowest of six bidders although the bank did not reveal the contract price. Removal of the vacant buildings and excavation began immediately with construction planned to start as soon as weather permitted. Pennsylvania white granite was used with a portion of the interior made of white marble. The main entrance was on 13th street. Inside a small lobby led to marble stairs to the basement and the mezzanine and second floors. Three large rooms were provided for use as barber shops, tailor shops and the like. In the rear of the first floor the safety deposit vault was located; a burglar proof, 9x12 feet vault with 1,000 safety deposit boxes. The E.E. Baily Company of Oil City prepared the plans and specifications.
In June 1911 on a late Monday afternoon, an automobile passing in front of the Lamberton National Bank on Seneca street happened to run over a wooden brake shoe that had fallen off a gravel wagon, propelling it through a large plate glass window recently installed in the front of the bank. The shoe penetrated the window, dropping on the floor inside, leaving a hole large enough to admit the head of a man of average size.
In February 1912, Albert Davis, owner of the brownstone quarries near Polk and Utica, arrived to take charge of the interior marble work in the new Lamberton Bank building. Offices in the bank opened in April. In July, Anderson & Co. installed the furniture in the president's room consisting of a massive solid mahogany desk and swivel chair and corresponding arm chairs. The classic design and use of crotched mahogany bordered with marquetry edges was a true reproduction of that used by the Bank of England.
Beginning Monday, December 22, 1941, instead of three banks, Franklin now had one which ranked with the largest and strongest financial institutions in the region. The Exchange Bank & Trust Company merged with The Franklin Trust Company and The Lamberton National Bank. Their office on the Corner of Liberty and 13th Streets served as the main office with the savings department using a National Cash Register Posting Machine. The former home of the Franklin Trust Company at 1241 Liberty Street received the safe deposit boxes from the Lamberton National and trust department transactions as well as counter service for receiving deposits, cashing checks and making change occurred there.
R.R. Bleakley, president of the Franklin Trust Company was a grandson of James Bleakley who established the International Bank in Franklin in 1864. He was the son of U.S. Congressman Orrin D. Bleakley who founded the Franklin Trust Company in 1883. Chess Lamberton, president of the Lamberton National Bank, was a grandson of Robert Lamberton who began accepting deposits to be kept in a safe in his general merchandising store during the early days of the oil boom in 1859, establishing a banking room in 1860. John L. Nesbit was president of The Exchange Bank & Trust Company and a well-known attorney in Franklin.
Officers of The Franklin Trust Company and The Lamberton National Bank as well as authorities charged with supervision of banks were concerned for some time with the concentration of substandard assets that existed in both banks as discovered during regular bank examinations. Efforts to strengthen the two institutions by the addition of more capital were unsuccessful. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) charged with responsibility for protection of the depositors in the insured banks was insistent that corrections be made promptly. The plan emerged calling for acquisition of all assets of the two outgoing banks by the FDIC and for assumption of the deposits of those banks by The Exchange Bank & Trust Company without any interruption to banking service in Franklin. The FDIC opened an office for liquidation of the assets acquired from the two banks in the former Lamberton National Bank building.
On Thursday afternoon, September 27, 1951, more than 4,000 persons attended the formal opening the the Franklin branch of the First National Bank of Meadville, the first 1,500 receiving roses. It was Franklin's first national bank since merger of the Lamberton National in December 1941 with the Franklin Trust Company.[1] The Meadville bank acquired the Lamberton National building in an exchange of stock amounting to a purchase price of $75,000.[2]
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Lamberton National Bank of Franklin, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $2,630,820 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1899 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 239,163 notes (177,176 large size and 61,987 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 - 8100 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 7265 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 4780 1882 Value Back 4x5 7266 - 11135 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 4781 - 6677 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 18382 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 6202 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 1672 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 11745 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 2998
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1899 - 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 Franklin (Wikipedia)
- General information on Venango County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Franklin, PA, 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
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Thu., May 18, 1899.
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Sat., July 27, 1901.
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Fri., Jan. 6, 1911.
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Tue., June 20, 1911.
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Thu., Feb. 8, 1912.
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Tue., July 30, 1912.
- The News-Herald, Franklin, PA, Thu., Nov. 20, 1941.
- The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, Sat., Jan. 31, 1976.