Ambridge National Bank, Ambridge, PA (Charter 10839)
Ambridge National Bank, Ambridge, PA (Chartered 1916 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Ambridge is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Incorporated in 1905 as a company town by the American Bridge Company, Ambridge is located 16 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, along the Ohio River. The population was 7,050 at the 2010 census.
The town is near the location of Legionville, the training camp for General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's Legion of the United States. Wayne's was the first attempt to provide basic training for regular U.S. Army recruits and Legionville was the first facility established expressly for this purpose.
The Harmony Society first settled the area in the early 19th century, founding the village of "Ökonomie" or Economy in 1824. Although initially successful, accumulating significant landholdings, the sect went into decline. By the end of the 19th century, only a few Harmonists remained. The Society was dissolved and its vast real estate holdings sold, much of it to the American Bridge Company, who subsequently enlarged the town and incorporated it as Ambridge in 1905.
American Bridge attracted thousands of immigrants who came to fulfill their dreams of work, freedom, and peace. The steel mills became the focal point of the town. Most of the employees were relatives of relatives and the small town grew, with wards separating the town into ethnic sections. In addition, many of the ethnicities had their own church, club, and musical group that sought to give immigrants a familiar place to be as well as to preserve their culture. Many were from Eastern and Southern Europe including Italian, Greek, Slovak, Croatian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovene, and Carpartho-Rusyn, to name a few.
With the growth of the steel mills, Ambridge became a worldwide leader in steel production. The borough became known for bridge building, metal molding, and the manufacture of tubes (large iron pipes). During World War II, the American Bridge Company fabricated steel for the building of LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks). The steel was then sent by rail to the adjacent American Bridge naval shipyard in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, where the LSTs were built. The area was also home to several other steel mills like Armco, the pipe mill which manufactured oil piping, and A.M. Byers, a major iron and tool fabricator. Eventually competition by foreign steel producers began to cause the share of the steel market for U.S. manufacturers to dwindle. With the shift of steel production overseas, the American Bridge Company ended operations in Ambridge in 1983.
Ambridge had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized February 23, 1916
- Chartered April 21, 1916
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Absorbed by Mellon National Bank and Trust Company (Charter 6301) February 1953
In November 1915, application was made for a charter for a proposed national bank to be known as The Ambridge National Bank of Ambridge, with $50,000 capital by Thomas Bradshaw, J.E. McKee, E.M. Standley, Charles W. Wagner, R.B. McDanel, Jr., E.J. Schlieter, and G.A. Mytinger. The new bank opened Saturday, April 16, 1916 with G.L. Hamilton as cashier. Mr. Hamilton was formerly with the Home Trust Company and was elected cashier of the Union National Bank of New Brighton in February 1904 where he served for 11 years.
On Wednesday afternoon of October 15, 1924, about $8,000 in small denominations was missing from a $60,500 bank shipment that was ground beneath the wheels of an express passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Ambridge. Scores of residents of Ambridge searched the right of way for the wind-blown bank notes despite efforts of borough, county, Federal and railroad officials to keep the loss a secret. Nearly $52,500 of the shipment owned by the Ambridge National Bank and the Ambridge Savings and Trust Co. was recovered by railroad detectives and post office officials. Post office inspector George V. Craighead concluded the destruction of the mail pouch had been accidental. Detectives found some of the money, mostly in $10, $20 and $50 bills, several miles in each direction from the Ambridge station. The currency was being transferred to the Federal Reserve Bank in Pittsburgh.
In February 1953, The Ambridge National Bank became the Ambridge office of Mellon National Bank and Trust Company following approval of Ambridge stockholders. This was the first branch in Beaver County for the Mellon National. Ralph W. Aye, formerly president of the Ambridge bank, was appointed assistant vice president of Mellon Bank and manager of its Ambridge office. Charles L. Martin, formerly cashier at Ambridge, was appointed assistant manager. An advisory committee for the office was formed from the directors of the Ambridge Bank: Mr. Aye, E.J. Aten, A.L. Bingham, Thomas W. Neely, Ralph K. Smith, M.B. Nadler, and C.M. Canady. The Ambridge National had $11 million in assets.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Ambridge National Bank, Ambridge, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $722,350 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1916 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 58,187 notes (41,524 large size and 16,663 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 3x10-20 1 - 10381 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1552 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 418 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 3684 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1159
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1916 - 1936):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
- George L. Hamilton, 1916-1916
- Ralph W. Aye, 1918-1935
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 Ambridge (Wikipedia)
- General information on Beaver County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Ambridge, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambridge,_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
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Mon., Feb. 8, 1904.
- The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Nov. 7, 1915.
- The Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Apr. 16, 1916.
- The Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Fri., Oct. 17, 1924.
- The Sentinel, Carlisle, PA, Fri., Oct. 17, 1924.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., Mar. 31, 1953.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Fri., Feb. 27, 1953.