Merchants National Bank, Glens Falls, NY (Charter 4846)

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Postcard of the Merchants National Bank of Glens Falls, New York, postmarked in 1907. The bank was located on the corner of Glen and Ridge Streets.
Postcard of the Merchants National Bank of Glens Falls, New York, postmarked in 1907. The bank was located on the corner of Glen and Ridge Streets. Courtesy of Adam. Stroup

Merchants National Bank, Glens Falls, NY (Chartered 1893 - Liquidated 1922)

Town History

Photo of the old Merchants National Bank Glens Falls, New York, ca2023.
Photo of the old Merchants National Bank Glens Falls, New York, ca2023. Courtesy of Google Maps

Glens Falls is a city in the southeastern corner of Warren County, surrounded by the town of Queensbury to the north, east, and west, and by the Hudson River and Saratoga County to the south.

As a halfway point between Fort Edward and Fort William Henry, the falls was the site of several battles during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. The then-hamlet was mostly destroyed by fire twice during the latter conflict, forcing the Quakers to abandon the settlement until the war ended in 1783. Fire also ravaged the village in 1864, 1884, and 1902.

A post office was established in 1808. Glens Falls became an incorporated village in 1839, and was re-incorporated in 1874 and 1887, expanding the village to what would become the city limits when the state legislature granted the city charter in 1908, at which time the city became independent from the town of Queensbury.

Finch Paper LLC, headquartered at the base of Glen Street hill, is a major regional employer and a manufacturer of specialty paper and forest products. It is by far the largest taxpayer in the City of Glens Falls, owning property assessed at $60-million in 2006, according to city records. In mid-June 2007, Finch, Pruyn & Company announced it had sold all of its assets, including 161,000 acres of forestland in the Adirondacks, to Atlas Holdings of Greenwich, Conn. The Company name was then changed to Finch Paper LLC. Atlas then sold all of the forestland to The Nature Conservancy.

Glens Falls had four National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all four of those banks issued National Bank Notes. The Glen's Falls National Bank was the only one of the four to use the possessive form "Glen's". South Glens Falls in Saratoga County also had one national bank.

Bank History

In January 1893, the Merchants National Bank of Glens Falls filed application for authority to organize.

On Tuesday, January 9, 1894, directors elected were Hon. A.J. Cheritree, A. Wurtenberg, H.A. Howard, S.W. Russell, George H. Leggett, H.L. Sherman, H.R. Leavens, Ezra Harman, M.O. Brown, O.C. Smith, S.D. Kendrick, A.W. Sherman, C.M. Wilmarth, D.L. Robertson, W.H. Robbins, Hon. Frank Byrne, and John H. Burnham. All were members of the old board with the exception of Mr. Burnham, elected in place of G.F. Bayle who moved out of town. The directors re-elected W.H. Robbins, president; Hon. Frank Byrne, vice president; F.F. Pruyn, cashier; and W.T. Cowles, teller.

On Saturday, March 2, 1895, at a meeting of the directors, S.B. Goodman and William Moore were elected members of the board to fill the vacancies caused by the resignations of S.D. Kendrick and H.A. Howard.

On April 12, 1922, announcement was made of the merger of the National Bank of Glens Falls and the Merchants National Bank of Glens Falls. Terms of sale were not made known. The resulting institution would have assets of approximately $4,750,000. Deposits of the National Bank were about $2,500,000. Deposits in the Merchants Bank were more than $1,400,000. The Merchants National Bank was incorporated in 1893. The officers were Daniel L. Robertson, president; George H. Leggett and George S. Raley, vice presidents; William T. Cowles, cashier; Harry Bennett, teller; Leo Nolan, Edward M. Conklin, and Leslie Irwin, bookkeepers. On April 19, in connection with the merger, John E. Parry was promoted to second vice president and William T. Cowles, cashier of the Merchants National, became cashier of the National Bank of Glens Falls.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The Merchants National Bank of Glens Falls, NY

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Brown Back $5 Proof from the D position, approved March 18, 1893.
1882 Brown Back $5 Proof from the D position, approved March 18, 1893. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives

A total of $532,800 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1893 and 1922. This consisted of a total of 78,204 notes (78,204 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 - 11375
1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 2100
1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 445
1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 632
1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 1250
1902 DB/PB 4x5 1251 - 1450 Type uncertain
1902 Plain Back 4x5 1451 - 3005
1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 1000
1902 DB/PB 3x10-20 1001 - 1160 Type uncertain
1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1161 - 1994

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1893 - 1922):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

  • There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.

Wiki Links

Sources

  • Glens Falls, NY, 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 Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Mon., Jan. 23, 1893.
  • The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY, Wed., Jan. 10, 1894.
  • The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY, Mon., Mar. 4, 1895.
  • The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY, Thu., Apr. 13, 1922.
  • The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY, Thu., Apr. 20, 1922.