First National Bank, Apollo, PA (Charter 5723)
First National Bank, Apollo, PA (Chartered 1901 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Apollo is a borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in a former coal-mining region. Apollo was settled in 1790, laid out in 1816, and incorporated as a borough in 1848. The population was 1,647 at the 2010 census.
The area was sectioned in 1769, following the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, as a farm known as "Warren's Sleeping Place", named after a Native American trader from the area named Edward Warren. It was soon surveyed and divided into lots, with the town of Warren officially being added to the Greensburg register on 9 November 1816. With the introduction of the post office, the area was officially renamed from Warren to Apollo in 1848 to avoid confusion with the post office of another town in Pennsylvania of the same name. The present name is after Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of music, healing, light, prophecy and enlightenment.
By the late 19th century the Apollo Iron & Steel Company dominated the local economy. In 1895, the company's president, George Gibson McMurtry, hired famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design a town for Apollo Iron & Steel's workers. The result was the neighboring town of Vandergrift.
Stone remnants of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal, that passed through Apollo and operated between 1825-1850, can be found along the Roaring Run Trail. The canal made use of the Kiskiminetas River using a system of slackwater dams, and the boats floated on the river, entering a lock located at the mouth of Roaring Run. From there the canal ran along the path of the current Roaring Run Trail, through the entire length of the borough, entering the Kiskiminetas River again across the river from where the current borough of East Vandergrift is situated.
Apollo had one National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, and it issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 8, 1901
- Chartered February 19, 1901
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Merged with the Apollo Trust Co. in 1954
The application to establish the First National Bank of Apollo was filed with the Comptroller of the Currency by Representative Jack in December 1900. The applicants were William S. Beamer, Walter L. George, George J. Bortz, Andrew Gallagher, and H.G. Kennedy with a capital of $50,000. The bank was incorporated and the directors elected the following officers: Walter George, president; Andrew Gallagher, vice president; Charles P. Wolfe, cashier. The directors were Walter F. George, George J. Bortz, W.S. Beamer, and Andrew Gallagher.
In 1916, the directors were Dr. T.J. Henry, George J. Bortz, W.L. George, William M. Biehl, Andrew Gallagher, and D.B. Townsend with total resources of $625,000. The officers were W.L. George, president; Andrew Gallagher, vice president; and S.M. Jamison, Asst. Cashier.
On May 6, 1936, M.P. Jamison became a director. She was Mrs. Marguerite Prince Jamison, wife of S. Martin Jamison the long-serving cashier of the bank. She was one of the earliest women to serve as a director of a National Bank in Pennsylvania; possibly she was the first.
On November 7, 1954 the Apollo Trust Co. announced plans to buy the First National Bank of Apollo and make it a branch office. Walter L. George (1864-1959) was the president at the time of the sale having served in that position from its founding until 1954.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The First National Bank of Apollo, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $799,910 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1901 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 64,278 notes (54,104 large size and 10,174 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 3x10-20 1 - 3100 1882 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 3350 1882 Value Back 3x10-20 3351 - 5171 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 5255 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 1066 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 298 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 1591 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 399
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1901 - 1936):
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 Apollo (Wikipedia)
- General information on Armstrong County (Wikipedia)
- General information on Pennsylvania (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Apollo, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo,_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://bbdata.banknotehistory.com
- The Indiana Weekly Messenger, Indiana, PA, Wed., Dec. 19, 1900.
- Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., January 13, 1901.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Tue., June 27, 1916.
- Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburgh, PA, Thu., June 11, 1953.
- Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburgh, PA, Sun., Nov. 7, 1954.
- Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburgh, PA, Fri., June 19, 1959.