USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume II > Part 10
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94.466.788.28
87,618,516.08
South Boston Savings Bank
17,592,702.32
16,017,721.22
Suffolk Savings Bank
56,158,594.28
52,458,388.98
Sumner Savings Bank
2,413,383.88 2,271,010.90
Union Institution for Savings
20,140,169.77
18,279,142.34
Warren Institution for Savings.
24,376,853.36
22,324,250.95
Wildey Savings Bank
14.912,745.00
14,171,241.49
$553,187,740.38 $508,858,691.86
No history of Boston's savings banks would be complete without the individual narratives of some of its oldest and largest of these institutions.
The Provident Institution for Savings-As already set forth, the Provident Institution for Savings in the town of Boston was the first savings bank to be incorporated-December 13, 1816, although the legis- lative action was taken a few days previously. It began business Feb- ruary 19. 1817, in the old Court House on Court Street, Scollay Square, which was erected in 1770, and torn down in 1831.
James Savage, lawyer, scholar and philanthropist, is generally accred- ited with arousing the interest which led to the establishment of the bank. While visiting in Gardiner, Maine, his attention was attracted to a "scrap of paper" above a fireplace. It was a plan of the "Institution in England (London) for the Savings Banks." Although he did not half read the plan, the idea became fixed in his brain, and on his return to Boston he approached many prominent men and suggested that some such institu- tion was needed.
At the first he encountered apathy, distrust and ridicule, but gained strong support from Bishop Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston, who at once interested himself in the plan. The bishop desired a secure place of deposit for the earnings of parishioners who, because of the lack of such a place, had been squandering their money.
5,859,641.03
Columbus Savings Bank
413
A HISTORY OF BANKING IN BOSTON
As a result of the continuous agitation carried on by these two men, a meeting was held on November 21, 1816, at the Exchange Coffee House, at which it was unanimously voted, after a long and earnest discussion, to found a mutual savings bank.
A committee was appointed to apply to the General Court for an act of incorporation. Extracts from the committee's application have been quoted previously. Boston at this time had a population of 40,000, and was still a town, not becoming a city until 1822.
The original incorporators of the institution, forty-eight in number, included Lieutenant-Governor William Phillips, United States Marshal James Prince, two judges, four lawyers, three clergymen, five mechanics and thirty-two merchants. Mr. Phillips was elected the first president, and called the incorporators together for their first meeting on Decem- ber 18, 1816. A system of by-laws was adopted at this meeting, the first of which was as follows :
"Object of the Institution, To provide a safe and profitable mode of enabling industrious persons of all descriptions to invest such parts of their earnings or property, as they can conveniently spare, in a manner which will afford them both profit and security."
The by-laws provided that the affairs of the institution should be managed by thirty-seven trustees, including a president and twelve vice- presidents, these trustees to have power to elect a treasurer and other necessary officers. The trustees were to be elected by the members of the corporation at an annual meeting and to hold office for a year. This same form of management still exists. It was provided that one dollar should be the smallest deposit allowed, and that five dollars should be the smallest amount to draw interest, the rate of which was fixed at 5 per cent per annum. The money deposited was to be invested either in the stocks of the United States, the stocks of the State of Massachusetts, the capital of Boston banks, the capital of the United States Bank, or in private securities, as a standing committee should decide. No trustee or officer was ever to be a borrower. Once in every five years an extra divi- dend was to be declared and paid to those depositors who had had ac- counts in the institution for a year or more, in proportion to the length of time that the accounts had been standing and to their respective amounts.
The first officers and trustees were as follows :
His Honor William Phillips, president; John Phillips, Samuel Park- man, James Perkins, James Prince, John Lowell, Russell Sturgis, Josiah Quincy, Jonathan Hunnewell, Ozias Goodwin, Redford Webster, Jon- athan Amory, Jr., Joseph Coolidge, Jr., vice-presidents.
Jesse Putnam, Elisha Ticknor, John Richards, Rev. Dr. Baldwin, John D. Williams, John Bellows, William Mackay, Rev. William E. Channing,
414
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
John L. Sullivan, Samuel Snelling, William Little, John Dorr, Samuel H. Walley, William Harris, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Tuckerman, Jr., Gideon Snow, David Greenough, Samuel May, Gedney King, William Cochran, Thomas Motley, William Ropes, James Savage, trustees.
The trustees held their first meeting on December 20, 1816, but sev- eral disputes developed over questions of policy which caused some of them to become inclined to give up the whole project, although the in- stitution had already received its charter. After numerous meetings the difficulties were straightened out and James Prince was elected treasurer and James Savage clerk. Deposits were limited to $1,000. The plan for the repayment of money to depositors at pleasure was discarded, and the depositors were authorized to draw money out semi-annually or annually, with the stipulation that depositors should have the choice of receiving their deposits in cash or stocks owned by the corporation-the cash pay- ment to be at the current value of such stocks at the time of withdrawal.
James Savage, the founder, made the first deposit, ten dollars, when the bank was opened. The idea being entirely new, required an educa- tional campaign, which was conducted by nailing a copy of the pros- pectus on trees on Boston Common. The bank was open for business only one day a week, and at the end of the first year the deposits amounted to $67,667.44. The dividends in the first year were earned simply from the 6 per cent interest paid by the State banks in which funds were deposited. One other earning in that first year amounting to a total of $19.61, came from the sale of "Spanish Milled Dollars."
In 1818 the trustees decided that the total sums received and remain- ing under the management of the institution should not at any time ex- ceed $300,000, and also that no deposits should be received from any corporate bodies, or any deposit from any one person at one time or on one day larger than $100 unless the depositor were a sailor desiring to deposit his wages.
The trustees established a board of investment in 1820, consisting of three trustees, one vice-president, the treasurer and secretary. The board was given authority to direct all financial matters. It was to meet every Thursday at one o'clock to receive and act upon all applications for loans, and to make all transfers of stock. Not less than three members constituted a quorum, and the consent of all present was necessary for every action. In 1822 it was voted to accept deposits not only from per- sons living in Boston and Charlestown, but in Quincy, Milton, Dorches- ter, Dedham, Roxbury, Brookline, Waltham, Brighton, Newton, Weston, Cambridge, Watertown, West Cambridge, Medford, Saugus, Malden and Chelsea. In 1823 the institution moved to the Scollay Building on Tremont Street, which was located where the Scollay Square subway
415
A HISTORY OF BANKING IN BOSTON
station now stands. In the same year, after long debate, it was voted to accept deposits from clergymen, over which there had been some ques- tion, on the ground that they were "just objects of the care of the insti- tution."
At the end of the first ten years the deposits had grown slowly to $736,972.84. In 1833 the institution again moved. It purchased from Jonathan Phillips for $6,000 the property on the northeasterly side of the King's Chapel Burying Ground, where the southwesterly end of the Kim- ball Building now is, at one time occupied by the city of Boston for a Probate Court and Registry of Deeds, where it erected a three-story building. It actually sold by deed to the Massachusetts Historical So- ciety the second story and one-half of the attic of the building, with a provision that in case of destruction by fire the Historical Society should be entitled to one undivided fourth of the land. This building was used for more than twenty years, until it purchased the site of its present building on Temple Place, to which it moved in 1856. The property has been added to since that time, and the building was last remodelled in 1906.
The growth of the bank was very slow, and at the end of fifty years the deposits were only $8,989,038.14. Since that time, however, it has gone forward with leaps and bounds. In 1916, when it celebrated its one hundredth anniversary, the deposits were about $55,000,000. Dividends were paid every six months, varying from 3 to 5 per cent a year, and dur- ing the period from 1847 to 1877, when interest rates were high and money was often loaned on mortgages at 7.30 per cent, extra dividends were declared every five years, often as high as 20 per cent, so that the average rate of dividends for one hundred years was five and three- eighths per cent.
The institution weathered every panic from the time it first opened, and never had to close its doors. It has always paid its depositors when they asked for their money, though once or twice in the case of "currency panics" it was obliged to give checks payable only through the Clearing House. Its depositors are scattered all over the world.
On June 30, 1926, almost 110 years after its establishment, the Prov- ident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston had total deposits of $87,618,516.08, and total assets of $94,466,788.28.
The officers of the institution are George P. Gardner, president; Rob- ert D. Brewer, treasurer ; Francis C. Gray, clerk; John S. Adams, vice- treasurer, and Nathaniel P. Simonds, assistant treasurer.
The Boston Five Cents Savings Bank-Although sixth in point of years, the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank ranks second in size among the savings institutions of Boston. Alonzo H. Evans, treasurer of the
416
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
bank from the time it was opened in 1854 until 1874, and president from that year until 1907-and whose son and grandson have since succeeded to the presidency-was the man responsible for the founding of the institution.
In November, 1853, he introduced a group of persons in a movement to establish an additional savings bank in Boston "to induce the young and industrial classes to make a beginning to save by encouraging as small as five cents, and to give minors the right to withdraw their money in person without a guardian." With the Rev. Edward Edmunds as the leading petitioner, application was made to the Legislature for a charter, which was granted, and signed by Emory Washburn, then Governor, April 7, 1854.
The first meeting of the corporation was held on April 15, 1854, at which it was voted to accept the act of incorporation. At this meeting the following officers and trustees were elected :
President, Paul Adams ; vice-presidents, Charles Hudson, Adam W. Thaxter, Jr., Isaac Livermore, Frederick Gould, E. B. Foster, John Gove, the Rev. Edward Edmunds, B. B. Muzzey, the Rev. Rollin H. Neale, William Beals, the Rev. A. L. Stone and George W. Warren ; secretary, Curtis C. Nichols ; trustees, J. W. Converse, Anson Burlingame, David L. Webster, Daniel W. Gooch, Samuel Gregory, Walter Littlefield, Jr., James M. Stone, William Claflin, George F. Williams, Phineas Stowe, E. G. Dudley, C. R. Ransom, George F. Brown, Eliphalet Pearson, George W. Chipman, Tolman Willey, Andrew Bigelow, Roland Worth- ington, Albert Norton, Joseph Hunnewell, Moses Kimball, John P. Jewett, Francis B. Fay and David Kimball.
Immediately following the first meeting of the corporation, the trus- tees organized and unanimously elected Mr. Evans as treasurer of the bank. A week later the trustees again met and elected the following members of the first board of investment : Paul Adams, Alonzo H. Evans, Frederick Gould, David Kimball and Walter Littlefield, Jr.
Quarters were obtained under the Universalist Church in School Street, and the bank commenced business on May 1, 1854. The first day's business consisted of 134 deposits, amounting to $1,643.23. Two months later there were 2,965 accounts amounting to a total of $67,785.10. At the end of the first year there were 6,583 depositors with $275,088.46 to their credit. The first report of the treasurer to the corporation, in speaking of the success of the institution, said :
"In submitting the first annual report of the bank, it may not be in- appropriate to state that the importance of such an institution in the city was first suggested by the existence and successful operation of the 'Six- penny Savings Bank' in the city of New York. The charter, which was
SYMPHONY HALL
417
A HISTORY OF BANKING IN BOSTON
petitioned for to the Legislature at the commencement of the session of 1854, was not obtained 'till the 7th of April.' On the first day of May, 1854, the bank, being duly organized, went into operation.
"Its success, during the first eleven months of its existence, is quite unparalleled in the history of similar institutions. The large amount and steady progress of its receipts, even during the recent period of depression in business, scarcity of money, and high rates of interest in our city ; the acknowledged benefits conferred on a large class of its depositors at such a time ; the successful and safe investment of its funds ; and the good degree of public confidence that it has earned for itself, furnish all that guarantee for future prosperity which it can ask for. It is no longer an untried experiment. The novelty of the thing has passed by, and the list of its depositors has become more permanent and regular, and increasing. The four percent per annum dividend, which it paid for the first quarter, is now increased to five percent. The growing prospect of future success fully warrants the expectation of still larger per cent profit to the depos- itors in time to come. To all those whose deposits remain in the bank for a term of five years, the interest will probably reach eight percent for the whole time. To those whose deposits remain ten years, the profits will be still higher.
"This fact, together with the convenience of making deposits of sums so small, whereby the habits of saving, prudence and providence against a 'rainy day' are happily encouraged in children and others, clearly be- speaks the profitable, useful and benevolent character of the institution. The reputation of its officers for character and business capacity is its best guarantee for success; and its gratifying successes are sufficient proof of their reliable character and business capacity."
The first million dollars in deposits was reached in October, 1857, the year of the panic, and while industry generally was in a depressed state, with unemployment rife, the bank progressed so favorably as to attract widespread attention. By authority of the Legislature, in the same year, the bank purchased the estate of John H. Jenks at the corner of School and Province streets, at fifteen dollars per square foot, and erected a new bank building, the total cost of land and building being $105,920.75.
During the fiscal year 1858 the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank had the unique distinction of making a greater gain both in depositors and in total deposits, than the aggregate increase of all the other eighty-five savings banks then operating in the State. Through the Civil War the institution grew steadily. The plan of keeping the bank open on Satur- day evenings, enabling mechanics and laborers to transact business out- side of working hours, resulted most advantageously. In 1872, when the great Boston fire occurred, the bank held mortgages in the burned dis-
Met. Bos .- 27
418
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
trict to the amount of nearly $1,000,000. Not a dollar was lost, however, as the land alone, which the mortgages covered, was of more value than the amount of the loans.
The severe panic of 1873, which brought disaster to many financial institutions, was weathered, although, as Mr. George A. Kyle, the bank's historian, has phrased it, "When the entire economic structure seems to be tumbling about one's head to utter destruction ; when business and bank failures are daily happenings; when personal fortunes are in peril, and unemployment, want and real distress are on every hand, it is no easy task for those entrusted with the savings of thousands of people to act bravely and intelligently."
In 1874, upon the retirement of Paul Adams, Mr. Evans became presi- dent, and Curtis C. Nichols treasurer of the bank. During the business depression of 1878, when several large savings banks failed and others omitted dividends for a time, as permitted by law, the Five Cents Sav- ings Bank "did not sacrifice a farthing in the disposal of its securities or distress one human being in order to meet the demands of its depositors." Similarly, the depression of 1893, while causing apprehension, was met successfully. In 1896 Curtis C. Nichols, who had been treasurer since 1874 and secretary for the twenty years preceding, passed away, and was succeeded by Joseph C. Holmes.
The bank observed its fiftieth birthday in May, 1904, at which time its open accounts numbered more than 185,000, and its deposits were $31,042,495.57. Three years later Mr. Evans retired, at the age of eighty- seven, and his son, Wilmot R. Evans succeeded him as president.
During the World War the institution joined with the other banks in aiding the government. At the same time it enjoyed a steady growth. About two years after the war ended, at a time when several Boston trust companies were in difficulties, a mysterious "run" began on the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank. Long lines of people formed and demanded their money. When, after several days, there were no signs that the bank was unable to meet the demands upon it, the confidence of the depositors became restored and they realized that they had been the victims of what looked like a deliberate attempt to embarrass the institu- tion. Within a short time the bank had more than made up for the withdrawals, and enjoyed the greatest degree of public confidence in its long history.
In May, 1925, on the bank's seventy-first birthday, ground was broken for a new building on the site of the structure it had erected in 1857. Wilmot R. Evans, who planned for the new building, died in March, 1926, before it was completed. He was succeeded by his son, Wilmot R. Evans, Jr. The new building, opened several months later, is one of the finest savings bank buildings in the country.
419
A HISTORY OF BANKING IN BOSTON
The complete list of officers of the bank is as follows :
President, Wilmot R. Evans ; vice-presidents, Frank A. Merrill, Frank W. Remick, and Sumner Robinson; treasurer, Joseph C. Holmes ; assist- ant treasurers, Alfred W. Small, Harry T. Van Huysen and George A. Kyle; clerk of corporation, Albert M. Lyon ; auditing committee, Robert F. Herrick, Albert M. Lyon, and Jesse B. Baxter.
Trustees, Jesse B. Baxter, Arthur B. Chapin, Fred A. Davenport, Wilmot R. Evans, Francis Gray, Robert F. Herrick, Joseph C. Holmes, Albert M. Lyon, Frederic C. McDuffie, Edward A. Mclaughlin, Frank A. Merrill, Charles H. Ramsay, Frank W. Remick, Sumner Robinson, Al- fred W. Small, Philip Stockton, E. Leroy Sweetser, William F. Whitte- more, Charles W. Whittier and Daniel G. Wing.
Members of the corporation other than trustees, Frank P. Bennett, John Bapst Blake, Selwyn Z. Bowman, Clarence A. Bunker, Adams D. Claflin, Channing H. Cox, Rufus W. Dibble, Arthur Drinkwater, Clifton H. Dwinnell, Timothy J. Falvey, William F. Garcelon, Henry W. Giese, Charles W. Greenwood, Frank J. Hale, Calvin Hosmer, Edwin C. Jen- ney, George S. Keyes, Jeremiah J. Mackin, Edward C. Mansfield, H. Heustis Newton, John Forbes Perkins, Benjamin Pope, Arthur W. Rice, Edward W. Swan, Daniel G. Thompson, Harry T. Van Huysen and Joseph Wiggin.
The Home Savings Bank-The Home Savings Bank is the fifth Bos- ton savings institution in size, although fourteenth in age. Its growth in later years, after a stormy first decade which threatened its existence, has been exceedingly rapid and healthy, due primarily to first class man- agement.
Early in the spring of 1869 a group of citizens met in the office of Daniel D. Stedman, to make plans for a savings institution for the me- chanics and laboring classes, to be located "nearer the residential section of the city." On March 17 of the same year, a charter was granted to the bank by the Legislature. The first meeting of the corporators was held on May 17, 1869, in the directors' room of the Broadway National Bank, corner of Washington and Beach streets, but it was not until early in January, 1870, that organization was completed, as follows :
President, Henry Smith; vice-presidents, Marshall P. Wilder, A. T. Bunyon, William C. Peters, Carl Zerrahn, Benjamin T. Stevens and Ed- mund P. Tileston ; secretary, S. Arthur Bent; treasurer, Edward O. Rockwood; trustees, Daniel P. Stedman, Samuel Atherton, L. Baldwin, William Atherton, Henry L. Pierce, William P. Hunt, Edward D. Peters, R. B. Conant, George E. Hersey, Isaac Fenno, Charles R. Train, Emil Heidenreich, Lyman Hollingsworth, James P. Elliott, James Scott, C. A. Connor, D. C. Poland, Newell Thompson, Horace H. White, Joseph
420
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
Smith, William E. Coffin, Peter Butler, George A. Fenno and M. Weso- lowski.
After careful consideration of several locations, the trustees accepted an offer of the use of the St. George room of the Masonic Temple, at the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets. The formal opening of the bank was held on February 1, 1870. The first account was opened by Bertha Heidenreich, thirteen years of age, and a total of ninety-eight accounts represented the first day's patronage. The first banking hours were nine to one daily, and three to five on Wednesday and six to eight on Saturday evenings. The treasurer was paid $1,000 a year and the clerk $500.
The president of the bank gave a bond to ensure payment of a six percent dividend the first year of the bank's operations. If at the end of the year the investments of the bank had shown sufficient profit to pay the dividend, the trustees would discharge the bond. The bond was officially discharged on March 31, 1871. By November of the same year the business of the bank had so increased that it was necessary to en- large the banking rooms. In 1875 the treasurer, Edward O. Rockwood, resigned, and was succeeded by Brigham N. Bullock.
The State banking records show that in 1876 the Home Savings Bank was in difficulties. In that year it was depleted of nearly one-half of the amount of its deposits by unusual demands. In 1877 the demands were renewed and it became necessary to enforce the by-law requiring sixty- days' notice of withdrawal. On March 25, 1878, it became necessary to temporarily enjoin the institution. This was the period in which many Massachusetts savings banks were forced to close temporarily, some of them never to reopen.
The Home Savings Bank finally weathered the storm. Henry Smith, who had been president since the bank was organized, resigned in Janu- ary, 1880, the bank at that time having 17,164 deposits with a total of $2,655,766.04 to their credit. He was succeeded by Charles A. Allen. Brigham N. Bullock, treasurer, resigned in February, 1882, and was suc- ceeded by William E. Hooper.
It is interesting to note that the first telephone was installed in the bank in 1885 for a trial of three months, with the provision that if the president considered it of sufficient value, the service would be added to the bank permanently. In the same year electric appliances were in- stalled to protect the vault, doors and windows of the bank.
William E. Hooper, after serving as treasurer for ten years, died in 1892, and was succeeded by Charles J. Hayden. The growth of the bank led to its removal in 1896 to larger quarters in the Tremont Building, which was erected on the site of the old Tremont House. The removal was made on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, April 4, and the
421
A HISTORY OF BANKING IN BOSTON
bank was opened for business as usual on Monday morning. Mr. Hay- den died in December, 1902, and was succeeded by George E. Brock as treasurer of the bank.
Charles A. Allen, who was elected president in 1880, when the bank's deposits amounted to $2,655,766.04, died in March, 1907, having brought the total deposits to $11,676,362.57, and the number of depositors from 17,164 to 30,546 during his term of office. He was succeeded by George E. Brock, who, as treasurer for over four years, had shown unusual vis- ion and banking acumen. Charles S. Norris was elected treasurer to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Brock's promotion.
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