WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 27
The rise and fall of the Bank of Glendale
BY THE OLD TIMER
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The Great Depression started
in the fall of 1929, famously
triggered by the Stock Market
Crash. Subsequently, a number of
banks across America failed, including
the Bank of Glendale.
There was no Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) at that
time, and depositors of banks that
failed faced severe hardships.
In 1923, Charles Schreiber had
organized the Bank of Glendale,
installing himself as president, and
Frederick Sprower as vice president.
Sprower had been vice president of
the Ridgewood National Bank.
The Bank of Glendale was located at
what was then 2681 Myrtle Ave., at the
northwest corner of Myrtle Avenue
and Hooker Street (present-day 66th
Place). Hooker Street was named for
Major General Joseph “Fighting Joe”
Hooker, who commanded forces in the
Union Army during the Civil War and
died in Garden City, Long Island, on
Oct. 31, 1879.
By August 1928, the Bank of Glendale
had $2 million in deposits; this is equal
to just about $29.1 million in today’s
economy. However, by the fall of that
year, it was taken over by the Globe
Exchange Bank, and as the new street
numbering system was placed into
eff ect in Queens, the new address of
the Bank of Glendale became 66-17
Myrtle Ave.
By the winter of 1929, the name of the
bank was changed again — this time,
to the Globe Bank and Trust Company,
which had its headquarters on Church
Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
As the depression deepened, the
Globe Bank and Trust Company found
itself unable to maintain adequate
liquid reserves. On Saturday, Aug.
20, 1931, the bank closed its main offi ce
and its branch in Glendale.
Arthur May, who had an
undertaking establishment across
the street from the bank at 66-32
Myrtle Ave., and who was a depositor,
called a meeting of the depositors of
the Glendale branch at the nearby
Belvedere Theatre, located at 64-34
Myrtle Ave. The theater is now the
home of Christ Tabernacle Church.
May’s funeral parlor would,
in later years, become Schwille
Funeral Home.
Henry Petry, senior vice president
of the Globe Bank and Trust Company
and manager of the Glendale branch,
was invited to attend. Two of the
trustees of the bank were local
hardware store owner Otto Herrmann
of Herrmann’s Hardware and
The Bank Tavern at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and 66th Place in Glendale, which replaced the Bank of Glendale,
is shown in this 1940 tax photo. Photo courtesy of NYC Department of Records, reprinted with permission
Charles Schildknecht, who owned a
lumber business.
In early December 1931, the New
York state superintendent of banking
appointed the Manufacturers Trust
Company to act as dispensing
agent for the Globe Bank and Trust
Company. Homeowners who had
mortgages from the Globe Bank and
Trust Company were urged to pay
off their mortgages so the depositors
could be paid.
On Dec. 7, 1931, the Manufacturers
Trust Company issued new passbooks
to the Globe Bank and Trust Company
depositors for 50 percent of the
amount that they had on deposit, with
the comment that as additional assets
were liquidated, they would pay out
more money.
In those days, home mortgages were
not amortizing. The bank collected
the interest due twice per year, and
if it was a five-year mortgage, on the
due date, the full amount had to be
paid unless the bank agreed to an
extension with the possibility that
the interest rate may be modified.
To help the Globe depositors
receive their money, Rudolph
Stutzmann, president of the Savings
Bank of Ridgewood (now Ridgewood
Savings Bank), announced that his
bank would make available $500,000
for new mortgages to replace those
held by Globe. Charles Schreiber, who
had organized the Bank of Glendale,
also announced that he would make
mortgage money available to help.
On Jan. 18, 1932, the Globe Bank and
Trust Company sold to the Bank of
Manhattan Trust Company the land
that their Glendale branch buildings
occupied. Eventually, as the assets of
Globe Bank and Trust were liquidated,
every depositor was paid in full.
In later years, the former bank
premises became the Bank Tavern.
Today, the site is the home of a fruit
and vegetable store.
As a result of the bank failures
during the Great Depression, in
1933, the U.S. Congress passed the
Banking Act of 1933 and, with the new
Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration,
created the FDIC. The corporation
was initially created as a temporary
insurance plan to protect bank
deposits and restore the public’s
confidence in banks. The plan was
made permanent in 1935.
As the plan went into operation,
each member bank paid a small
premium to the FDIC for the
insurance. Gradually, a substantial
fund exceeding $10 billion was
accumulated. It is a wholly bankowned
and government-managed
insurance fund which today protects
individual bank deposits of up to
$250,000 at member banks.
All losses and expenses in
connection with the operation of
the fund are paid out of income
generated from invested surplus
and the premiums paid by
member banks.
Source: The Aug. 9, 1984 issue of the
Ridgewood Times
* * *
If you have any remembrances or old
photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would like to
share with our readers, please write to
the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-
15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send
an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com. Any print photographs mailed
to us will be carefully returned to you
upon request.
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