York County hosted locally headquartered banks for 200 years. That’s changing.

In the early 1800s, the Rev. Daniel Dunn brought a heavy box to York Bank for safekeeping.

Cashier John Schmidt, a native of Hamburg, Germany, and the bank’s top manager, was there to receive it.

A box of that heft must have caused conversation in York. No doubt some thought the pastor had struck it rich.

But its contents were unknown until Dunn died years later, according to a drawing by York’s folk artist Lewis Miller. His friends asked to see the contents of the box and were astonished at what they found. Brickbats, likely pieces of bricks, and a few papers filled the box.

Since those days that York Bank protected the good pastor’s treasure, York County has hosted the headquarters of commercial banks within its borders.

Things have changed since York Bank — M&T Bank today — opened in 1810 to service Dunn and other townspeople. This year, 214 years later, the last two commercial banks with headquarters in the county are part of mergers that will result in chief decision-makers working outside county borders.

Today, Leader Heights-based PeoplesBank, A Codorus Valley Company, is merging with the Shippensburg-based Orrstown Bank. The resulting financial institution will be based in Harrisburg.

At the same time, York County-based Traditions Bank is merging with ACNB, Adams County National Bank. The combined operations will be headquartered in Gettysburg.

What this will mean to York County is for financial analysts and, well, customers of PeoplesBank and Traditions Bank to point out.

For the moment, at least three things are on the table. Since those early years of John Schmidt’s York Bank, banks have been and remain major players in community life. Their executives sit on nonprofit and other boards, as one example. Their loan policies impact how a community grows.

Further, it’s a fact of business life in the past 40 years — or perhaps for many years before — that one way for financial institutions to grow is by acquiring smaller banks to gain offices in communities they don’t cover, while gaining efficiency in operations.

That efficiency can mean some of the flexibility and services afforded by locally based banks might be changed. If Dunn had brought his heavy box into a bank tightening its rules, perhaps his holding would have exceeded newly installed weight or size limits for safety deposit boxes.

The third point is that bank mergers and acquisitions are not inherently bad for local customers. They represent change, but not all change is bad. It can depend on the skill and decisions of those managing change.

Mergers in the 1950s

To be sure, sales and mergers in all types of businesses are nothing new in York County, as elsewhere in America.

To pick one moment — post World War II — at least two iconic family-owned industries were acquired by larger out-of-town companies.

Industrialist A.B. Farquhar’s agricultural implement maker became part of Oliver Farm Equipment Co. about 25 years after the noted industrialist’s death. Oliver later closed operations in the county, and its buildings fell into ruins.

And in the mid-1950s, Borg-Warner acquired York Corp., a company that grew up with York. Its Roosevelt and Grantley plants were called “The Yorks.” After several other ownership changes, the cooling/refrigeration giant operates as Johnson Controls today.

Some iconic brands have been relocated from York County after their acquisition. York Peppermint Patties, now owned by Hershey, continues with the York name, though the cool-breeze mint candy is made in Mexico.

Banks make the news

All this said, it’s a good time, via these excerpts from my book “Never to be Forgotten,” to give a sampling of stories about banks in York County since York Bank gained its charter in 1810 and declared its first dividend of 4.5% four years later:

Banks change names: The renaming of banks and bank acquisitions go back many years. In 1845, the fledgling York Savings Institution provided competition to the 35-year-old York Bank. York Savings went through a series of name changes before settling on York County National Bank in the 1860s.

In the 20th century, it combined with Guardian Trust Co., Western National Bank of York, Merchants National Bank of Red Lion, Peoples National Bank of Stewartstown, Central Trust Capital Bank in Harrisburg, First National Bank and Trust Co. of Hanover and others.

The bank became known as Hamilton Bank in 1980 and CoreStates in 1983. Interstate giant First Union Corp. of North Carolina bought CoreStates in 1997. After other changes, Wells Fargo Bank is the latest entry in the genealogy table of this pre-Civil War bank.

Leaders linked to banks : Banks have attracted many luminaries as leaders over the years. For example, the Lewis family, namesake of Lewisberry borough, produced a doctor (Webster) and a lawyer and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice (Ellis). And a banker (James), who headed York Bank in the 1840s.

About 1885, Grier Hersh, York Bank’s longtime president, was connected with the founding of the Country Club of York. First, he constructed a nine-hole golf course, complete with bunkers, in present-day Springdale. Then he and Farquhar purchased land that became the country club’s golf course, later the Out Door Country Club and today’s York College.

And there’s Carolyn Schaefer, who served in regional positions in central Pennsylvania banking for years at a time when such positions for women were rare. She retired from York Traditions Bank in 2017, after a 53-year career in banking.

Banks get phones: An early telephone directory in 1882 shows the importance of banks. They were among the early recipients of the then-new telephone technology. The publication listed phones in five banks, three hotels and six residences.

The county jail, the courthouse, The Daily newspaper and York police headquarters also were connected to the exchange system.

Banks court farmers : Agriculture represented a crucial business in early banks. In 1883, Drovers and Mechanics National Bank of York took its name from two groups of workers. The drivers, or drovers, guided their cattle to market along area roads. The mechanics pounded shoes on horses and put new rims on wagons.

To give a sense of the savvy of farmers and drovers in business, consider George Shearer of Hellam Township. He bought eight head of cattle at an average weight of 1,032 pounds. Five months later, he drove them 9 miles to York and weighed them. They averaged 1,342.5 pounds.

“He wants to know who can beat that,” a newspaper reported after the drover shipped his stock to Baltimore.

Drovers Bank continued to operate until the turn of the 21st century, when Fulton Bank acquired the locally owned financial institution.

Credit an issue: At times, farmers and banks could square off over credit. The Grange movement started, in part, to advocate for the farmer against the banks. So it’s interesting that two moments in recent decades probed that relationship.

The Red Lion Grange entertained the farming community for decades at Cape Horn and Lombard roads. The crossroads attracted development, and the Grange sold its property and relocated.

A bank went up there. And the name of that initial bank? Farmers.

And in a controversial move that prompted immense community attention, a large well-built former dairy barn that served Avalong Farm in Springettsbury Township gave way to development.

A bank went up on its former site.

One town, two banks: For decades, Glen Rock borough hosted the headquarters of Peoples Bank of Glen Rock and Glen Rock State Bank.

“Think New York, London, Glen Rock,” a newspaper headline declared years later. “The little York County borough has the most banks per capita.”

In 1996, officials from the two banks described plans to move their headquarters: Glen Rock State Bank to Springfield Township and Peoples Bank to Leader Heights in York Township. The two banks initially retained full-service offices in Glen Rock to accommodate its 1,700 people and those living nearby.

Today, Glen Rock State Bank’s name is gone because of mergers and so is its office in the borough.

PeoplesBank moved its headquarters from Glen Rock and soon it will be in Harrisburg. But its memory will remain prominently in that borough. PeoplesBank’s former office has become a museum and public meeting space, home to the Glen Rock Historic Preservation Society.

One bank, one office: In 1918, the East Prospect State Bank was founded with a handful of employees operating in a single office. About nine decades later, the bank continued to operate with a handful of employees working in one office, the last locally owned bank to do so.

As late as 1998, the bank was not for sale. Ken Nichol, board chair and 51-year veteran of the bank, said, “When you have something good, paying a terrific dividend, you don’t sell it. You stay with it.” But in the past 20 years, the bank did sell to an out-of-county financial institution. Today, a mini-mart operates from the handsome stone building on East Prospect’s square.

Depression punches York: In the Great Depression, eight county banks failed and nine reorganized, most in small towns. No banks in York failed, except in a technical sense. The North York State Bank went under, but York Trust purchased it and assumed its obligations.

All York banks reopened after a mandated holiday, making it the only city in the state where all banks received permission to resume their functions.

Still, the Depression did more than pinch. It punched. “York County did suffer materially from the Depression,” one historian observed. “An extensive relief effort was necessary. There was considerable personal suffering … . These facts belie any impression that prosperity continued through the Depression.”

ATMs gain popularity: When automated teller machines made their York County debut in the early 1970s, they were noticed. The National Central Bank installed a dozen of the machines in York and three other counties.

“Out comes your money,” one bank said, “along with the return of your card and a receipt. And there is no extra charge of any kind!”

Bank robbers foiled: News of bank robberies by “yeggmen” have appeared in York County’s newspapers since the 1800s. A couple stand out when would-be robbers failed the wisdom test.

One man tried to rob a Hanover bank through the drive-through window. Another man robbed a Hanover bank but was captured when he stopped for gas about a block from the crime scene.

From brickbats to a billion

John Schmidt, who stored and then uncovered Dunn’s brickbats, was the ancestor of another John C. Schmidt, 12-year York Bank president before his retirement at the end of 1996.

He wasn’t just the leader of York Bank.

“He is The York Bank,” a newspaper stated at the time of his retirement.

York Bank then was the largest commercial bank headquartered in the county with 21 locations and $1.1 billion in assets.

The York Bank title was retired the next year when Allied Irish Banks of Dublin, through First Maryland Bancorp., acquired the bank. Today, M&T owns the former York Bank.

Sources: YDR files, York County History Center files, James McClure’s “Never to be Forgotten,” 2024

Upcoming presentations

James McClure’s will speak about “York County at 275: Telling Stories about the Stream of History — and Its Banks,” at the Dillsburg Library, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 28.

He will present about “Fascinating things about Mount Wolf and its region,” 6 p.m. Oct. 15, at the Northeastern York County History in Preservation’s museum, York Haven Borough Office, 2 N. Front St. These presentations are free and open to the public, and he will sign his books as part of the events.

He also will talk about the following topic at OLLI at Penn State York: “York County in the 1600s and 1700s: Native Americans Struggle to Survive, European Settlers Arrive and the County Marches in the American Revolution,” 11 a.m. Nov. 12. Details: olli.psu.edu/york/courses.

Jim McClure is a retired editor of the York Daily Record and has authored or co-authored nine books on York County history. Reach him at jimmcclure21@outlook.com .

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York County hosted locally headquartered banks for 200 years. That’s changing.