Traders National Bank, Scranton, PA (Charter 4183)
Traders National Bank, Scranton, PA (Chartered 1889 - Closed 1929)
Town History
Scranton is a city in Pennsylvania and the county seat and largest city of Lackawanna County in Northeastern Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States Census, Scranton is the largest city in northeastern Pennsylvania and the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of about 570,000, and the sixth largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Reading, and Erie. In 1860 the population was 9,223, growing to 75,215 in 1890 and peaking in 1930 at 143,433.
Scranton is the largest of the former anthracite coal mining communities in a contiguous quilt-work that also includes Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, Pittston and Carbondale. Scranton was incorporated on February 14, 1856, as a borough in Luzerne County and as a city on April 23, 1866. It became a major industrial city and a center of mining and railroads; it attracted thousands of new immigrants. It was the site of the Scranton General Strike in 1877.
People in northern Luzerne County sought a new county in 1839, but the Wilkes-Barre area resisted losing its assets. Lackawanna County did not gain independent status until 1878. Under legislation allowing the issue to be voted by residents of the proposed territory, voters favored the new county by a proportion of 6 to 1, with Scranton residents providing the major support. The city was designated as the county seat when Lackawanna County was established in 1878, and a judicial district was authorized in July 1879.
The city's nickname "Electric City" began when electric lights were introduced in 1880 at the Dickson Manufacturing Company. Six years later, the United States' first streetcars powered only by electricity began operating in the city. Rev. David Spencer, a local Baptist minister, later proclaimed Scranton as the "Electric City".
Scranton is 76 miles north of Allentown, 125 miles north-northwest of Philadelphia, and 120 miles west of New York City.
Scranton had 10 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and eight of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized December 17, 1889
- Chartered December 20, 1889
- Closed November 30, 1929
- Consolidated with 77 (2697) November 30, 1929 (First National Bank of, Scranton, PA)
- Circulation assumed by 77 (First National Bank of Scranton, PA)
The Traders National Bank commenced business in January 1890 with a capital of $250,000, located in the quarters formerly occupied by the Scranton City Bank, with Samuel Hines, president; W.W. Watson, vice president; A.B. Williams, cashier; and James M. Everhart, J.J. Jermyn, I.A. Finch, P.B. Finley, C.P. Matthews, John T. Porter, and M.S. Kemmerer, directors.[2]
On October 12, 1896, Arthur B. Williams, ex-cashier of the Traders National Bank of Scranton, who pleaded guilty in the United States court to making a false return of his indebtedness to the bank to representatives of the comptroller of the currency, was sentenced by Judge Buffington to three years in the Western Penitentiary at Allegheny. His attorneys, Hon. David Cameron of Wellsboro, and George M. Watson esq., of Scranton, made appeals for clemency, stating that he did not steal a dollar from the bank, but only made the false return. Why he did it, they did not know. It is possible that he did it because he did not want it known that the bank had discounted so much of the paper of its cashier, for he did not owe the bank a cent except what he had gotten in the regular way through the board of directors, by putting up first class securities, and the only loss the bank had was in the possible loss on those securities. A sensation was created when W.W. Watson, vice president of the bank, arose in court after Williams had pleaded guilty and set forth his alleged crimes, dwelling on the baseness of a man who had been indicted for offences when he was "a Presbyterian elder and passed the sacrament." At the word "sacrament" the court told him "that would do." Williams' son, a student, who was then paying his way through college by keeping a boarding house at New Haven, was present.[3]
In 1901, E. Pusey Passmore was elected cashier of the Trader's National bank. On January 2, 1902, the deposits in the Traders National Bank amounted to $2,022,025.30, and loans and investments, $1,684,375.62. The public favor that this bank was enjoying was due in no small measure to the careful and conservative way in which it had been managed, and for this the officers and directors, well-known business men, were entitled to the credit. They were John T. Porter, president; W.W. Watson, vice president; E.P. Passmore, cashier; E.W. Dolph, assistant cashier. The board of directors consisted of John T. Porter, W.W. Watson, Hon. W.L. Connell, Thos. H. Dale, I.A. Finch, T.J. Foster, Jos. J. Jermyn, Edward S. Jones, M.W. Kemmerer, Charles P. Matthews, E.J. Robinson and Charles Schlager. A year later, Cashier Passmore returned to Philadelphia as an assistant cashier at the Franklin National Bank. He was destined to be a Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and president of the Bank of North America and Trust Company, the oldest banking institution on the continent.[4]
On January 9, 1907, stockholders elected the following directors: H.H. Brady, W.L. Connell, Thomas H. Dale, T.J. Foster, Joseph J. Jermyn, Cyrus D. Jones, E.S. Jones, J.L. Kemmerer, C.P. Matthews, R.H. Patterson, John T. Porter, Charles Schlager, James G. Shepherd, A.A. Underwood, W.W. Watson, and C.S. Woolworth. The following Saturday, the directors re-elected the following officers: John T. Porter, president; Joseph J. Jermyn, vice president; F.W. Wollerton, cashier; and E.W. Dolph, assistant cashier. The directors announced the dividend for the coming year would be 8%, payable quarterly and the surplus fund had been increased from $225,000 to $275,000.[5][6]
In January 1929, The officers were Dudley R. Atherton, president; E.S. Peck, vice president; Roswell H. Patterson, vice president; Robert M. Fish, cashier; Arthur C. Richards, assistant cashier; and Thomas H. Marsh, assistant cashier. The directors were Edward S. Jones, Roswell H. Patterson, M.W. Collins, D.R. Atherton, E.S. Peck, Willard Matthews, S.R. Bliss, George B. Jermyn, Charles A. Straw, John R. Atherton, William H. Coon, Stanley C. Schooley, Irwin J. Levy, and William R. Lynett. The bank reported at the end of 1928 Capital of $1 million, Surplus and undivided profits of $1,964,923.40, circulation of $500,000, Loans and discounts of $5,167,910.53.[7][8]
Effective on Monday, December 2, 1929, the Traders National Bank was merged with the First National Bank of Scranton, retaining the title of the latter with charter 77. The First National Bank moved its headquarters to the quarters of the old Traders National Bank at the northwest corner of Wyoming Avenue and Spruce Streets (Spruce became Biden in 2021). The new institution had Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits of $10 million and resources of more than $65 million.[9]
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Traders National Bank of Scranton, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $10,482,800 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1889 and 1929. This consisted of a total of 1,280,584 notes (1,256,152 large size and 24,432 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 - 43100 1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 15520 1882 Date Back 4x5 1 - 4577 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 2863 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 25750 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 36600 1902 Plain Back 4x5 25751 - 132220 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 36601 - 115758 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 2531 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1384 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 157
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1889 - 1929):
Presidents:
- Samuel Hines, 1890-1895
- John Thomas Porter, 1896-1917
- Joseph J. Jermyn, 1918-1927
- Dudley Ray Atherton, 1928-1928
Cashiers:
- Arthur B. Williams, 1890-1895
- Frank L. Phillips, 1896-1900
- Ellis Pusey Passmore, Jr., 1901-1901 NOTE: a Featured biography is available.
- Frederick William Wollerton, 1902-1906
- Michael J. Murphy, 1907-1915
- Ernest Ward Dolph, 1916-1918
- Dudley Ray Atherton, 1919-1919
- Edson R. Kreitner, 1920-1926
- Robert Morris Fish, 1927-1928
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 Scranton (Wikipedia)
- General information on Lackawanna County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Scranton, 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 Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 82, Jan. 1911-June 1911, p. 275.
- ↑ The Scranton Republican, Scranton, PA, Sat., Feb. 6, 1897.
- ↑ The Tribune, Scranton, PA, Mon., Oct. 12, 1896.
- ↑ The Tribune, Scranton, PA, Sat., Jan. 25, 1902.
- ↑ The Scranton Truth, Scranton, PA, Wed., Jan. 9, 1907.
- ↑ The Scranton Truth, Scranton, PA, Thu., Jan. 17, 1907.
- ↑ The Tribune, Scranton, PA, Sat., Jan. 5, 1929.
- ↑ The Evening News, Harrisburg, PA, Mon., Jan. 23, 1928.
- ↑ The Scranton Times, Scranton, PA, Mon., Nov. 25, 1929.