Early Marietta: The Dime Savings Society
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Working at a bank was a good job for a high school kid in the 1960’s. Benefits included earning minimum wage (about $1.25 an hour), no strenuous effort, bankers' hours 9-2:30, and fascinating people. The lobby looked like the 1800s – pendulum clock, wrought iron teller cages and Ebenezer Scrooge-type journals. Such was my summer job in 1964 at The Dime Savings Society at Front and Greene Street.
The community at the bank was wonderful. Laurence Penrose was president – low key, wry sense of humor, chain smoker. He had the only high-tech device in the bank - a mechanical calculator. Carl Galbraith was cashier. He was 70-ish then and breezily greeted customers with the latest news. He knew everything about everybody. I couldn’t believe it when he showed me five figure dividend checks that certain customers deposited.
George Beebe ran the elevator – quiet but with an impish smile and crew cut. Inda Stine was the cleaning lady, animated and chatty. She showed up each day and often brought in peach brandy. We all had a nip or two – but only after balancing for the day. Harold Cullen was a friendly accountant who often visited. I could hear his high-pitched laugh from two floors up. John Rose, a board member, was the pharmacist who ran Richard’s Apothecary next door.
My day consisted of recording journal entries using a fountain pen in a huge dog-eared book. If I made a mistake, there was no eraser, white-out, or cut-and-paste. We used a pocketknife with a super sharp blade. The error was removed by lightly scraping off the ink on the journal page with the knife. My knife was well used and had to be sharpened often. Work kept me busy, but there were slow times. I knew the name of every towboat that passed on the Ohio River.
Dime Savings Society began in 1872, incorporated by local businessmen John L. Mills, C.K. Leonard, H.B. Shipman, R. P. Iams, E.B. Read, C. C. Warner, and James C. Blauvelt. Rutherford B. Hayes, then Ohio Governor, signed the authorization. It was a mutual savings bank, meaning that depositors owned the bank. Savings banks were considered safer than riskier commercial banks.
The Century Review publication in 1901: deposits grew "from $39,647 in 1882 to $642,106...testimony that Marietta citizens...have confidence in the stability of this institution.” In 1902 Dime Savings Bank built a separate bank building at 114 Front Street. The lower two floors of that building were later occupied by the Continental club. In 1928 Dime Savings moved to the 5-story building at Greene and Front Streets.
The Great Depression brought challenges. Bank failures – and bank robberies – were rampant nationally. Board minutes noted that tear gas outlets were installed in the lobby in case of robbery. They were never used. The bank survived and prospered after the Depression. But by the 1960s Dime Savings had fallen behind other banks in Marietta. It became a quaint but fading relic.
The Dime Savings History notes matter-of-factly that in August 1969 “a bank examiners report sparked a reorganization effort.” Apparently, some major problems threatened the financial stability of the bank. The Dime Savings Society was reborn as Dime Bank, commercial bank. Its fortunes revived, and it was later acquired another bank. The former bank space is occupied now by the Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce. Only the bank vault, board room, and the vintage staircase in the building offer reminders of the Dime Savings Society days.