Parnassus National Bank, Parnassus, PA (Charter 7363)
Parnassus National Bank, Parnassus, PA (Chartered 1904 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Parnassus is located in Westmoreland County. The two boroughs of Parnassus and New Kensington consolidated in 1931 with Parnassus adding three wards to New Kensington. Mount Vernon, an exclusive residential district of New Kensington, was part of the old borough. Parnassus incorporated as a borough in 1872 and was one of the oldest in Western Pennsylvania. As far back as 1777, known as Fort Crawford, it was a colonial outpost of Fort Duquesne. A post office was established in Parnassus in 1858.
In 1890, the Burrell Improvement Company considered the advantages of the level land south of its home in Lower Burrell, and deemed it a prime location for a city and named the area "Kensington"; this was later changed to "New Kensington" for postal reasons, to avoid confusion with the Philadelphia neighborhood of the same name. New Kensington was incorporated in 1892, a boom industrial town that soon outgrew Parnassus in size and population. At the consolidation New Kensington's population was 18,000 and the population of Parnassus was 7,000, giving the new city a population of 25,000.
In July 1929, an explosion of aluminum bronze powder in the United States Aluminum Company plant rocked New Kensington and killed seven and injured six. The company was a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America.
Parnassus had one National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, and it issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized July 22, 1904
- Chartered August 15, 1904
- Org. Div. succeeds the Parnassus Bank.
- Opened for business August 22, 1904
- Bank was Open past 1935
On Tuesday morning, December 1, 1891, Cashier A.W. Logan went to the Parnassus Bank to get ready for the day's business and found everything in disorder. The vault had been burst open and in front of the safe was a kit of expensive burglar tools. The first plate of the door of the safe had been torn off and the robbers were at work on the door of the safe when startle by some unknown cause. The quick departure left tools scattered about the vault including an improved sort of jimmy for forcing the steel plates of safes sticking in the safe. In 1891, Mr. Joseph R. Alter succeeded A.W. Logan as cashier of the Parnassus Bank. When the New Kensington Bank organized, he was elected cashier, and later when the Logan Trust Company was formed, he was its treasurer, vice president, and president, successively, and retiring in 1930.
On August 15, 1904, the Parnassus National Bank was authorized to begin business with a capital of $25,000. D.W. Baily was president; D. McAllister, vice president; and C.R. Alter, cashier.
On March 26, 1915, Duncan McAlister, 73 years old, a veteran of the Civil War and until recently a director of the Parnassus National Bank and the Logan Trust Company of New Kensington, died in his home in Parnassus. He was born in Scotland and came to this country in 1858. He was wounded in the battle of Fair Oaks. Returning from the war, he opened a general store in Sardis and for 35 years was postmaster there.
On Tuesday, January 11, 1916, stockholders elected the following directors: C.R. Alter, J.R. Copeland, Frank R. Alter, Frank L. Hankey, John McCartney Kennedy and J.K. Watson.
On October 19, 1951, Guido D. Vernucci, the first of five New Kensington bankers charged with embezzlement was under federal grand jury indictment. Vernucci was arrested by the FBI last January 11th and charged with taking $3,799 from the First National Bank of New Kensington. Later W. Paul Smeltzer, assistant cashier, Otto Raymond Grotefend, and George Schiarella were arrested on similar charges. The FBI said the cases were not related. The fifth New Kensington bank official arrested for embezzlement was Ludwig R. Schlekat, president of the Parnassus National Bank.
In December 1953, cases were wrapped up for a series of bank scandals in Western Pennsylvania. More than $3,725,000 was embezzled of a three-year period and 14 bankers and credit union officials were given prison sentences and numerous others were fined or placed on probation. The stiffest sentences were given to Ludwig R. Schlekat who embezzled $600,000 from the Parnassus National Bank of New Kensington and W. Paul Smeltzer, assistant cashier who took $620,000 from the First National Bank of New Kensington. Schlekat was given ten years and a $35,000 fine and Smletzer ten years and a $5,000 fine.
By December 1956, the Government had recovered more than $100,000 worth of the loot by taking over the bank and had the promise of getting another $100,000 from the estate of the man who sold the bank to Schlekat. Charles R. Alter who sold the bank in 1947 to Schlekat for $254,000 through two fictitious Ohio "bankers" settled the Government's $600,000 suit against him and his wife with a $100,000 trust fund. Alter died the past year, but his wife would receive the income from the trust fund until her death at which time the principal would be turned over to the FDIC which insured the looted bank.
In April 1958, after serving five years of a 10-year sentence, Ludwig Schlekat, 47, was paroled from the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. Schlekat started out as a clerk in the Parnassus National Bank and took control of the bank and made himself president before the $600,000 he embezzled was discovered.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Parnassus National Bank, Parnassus, PA
2: The Parnassus National Bank, New Kensington, PA (1/28/1932)
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $498,800 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1904 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 40,050 notes (34,180 large size and 5,870 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1: 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 1400 1: 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2380 1: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 2381 - 7145 1: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 476 1: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 138 2: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 126 2: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 42 2: 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 973 2: 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 205
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1904 - 1935):
Presidents:
- David Smith Gailey, 1904-1915
- John McCartney Kennedy, 1916-1920
- James Renwick Copeland, 1921-1930
- Charles R. Alter, 1931-1935
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
Bank Note History Links
- Parnassus National Bank, Parnassus, PA History (NB Lookup)
- Pennsylvania Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)
Sources
- Parnassus, 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 Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Dec. 2, 1891.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., Aug. 22, 1904.
- The Pittsburgh Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Mar. 27, 1915.
- The Pittsburgh Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Jan. 12, 1916.
- Lancaster New Era, Lancaster, PA, Fri., July 19, 1929.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Fri., Aug. 30, 1929.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Jan. 4, 1931.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., Jan. 22, 1934.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Thu., Aug. 16, 1951.
- The Plain Speaker, Hazleton, PA, Fri., Oct. 19, 1951.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sat., Dec. 12, 1953.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Dec. 30, 1956.
- Warren Times Mirror, Warren, PA, Wed., Apr. 23, 1958.
- Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, Wed., Apr. 23, 1958.