First National Bank in Sykesville, PA (Charter 14169)
First National Bank in Sykesville, PA (Chartered 1934 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Sykesville is a borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, about 6 miles southwest of DuBois via Route 119. The borough is situated in the valley of Stump Creek, a southward-flowing tributary of Mahoning Creek, which flows west to the Allegheny River. The population was 1,157 at the time of the 2010 census. In 1920 the population peaked at 2,507, dropping to 2,103 by 1930.
Named for Jacob B. Sykes, an early resident, Sykesville was the birthplace of Olga Madar (1915–1996), the first woman to become a vice-president in the United Auto Workers (1970) and founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (1974). Sykesville had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized February 27, 1934
- Chartered May 29, 1934
- Succeeded 7488 (First National Bank of Sykesville, PA)
- Assumed its circulation
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Succeeded by 5702 (Punxsutawney National Bank of Punxsutawney, PA) on May 29, 1953
In December 1933, plans were outlined for the removal of restrictions on the First National Bank of Sykesville by A.L. Shope, conservator, to open an institution within a month. The plans as outlined through the Treasury Department were as follows: (1) Organize a new bank under a new charter. (2) Capitalize by selling $25,000 of preferred stock to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and $25,000 of common stock at a premium sufficient to raise a surplus of $10,000 to create a new capital structure of $60,000. (3) Obtain creditors' waivers of 50% of new unsecured liabilities pursuant to Section 207 of the Bank Conservation Act to produce $120,981.90. (4) Sale sufficient amount of acceptable assets by the conservator to the new bank to permit the payment of all secured or preferred liabilities and to enable a disbursement of 50% of net unsecured liabilities. (5) All unacceptable assets to be trusteed for the benefit of waiving creditors. Before the plan could be placed into effect the written consent of at least 75% of the total deposits and 66 2/3% of the shareholders had to be obtained.[1]
On January 25, 1934, The Peoples National Bank in Reynoldsville reopened with A.L. Shope as cashier. Robert Rowland who had been employed in the Punxsutawney National bank for the past 26 years was appointed conservator of the First National Bank of Sykesville and took charge of that institution.[2]
On Saturday, June 2, 1934, The First National Bank in Sykesville opened its doors as the successor to the First National Bank of Sykesville. Robert L. Rowland was discharged as conservator with the close of business on Friday evening. B.B. Weber was the president of the new bank. L.H. Reed was vice president and W.R. Semple, cashier; Ruth Sykes Wells, assistant cashier and Miss Veronica Duda, bookkeeper. The capitalization of the new bank was $50,000 of which $25,000 was common and $25,000 preferred stock. The surplus was $10,000 and the deposits were in excess of $244,000, $125,000 of which was available to depositors of the old bank. The directors of the new bank were B.B. Weber, L.H. Reed, Ruth Sykes Wells, C.L. Buhite, Dominic Barletta, and Otto Schoch. With the opening of the new bank 50% of the deposits of the old bank were available. As trustees liquidated the assets of the old institution, additional amounts of old deposits would be made available.[3]
On Tuesday afternoon, January 11, 1938, all former directors were re-elected for the ensuing year and the directors re-elected all officers. The board of directors was composed of Otto Schoch of Troutville, D.A. Barletta of Soldier, C.L. Buhite of Kramer, Ruth Sykes Wells, B.B. Weber, and L.H. Reed of Sykesville. The officers were B.B. Weber, president; L.H. Reed, vice president; W.R. Semple, cashier and Ruth Sykes Wells, assistant cashier.[4]
On February 26, 1953, announcement was made of an agreement for the Punxsutawney National Bank to take over the First National Bank in Sikesville and operate it as a branch bank. the agreement was subject to approval by stockholders with a planned date for the take-over of May 29th. The directors of the Sykesville bank were L.H. Reed, president; Amerigo Torretti, vice president; Ruth Sykes Wells, cashier and C.L. Buhite, D.A. Barletta, W.H. Semple, and B.R. Evans. The bank had assets of $1,300,000. Punxsutawney National had assets of over $10,000,000 and an exceptionally strong capital structure. The personnel of the Sykesville bank, Ruth Sykes Wells, cashier; Harry F. Kellar, assistant cashier and Ronald L. Shugarts, clerk, would remain the same.[5] The First National Bank of Sykesville officially became a branch of the Punxsutawney National Bank on Friday, May 29th and began operation under its new parent organization on Monday, June 1st, 1953. The consolidation raised the Punxsutawney National Bank's assets to $11,300,000.[6]
In January 1954, George P. Grube was elected to his ninth consecutive term as president of the Punxsutawney National Bank. Other officers re-elected were E.H. Winslow, chairman of the board, Alva L. Cole, and J.E. McCreight, vice presidents; Eugene P. Curry, cashier and G. Emery Schwarts, Harold F. Divelbiss and John T. Ashenfelter, assistant cashiers. Attorney Jesse P. Long was re-elected solicitor. During the past year the First National Bank of Dayton and the First National Bank in Syikesville were taken over as branch banks. Ruth Sykes Wells was named manager and Harry F. Keller, assistant manager of the Sykesville branch.[7]
Official Bank Title
1: First National Bank in Sykesville, PA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $5,180 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1934 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 413 notes (No large size and 413 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 10 1 - 308 BEP Overprinting Plate 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 105 BEP Overprinting Plate
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1934 - 1935):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Sykesville, 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 Punxsutawney Spirit, Punxsutawney, PA, Sat., Dec. 9, 1933.
- ↑ The Punxsutawney Spirit, Punxsutawney, PA, Sat., Dec. 9, 1933.
- ↑ The Punxsutawney Spirit, Punxsutawney, PA, Fri. June 1, 1934.
- ↑ Sykesville Post-Dispatch, Sykesville, PA, Fri., Jan. 14, 1938.
- ↑ Sykesville Post-Dispatch, Sykesville, PA, Fri., Feb. 27, 1953.
- ↑ The Punxsutawney Spirit, Punxsutawney, PA, Mon., June 1, 1953.
- ↑ The Punxsutawney Spirit, Punxsutawney, PA, Wed., Jan. 13, 1954.