National Bank, Penbrook, PA (Charter 12197)

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The old National Bank of Penbrook building between Walnut Street and Booser Avenue, ca2023. Courtesy of Google Maps

National Bank, Penbrook, PA (Chartered 1922 - Open past 1935)

Town History

An October 1924 photo of Cashier Gish outside the Penbrook National Bank telling a crowd how much money had been stollen and announcing the loss was fully covered by insurance.[1]

Penbrook is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, founded in 1861 and incorporated July 10, 1894. Penbrook was once named East Harrisburg and still maintains a Harrisburg postal ZIP code. The population was 3,268 at the 2020 census. In 1920 the population was 2,072, growing to 3,567 by 1930.

Reservoir Park, with 85 acres is adjacent to the southwest border of the borough, with Levitt Performing Arts Pavilion and the National Civil War Museum.

Penbrook had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, the Penbrook National Bank (Charter 9344) and the National Bank of Penbrook (Charter 12197), and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

A 1949 photo of William A. Hershey and I.D. Horstick, two of the original directors when the bank was organized in 1922.[2]
  • Organized September 3, 1921
  • Chartered May 9, 1922
  • Bank was Open past 1935

In March 1922, directors of the National Bank of Penbrook awarded the contract for the erection of a one-story limestone building on the recently purchased Speas property at Main and Penn Streets to T.E. Stephenson of Penbrook. The organization consisted of H.S. Plank, president; J.A. Miller, vice president; B.R. Speas, secretary; I.D. Horstick, acting cashier; John McI. Smith, attorney; John H. Allwine, Earl Brightbill, J.I. Nace, J.M. Plank and W.A. Hershey, directors. The burglar-proof vault door and equipment would be furnished by the York Safe and Lock Company.[3] In May 1922, work was progressing rapidly on the National Bank of Penbrook building. Bank officials were preparing to open the bank for business about July 1st. The directors met on May 2d and elected Ralph H. Gish, cashier. The contract for the banking supplies was awarded to the Smith Printing Company of Williamsport.[4] The morning of July 1st, the new bank flung its doors open to the public at 9 o'clock. At noon, H.S. Plank, president, announced that the deposits far exceeded his expectations.[5]

On October 20, 1924, Lancaster and state police were patrolling entrances to Lancaster and county roads, maintaining a watch for two bandits who held up Penbrook National Bank, escaping with over $2,000. The bandits entered the bank shortly before closing time. One of them leveled a revolver at president H.S. Plank, R.H. Gish, cashier, and Mrs. Fannie Kirkpatrick, forcing them into a vault. The door was pushed shut by the robbers, but the lock did not snap, and the three emerged from the vault as the bandits fled. They ran across the street, hopped into a waiting automobile and sped away. Mrs. Kirkpatrick is the widow of Elmer Kirkpatrick, a former Lancaster newspaper man who died two years ago. Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who is employed as a clerk in the bank, suffered from shock and required the aid of a physician. According to president Plank, one of the bandits stepped up to the cashier's window, drew a gun and directed him to "hand it out." Plank shoved the money through the barred window, and the second man pressed the three into the vault. The bandits rolled the money up in a newspaper. About $750 of the stolen money was mutilated currency and the remainder small bills. No trace of the bandits had been uncovered by police.[6] Penbrook, a borough adjoining the eastern city line of Harrisburg, was about three miles from the capital and a mile from the State police barracks. Cashier Gish said he asked one of the robbers if he wanted a package of $715 in mutilated bills which was lying near him. The man took it together with $800 in $20s, $250 in $10s and $210 in $5s with $75 in new one dollar bills. Gish said the mutilated bills were so badly torn they couldn't be passed.[7]

On Tuesday, January 10, 1928, stockholders re-elected the board of directors as follows: J.W. Ebersole, John H. Allwine, Earl C. Brightbill, W.A. Hershey, J.A. Miller, James I. Nace, J.M. Plank, H.F. Plank, and John McIlhenny Smith.[8] The next evening all officers were re-elected with H.S. Plank, president; J.A. Miller, vice president; R.H. Gish, cashier, and Mrs. Ruth Mullen, teller.[9]

The National Bank of Penbrook reported at the close of business, December 31, 1948, total assets of $2,844,563.18. The capital was $50,000, surplus $100,000 and undivided profits $56,361.20. H.L. Brightbill was cashier and directors attesting to the correctness were W.A. Hershey, I.D. Horstick, and J.M. Plank.[10] William A. Hershey and I.D. Horstick were two of the five original directors who were elected when the bank was organized in 1922. John McI. Smith, J.S. Plank, and H.S. Plank were the others.[11]

Official Bank Title

1: The National Bank of Penbrook, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1929 Type 1 $10 bank note with printed signatures of R.H. Gish, Cashier and H.S. Plank, President. The Government Printing Office (GPO) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1929 Type 2 $10 bank note with printed signatures of R.H. Gish, Cashier and H.S. Plank, President. Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (BBS) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $104,460 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1922 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 10,446 notes (3,384 large size and 7,062 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments
1902 Plain Back 4x10 1 - 846
1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 782
1929 Type 2 10 1 - 2370

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1922 - 1935):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Known Bank Note Signers

  • No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

Sources

  • Penbrook, 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
  1. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Tue., Oct. 21, 1924.
  2. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Wed., Jan. 19, 1949.
  3. ↑ Harrisburg, Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Fri., Mar. 24, 1922.
  4. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Wed., May, 3, 1922.
  5. ↑ Harrisburg, Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Sat., July 1, 1922.
  6. ↑ The News-Journal, Lancaster, PA, Tue., Oct. 21, 1924.
  7. ↑ The Ephrata Review, Ephrata, PA, Fri., Oct. 24, 1924.
  8. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Tue., Jan. 10, 1928.
  9. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Fri., Jan. 13, 1928.
  10. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Sat., Jan. 8, 1949.
  11. ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Wed., Jan. 19, 1949.
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