Bank By Mail – July 1955

Today we do just about everything online, including shop, work, socialize, correspond, manage your finances, play games, earn college degrees and... bank.

Well, I don't bank online. I might check the balances of my CDs but I still refuse to do anything else. I know I'm in the minority here, but I just don't trust it. 

Speaking of trust, how do you feel about banking by mail?

Three years after Central Bank unveiled its popular Drive-In Teller service at its main branch in central Lorain, it was promoting banking by mail with this ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on July 16, 1955.

It's an odd concept, especially by today's standards. "All you need do is fill out a special mailing form, enclose your deposit, stamp your envelope – and mail it,"notes the ad. "The postman will speed it safely to our bank, where it can get the same prompt attention as deposits made in person."

It makes it sound like the postman will deliver it to the bank without the envelope first having to be processed at the US Post Office. And the ad recommends that "letters containing cash should be registered." Sounds like you have to go to the post office to send a registered letter – why not just go to the bank instead?

Anyway, it's an interesting look at what was considered modern and convenient in 1955.

But more than 70 years later, I'm still doing my banking the old-fashioned way: in person. 

It's got a little harder since last year when Fifth Third Bank closed the branch in Vermilion that was only about three minutes from my condo. They kept the ATM machine there – neglecting it pretty well, letting it run out of money, paper to print receipts, etc. – before unceremoniously closing it for good a few months ago. 

Since I also bank at Northwest in Vermilion, which is fully staffed and where I have my own – ahem – personal banker, I may just abandon the fifth-rate service I'm getting now. We'll see.

Central Bank Ad – April 23, 1966

Central Bank, one of the many late, great local banks – has been featured many times on this blog. The bank's freewheeling ad campaigns included a lot of clip art, making them a lot of fun.

And here's an ad that appeared in the Journal back on April 23, 1966 – sixty years ago this week. Do you remember the famous national advertising campaign that Central is parodying here?

Older readers probably have no trouble recalling the well-known "Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat" campaign, with trick photography literally dropping drivers out of the sky and into a Hertz rental car.

Here's one of the commercials. I really like the jazzy melody, as well as the depiction of travel as nothing but fun-fun-fun. (The couple drop into the moving car around the 50 second mark.)

By 1970, the campaign had been running long enough for Hertz to have some fun with it. This commercial features actor and comedian McLean Stevenson.

Ah, I miss those days of truly memorable and entertaining commercials!

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Gene Patrick did his version of the Hertz ad in a Passing Scene cartoon that ran in August 1966 when Joseph Calta was made Superintendent of Lorain City Schools.

Central Bank Ad – January 1, 1969

Although the print ads for many banks these days are fairly stodgy and humorless, that wasn’t the case 50 years ago. That’s when the ad above for Lorain’s Central Security National Bank ran in the Lorain Journal’s January 1, 1969 edition.

As you can see, the stylized ‘wise old owl’ (with specs perched on his beak) is sitting right on the Central Bank Logo.

Central Bank seems to be getting a lot of exposure on this blog lately. I ran several vintage ads for its Christmas Club last month. And over the years, I’ve devoted posts to its Broadway location, its innovative 1952 drive-through, the Grand Opening of its Colorado Avenue branch, its Avon branch, and the bank's roots as the Penfield Avenue Bank.

Anyway, the wise old owl cliché is still going strong in the 2000s, including the America’s Best commercials with the funny owl voiced by Norm McDonald.

I still wish Wise Potato Chips would bring back Peppy, their owl mascot (below).

I email the company every couple of years to make my case for Peppy's comeback on the packaging, but have yet to get a reply!

Hey, speaking of Wise Potato Chips, how would you like a meat loaf recipe that uses that particular salty snack as an ingredient? Intrigued? Then stop back here next time (and pick up some Wise Potato Chips so you'll be ready).

Central Bank Christmas Club Ads – 1966 & 1967

Christmas Clubs must have been big business back in the 1960s, judging by the number of ads I run across when reviewing vintage newspaper microfilm from that era.

The Central Security National Bank of Lorain County was a big promoter of the seasonal savings idea, with regular ads running in the Journal beginning in November each year, and running straight through the holidays.

Here’s one from 1966. It ran on November 12th in the Journal that year.

The ad is interesting because it provides a financial snapshot of the previous season's Christmas Club deposits that were being paid out: $263,300.

That’s a nice jaunty Santa illustration. Unlike many renderings showing the jolly old elf as bald as a cue ball, this one has a nice full head of hair parted on the side.

Here’s a Central Bank ad from the following year (below), running in the paper on December 2, 1967.

The ad has another great Santa illustration. It also shows that you could sign up for a plan depositing as little as 50 cents a week. (I’ll bet that plan would be popular today, in the era of living paycheck to paycheck!)

And here’s one last Central Bank ad from December 21, 1967.

This Santa’s a little less appealing than the other too, as the message is one of worrying and he looks uncomfortable. Hey, he’s got a tassle on his cap instead of a round, white puff.

Anyway, when I did belong to a Christmas Club, I sometimes found it difficult to be setting aside dough for next year’s Christmas when I was still trying to pay for this year’s Christmas. 

So are Christmas Clubs still relevant today? Here’s an article from 2017 that provides an answer.

Grand Opening of Central Bank on Colorado Ave. – Feb. 13, 1958

Here’s a nice full-page ad announcing the Grand Opening of the Colorado Avenue branch of the Central Bank Company. It’s a reminder that the unsightly building at that location today once had a thriving and important business within its walls.

I’ve featured the building at 1443 Colorado Avenue on the blog before, including this post that revealed the original tenant, and included the story of a 1967 bank robbery.

That’s a nice line art illustration of the building in the ad, which ran in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 13, 1958.

Anyway, of most interest in the ad is the “all new coin-bank that works like a wall-safe.” The gimmick is that it was a coin bank hidden behind “a beautiful picture frame and print.” The sample had a picture of a vintage locomotive.

Alas, I tried unsuccessfully to find an actual photo of one of these things online. I had hoped that somehow one of them had survived for 60 years.

Perhaps a Lorain reader has one still hanging on the wall of their 1950s ranch, unaware of the potential fortune in coins that remains hidden from view.

Central Bank Drive-Through Ad – July 1952

Although being able to do your banking while remaining in your car is something we all take for granted now, it was still a new concept back in 1952.

The above ad, which ran in the Lorain Journal on July 4, 1952, promotes the fact that the Central Bank Company, located at Broadway and 20th Street in Lorain, was the only local bank to offer a “Drive-In Teller” service at that time. It was in the rear of the building with access from 20th Street.

The “Drive-In Teller” window was even featured in the film LORAIN – An Industrial Empire in Ohio’s Vacation Land.

Of course the Central Bank building is long-gone (except for the pillars), but here’s roughly the same view today as seen in the film.

Courtesy Google Maps

Ironically, it now seems that most banks seem to have done away with direct customer contact in their drive-throughs, favoring the clunky pneumatic tubes.

It’s been a long times since I put my savings book in a drawer at the drive-through. In fact, most banks (except for First Federal Savings of Lorain) have done away with the books!

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I know you’re probably wondering – what about “Miss Vacationland” of 1952 mentioned in the ad?

Well, the pageant was held at Lorain’s Lakeview Park on July 4, 1952. The winner was Sandusky’s Darlene Nancy Miller, 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Warren J. Miller. First alternate was Gloria Jean Lehnert, 19, of Amherst, and Second alternate was Dolores Lohrer, 19, of Sheffield Lake.

A crowd of 40,000 watched the pageant.

Penfield Avenue Bank – Then & Now

Last month, regular contributor Rick Kurish emailed me with a suggestion for a post. He wrote, "As I was looking through Ebay today, I ran across an old postcard of the Penfield Avenue Bank (shown above).

"As you probably know, it was a substantial building on Broadway, across from the old location of St. Joseph Hospital. Although the bank building itself is long gone, the site is easily identified by the four stone columns that supported the front facade. These were left standing on the site when the building was demolished, and for all intents appear to be the remains of ancient Roman ruins. It might make a before and after subject for your blog."

Rick’s suggestion was a good one, because I hadn’t seen this particular hand-tinted postcard before. Surprisingly, I had given the bank the “then and now” treatment back in 2013, but with an illustration (show below), not a photo.

(This was the post on which my older brother hilariously observed that,"Judging from the drawing, I think the original Lorainites must have been about 8 inches tall back then. And their horses too.”)

As it turns out, the original Penfield Avenue Bank bank (which later changed its name to the Central Bank Co.) was a favorite subject of a lot of postcards, including this one photographed by Willis Leiter (below).

Anyway, here again is the May 2013 “now” view (below). (Note the traffic lights, a veritable endangered species in Lorain these days.)

 And here’s my shot from last weekend.

Central Bank Then & Now

Ah, I gave one bank (Lorain National) the 'then and now' treatment so here's the other one.

Here's a closeup (above) of that great Central Bank illustration from the 1937 Brookside yearbook ad. The building looks so impressive here; a real center of commerce. It looks like it belongs on Wall Street instead of central Lorain.

And here's the 'now' view, shot fresh this weekend.

Only the columns remain of the former Central Bank – a nice touch by a creative architect. (I'm fairly surprised, though, that they haven't been knocked down by a drunk driver!)

I don't know exactly when the former bank building was razed – I've been unable to find a clipping or mention on the internet. I do know that Central Trust (as the bank was later known) was purchased by Bank One in the early 1990s.

What used to be in that building?

Here's another building that I've wondered about on Lorain's east side. It's at 1443 Colorado Avenue, across from the shuttered Wonder Bread store.

I've always kind of admired this stylish building and hoped that someone would fix it up right.

Anyway, it first showed up in the City Directories in 1955, as the home of Ashyk's Drapery Shop.

By the 1958 book, it was a branch of Central Bank. The bank was a longtime tenant, from 1958 until the early 1970's. ( I don't remember this at all. I have very little recollection of Lorain's east side while growing up, until around '74 when I became pals with some guys who really liked to ride their bikes all over Lorain. )

Very briefly, the building housed Shannon Pizza in 1975. After that it became the longtime home of The Times (or The Lorain County Times) until at least 2000.

A few other businesses were in and out of there since then. Today, as the photo shows, it is the home of Art of Cutz.