Tower City National Bank, Tower City, PA (Charter 14031)
Tower City National Bank, Tower City, PA (Chartered 1934 - Closed (Merger) 1985)
Town History
Tower City is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,346 at the 2010 census. In 1900 the population was 2,167, peaking in 1930 at 2,482.
Tower City was founded by and named for Charlemagne Tower, a New York–born lawyer who had come to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in 1846 to work with the legal issues regarding land claims to large coal and mineral deposits in that area. His first Pennsylvania practice was located in Orwigsburg, and then relocated to Pottsville in 1850 when it was made the Schyulkill County seat.
Not long after Tower came to Pottsville, he began furiously purchasing and clearing liens to lands containing large anthracite deposits in and around Schuylkill County. This was part of an elaborate land grab scheme devised by Tower and his partner, Alfred Munson of Utica, NY.
By 1868, unable to find buyers for his massive land holdings, Tower decided instead to establish collieries on the land, and in March 1868 he leased 1,503 acres to two independent coal companies. It was a 15-year term, with a rental of $.30 for each ton of coal mined. The companies placed two collieries on the land, the Tower (Later known as East Brookside) and the Brookside. Near the collieries, Tower began to develop a small town, which was named Tower City when first surveyed. Tower laid out the town, and rented lots to settlers. The town was up and running by mid-1872, and immediately suffered a housing shortage. After these initial growing pains, the town grew steadily due to the collieries, and was officially incorporated on December 19, 1892 as a borough of Porter Township, Schuylkill County.
Tower City had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 29, 1934
- Chartered February 26, 1934
- Succeeded The Tower City National Bank (Charter 6117)
- Bank was Open past 1935
- For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
- Merged into Mid Penn Bank in Millersburg, PA January 1, 1985
Eighty banks in Pennsylvania with total deposits of $120,307,000 were approved for reopening on a 100 per cent basis, according to an announcement made in Washington on January 2, 1934, by Comptroller J.F.T. O'Connor. He did not, however, state when the banks could reopen, or the deposits paid, and depositors in these banks could not take this announcement as meaning that there would be an early opening of any one of them. Included in the list announced for reopening was the Tower City National Bank, with deposits of $1,196,000. During August 1933, a similar statement was issued of banks which had their reorganization plans approved by the Comptroller, but five months passed since that statement without any of the banks announced at that time having been reopened. Every requirement asked by the federal authorities in charge of the bank reorganization had been met by the local banking officials. Six weeks passed since the last of these requirements was completed, and the forms sent to Washington for approval by the Comptroller. Telephone, telegraphic and written communications brought no response and there seemed to be nothing that could be done to hasten action at Washington. Stock in the new institution had been over-subscribed, and every thing was in readiness with the local bank officials to open the bank within two weeks after approval by the Comptroller. But until that approval was granted, the bank had to function as heretofore on a restricted basis. What the 2,700 depositors of the Tower City bank, and the stockholders in the new institution wanted was action. Although announcement was made to the newspapers of the approval by the Comptroller, the local bank officials had received no word, and consequently could make no statement or give any intimation as to when the opening on an unrestricted basis of the new institution would take place.
Tower City's new bank, Tower City National Bank, opened Tuesday, February 27, 1934. It replaced the old institution which had been operating under restrictions since March 1933. A charter was received on Monday the 26th. The new bank had capitalization of $100,000, the majority of which was held by residents of Tower City and the surrounding community. Depositors of the old bank could withdraw 70% of their deposits, the remaining 30% was held for liquidation awaiting improved economic conditions. The officers were C.M. Kaufman, president, A.D. Lewis cashier; Joseph A. Miller, assistant cashier; Robert Shell, teller; and Miss Anna Mikowychok, clerk.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: Tower City National Bank, Tower City, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $62,800 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1934 and 1985. This consisted of a total of 3,140 notes (No large size and 3,140 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 3140
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1934 - 1985):
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 Tower City (Wikipedia)
- General information on Schuylkill County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
- West Schulykill Herald, Tower City, PA, Fri., Jan. 5, 1934.
- Elizabethville Echo, Elizabethville, PA, Thu., Mar. 1, 1934.
- West Schulykill Herald, Tower City, PA, Fri., Mar. 2, 1934.
Sources
- Tower City, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_City,_Pennsylvania
- 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