Ridgway National Bank, Ridgway, PA (Charter 5945) (2024)

Ridgway National Bank, Ridgway, PA (Chartered 1901 - Closed (Merger) 1983)

Town History

Ridgway is a borough in and the county seat of Elk County, Pennsylvania. It is named for the Philadelphia shipping merchant, Jacob Ridgway.Ridgway was founded by Philadelphian shipping merchant Jacob Ridgway and James Gillis. Jacob Ridgway earned substantial wealth both in Philadelphia and abroad in London. He constantly sent sums of money back to be invested in property. In the early 19th century as part of a larger land purchase, Ridgway acquired 40,000 acres that became Elk County. One of Jacob Ridgway's nephews by marriage, James Gillis, convinced Ridgway that the area could become a very lucrative spot for a lumber camp due to the proximity of Elk Creek and the Clarion River, a tributary of the Allegheny River. Coal and natural gas abound in the district. In the past, the industrial interests were manufacturing leather, iron, clay, and lumber products, silk goods, railroad snow plows, dynamos, and machine tools. In 1900, the people living here numbered 3,515; in 1910, 5,408; in 1940, 6,253, and in 2020, 4,039.

Ridgway had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes. The first was the Elk County National Bank, Charter 5014, and the second was the Ridgway National Bank, Charter 5945.

Bank History

• Organized August 9, 1901
• Chartered August 26, 1901
• Opened for business October 15, 1901
• Bank was Open past 1935
• For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
• Merged into Marine Bank in Warren, PA, April 29, 1983

On August 27, 1901, the comptroller of the currency authorized the Ridgway National Bank of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, to commence business with capital $100,000.

In May, John Curry, president and leading stockholder of the Ridgway National with $100,000 capital, planned to return to lumbering after being squeezed out by an older rival bank. The directors voted on the 5th to go into voluntary liquidation.

In August 1902, Thos. J. Maxwell, after 13 years service as a clerk and teller in the Elk County National Bank of Ridgway, resigned to accept a position as cashier of the Ridgway National Bank. William Postlewaite, the present cashier resigned his position effective August 9th.

On Tuesday, January 12, 1909, the new board of directors was as follows: John Curry, Perry R. Smith, Geo. R. Dixon, C.D. Osterhout, M.J.C.W. Beach, John Larson, E.G. Williams, W.G. Curry, and John G. Whitmore. The officers were John Curry, president; Perry R. Smith, vice president; and Taylor M. Moore, cashier. The bank had capital $100,000, and surplus $26,000.

A rumor said to have been started as a joke at Johnsonburg, that the Ridgway National Bank was unsafe caused a run with an estimated $50,000 withdrawn from the bank. On Wednesday, December 31, 1913, sixty depositors arrived on the first train from Johnsonburg and withdrew their money. The Elk County National Bank loaned the Ridgway National $15,000 to use in case of need. The police investigated the case.

On Tuesday, January 13, 1914, both Ridgway banking institutions held their annual meeting of stockholders with no changes made in either bank with the exception that Clyde T. Lesser was made assistant cashier at the Ridgway National. Directors at both banks decided their banks should become a part of the federal banking system as provided by the new currency act. Directors of the Ridgway National elected were: John Curry, M.J.C.W. Beach, J.S. Schultz, E.G. Williams, C.D. Osterhout, F.E. Clawson, W.W. Barbour, John Larson, and W.G. Curry. The officers elected were John Curry, president; M.J.C.W. Beach, vice president; Taylor M. Moore, cashier; and Clyde T. Lesser, assistant cashier. In July, Clyde T. Lesser was appointed cashier to succeed Taylor M. Moore, resigned. The new president, E.G. Williams, formerly treasurer for the Elk Tanning Company, assumed his new duties. John L. Bloomer, formerly head of the bark department, succeeded Mr. Williams at the tanning company.

About 2:30 in the morning of June 1, 1916, fire was discovered in the Ridgway Pure Milk Depot located in the Ridgway National Bank building basem*nt, just underneath the rooms occupied by the banking institution and the Ridgway post office. The fire companies responded at once and soon had the blaze under control. The origin of the fire had not been determine and the amount of damage done was not reported.

On Tuesday, January 8, 1929, the following were elected as officers at the annual meeting: E.G. Williams, president; M.J.C.W. Beach, vice president; Samuel Murphy, second vice president; Clyde T. Lesser, cashier; John P. Anderson, assistant cashier. The directors were M.J.C.W. Beach, W.W. Barbour, Charles T. Salberg, John Larson, J.S. Schultz, Perry R. Smith, E.G. Williams, and Clark K. Dixon. In July, the Ridgway National Bank took out trust powers, the application having been made to the Federal Reserve Board on July 10th. The proper resolutions were adopted by the board of directors and E.G. Williams and Clyde T. Lesser were elected trust officer and assistant trust officer, respectively.

On October 8, 1936, the offices of Olson and Larson, and the Elk County Savings and Loan, which were combined and located on the second floor of the Ridgway National Bank Building, were entered during the noon hour and ransacked, about $100 in cash taken. Of this amount, $80 was from Olson and Larson and $20 from the loan association. The burglary probably took about 10 minutes. The door was pried open and the safe, cash drawers and other parts of the office were ransacked. Floyd Roof left the office at 12:40 and Mrs. Louis McCloskey, stenographer, returned at 12:50. She met a strange man walking hurriedly down the stairway. His description was given to the police. Mrs. McCloskey said the fellow was holding a bunch of papers in his hands and said "hello."

In April 1966, B. Manno Corp. began construction of the new building to be occupied by the Ridgway National Bank. The site was acquired during the past year from Mrs. Ann B. Landis and Mrs. Marjorie G. Logan on Court and Center Streets. The architect for the new building was Hoffman, Loeffler, and Wolffe, Pittsburgh.

In November 1982, Marine Bank of Warren, PA, and the Ridgway National Bank jointly announced that a definitive agreement of merger had been signed. Under the terms of the agreement, all outstanding shares of common stock of the Ridgway National Bank would be acquired by Marine Bank which operated as the principal subsidiary of Marine Bancorp, Inc. Marine Bank's offer of $2,000 for the 2,500 outstanding shares amounted to total consideration of $5 million. A special meeting of shareholders was scheduled for December 16 to vote on the proposed merger. As of September 30, Marine Bancorp Inc. had total assets of $750 million with 32 community offices in a six-county region of northwestern Pennsylvania. The Ridgway National reported assets of about $34 million as of September 30th.

In March 1983, officials of Marine Bancorp Inc. of Erie announced that they received notice from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approving the merger of Marine Bank and the Ridgway National Bank.

On Monday, May 2, 1983, the Ridgway bank opened as the 33rd community office of Marine Bank of Erie. The merger gave Marine Bancorp Inc. assets exceeding $800 million. Marine Bank officials said the current management of Ridgway Bank would remain in place.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The Ridgway National Bank, Ridgway, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

A total of $3,401,230 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1901 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 423,416 notes (325,720 large size and 97,696 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 - 2750
1882 Brown Back	3x10-20	1 - 4200
1882 Date Back	4x5	1 - 7000
1882 Date Back	3x10-20	1 - 6600
1882 Value Back	4x5	7001 - 20490
1882 Value Back	3x10-20	6601 - 13645
1902 Plain Back	4x5	1 - 23690
1902 Plain Back	3x10-20	1 - 16655
1929 Type 1	6x5	1 - 8744
1929 Type 1	6x10	1 - 3910
1929 Type 1	6x20	1 - 946
1929 Type 2	5	1 - 9844
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 4707
1929 Type 2	20	1 - 1545

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1901 - 1935):

Presidents:

• John Curry, 1901-1913
• Elmer Grant Williams, 1914-1935

Cashiers:

• William Postlethwait, 1901-1902
• Thomas Jefferson Maxwell, 1902-1907
• Taylor Melville Moore, 1909-1913
• Clyde Truman Lesser, 1914-1935

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• Ridgway National Bank, Ridgway, PA History (NB Lookup)
• Pennsylvania Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Ridgway, 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 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY, Tue., Aug. 27, 1901.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, Tue., May 6, 1902.
• The Wellsboro Gazette Combined with Mansfield Advertiser, Wellsboro, PA, Wed., May 28, 1902.
• The Brockway Record, Brockway, PA, Fri., Aug. 8, 1902.
• The Brockway Record, Brockway, PA, Fri., Jan. 1, 1909.
• The Brockway Record, Brockway, PA, Fri., Jan. 15, 1909.
• The Daily News, Lebanon, PA, Thu., Jan. 1, 1914.
• The Brockway Record, Brockway, PA, Fri., Jan. 16, 1914.
• Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Williamsport, PA, Thu., July 2, 1914.
• The Kane Republican, Kane, PA, Fri., June 2, 1916.
• The Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY, Wed., Jan. 9, 1929.
• The Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY, Wed., July 31, 1929.
• The Kane Republican, Kane, PA, Fri., Oct. 9, 1936.
• The Kane Republican, Kane, PA, Fri., Apr. 8, 1966.
• The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Wed., Nov. 3, 1982.
• The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, Thu., Mar. 24, 1983.
• York Daily Record, York, PA, Tue., May 3, 1983.