Wolfeboro National Bank, Wolfeboro, NH (Charter 8147)

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Postcard of the Wolfeboro National Bank and the Henry D. Cotton Building, ca1918.
Postcard of the Wolfeboro National Bank and the Henry D. Cotton Building, ca1918. Courtesy of Adam Stroup

Wolfeboro National Bank, Wolfeboro, NH (Chartered 1906 - Closed (Merger) 1990)

Town History

The old Wolfeboro National Bank located on Main Street and Railroad Avenue, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, ca2022.
The old Wolfeboro National Bank located on Main Street and Railroad Avenue, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, ca2022. Courtesy of Google Maps

Wolfeboro is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire. The population was 6,416 at the 2020 census. A resort area situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro includes the village of Wolfeboro Falls.

The town was granted by colonial Governor Benning Wentworth in 1759 to four young men of Portsmouth, and named "Wolfeborough" in honor of English General James Wolfe, who had been victorious at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 during the French and Indian War.

The Wolfeboro Historical Society Photograph Archive has pictures of the bank dating back to the failed Lake National Bank through to the Wolfeboro National Bank about when it opened in 1906 and the new bank and the safe being moved (slides 1-10, 14, and 20).

Wolfeboro had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era and they both issued National Bank Notes. Both banks were located in the same building.

Bank History

  • Organized March 12, 1906
  • Chartered March 23, 1906
  • Opened for business April 10, 1906
  • Conservatorship March 17, 1933
  • Licensed March 22, 1933
  • Bank was Open past 1935
  • For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
  • Merged info First Central Bank in Laconia, NH, January 5, 1990

In February 1906, the application to organize the Wolfeboro National Bank with Capital of $30,000 was approved. The incorporators were W.H. Swett, F.L. Melcher, J.H. Martin, Joseph Lewando, A.W. Estad, and Edwin H. Lord.

Wilbra H. Swett and F.L. Melcher, both former well-known residents of Butte and members of the Montana legislature in the middle 1890s, were interested in the new bank started in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Mr. Swett lived in Wolfeboro since leaving Butte and was one of the directors and the cashier of the new bank. In his second term in the Montana Legislature he was elected House Speaker. Mr. Melcher was not a resident of Wolfeboro, but married his wife from that place and was one of the strong stockholders of the bank. Mr. Melcher was the manager of the Western Iron Works in Butte, Montana and was married to Miss Etta M. Swett at Wolfeboro in 1884.

On November 20, 1918, heart disease caused the death of Joseph Lewando, 68, a prominent man of Wolfeboro and a son of the founder of the Lewando Dye House, Boston. He was born in Watertown, Mass., and was graduated with honors from the Highland Military Academy at Worcester. He later attended the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge and then assumed the superintendency of his father's dye house at Watertown.  Not finding this business to his liking, he moved to Mt. Tabor, Oregon where he was a general merchant until in 1882 when he returned to the east and located in Wolfeboro.  He entered the employment of the Wolfeboro Bank and became a vice president and director.  He purchased the general store and post office and served in the lower branch of the Legislature for several years.  In 1903, he was elected to the State Senate.

In May 1930, Judge Ernest H. Trickey, president of the Wolfeboro National Bank became vice president and treasurer of the Rochester Trust Company succeeding Bernard Q. Bond who was elected president of the Third National Bank of Springfield, Mass. A former resident of Rochester, the son of the Anson B. Trickey, Judge Trickey was known to thousands of summer visitors to the Lake Winnipesaukee region through his connection with the Wolfeboro bank. He was also judge of the Wolfeboro Municipal Court. The Rochester Trust Company was the largest commercial bank in New Hampshire with assets between $9 and $10 million.

On June 11, 1963, the bank opened in its new home. It moved from its downtown location to a new site about half a mile from the main business section and between two shopping centers. The new building was a modern split level structure of marble and concrete.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The Wolfeboro National Bank, Wolfeboro, NH

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Plain Back $20 bank note with printed signatures of E.H. Trickey, Cashier and J.H. Martin, President.
1902 Plain Back $20 bank note with printed signatures of E.H. Trickey, Cashier and J.H. Martin, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1929 Type 1 $20 bank note with printed signatures of Fred A. Stackpole, Cashier and E.H. Trickey, President.
1929 Type 1 $20 bank note with printed signatures of Fred A. Stackpole, Cashier and E.H. Trickey, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $721,110 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1906 and 1990. This consisted of a total of 57,981 notes (43,168 large size and 14,813 small size notes).

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

Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments
1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 325
1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 1750
1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1751 - 10467
1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1548
1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 488
1929 Type 2 10 1 - 2187
1929 Type 2 20 1 - 410

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1906 - 1990):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Known Bank Note Signers

  • No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

Sources

  • Wolfeboro, NH, 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 Wall Street Journal, New York, NY, Mon. Feb. 19, 1906.
  • The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, MT, Sun., Mar. 25, 1906.
  • The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, MT, Fri., June 30, 1911.
  • The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Wed., Nov. 20, 1918.
  • Portland Evening Express, Portland, ME, Thu., May 1, 1930.