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Thursday, January 24, 2013

1949: THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF HAMILTON SQUARE

CVS, Rite-Aide, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, Bell Telephone...the list goes on and on. Where once we had community banks such as the late, lamented First National Bank of Hamilton Square, prime locations are now being occupied by the huge national banks. Even my Roma Bank has yielded to the large banks. Where once we had intimate relationships with our druggists, we now have large conglomerates who are sprouting up on many street corners.  Silk's Drug Store, Tracy's 5 & 10, mom and pop corner stores are all listed in the local "Americana" catalog of local history. Like it or not, it's called "progress."

6 comments:

RALPH LUCARELLA said...

HI TOM....I WOULD LIKE TO SAY A KIND WORD ABOUT THE HAMILTON SQUARE BANK. LESTER ROBBINS AND THE BANK WERE VERY HELPFUL TO US WHEN WE BUILT THE HAMILTON BOWLING LANES ON ROUTE 33 IN 1955. IT'S A SHAME THE WAY THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THESE PAST YEARS. BEST REGARDS.

Ron Bound said...

Ralph, Tom, you are right...I avoid the mega banks, and try to deal with our local credit union and our local home town bank, whenever I can. Ever since, Bank of America wanted to charge me $5 to cash my USAF paycheck. I made a scene about serving my country and then them trying to cheat me out of money for a government check, and then I walked out.

Tom Glover said...

All of us old guys fondly remember the friendly druggist (in my case, Harvey Silk), the corner grocery store, the community bank, and especially the olive green N.J. Bell Telephone truck answering a service call in mere hours. Remember when you dialed a business telephone and a warm bodied operator answered immediately? remember when we called a company and NEVER got a canned message telling us "your call is very important to us...all of our representatives are busy, waiting time approximately 9 minutes" etc. Gone are the days!

Tom

RALPH LUCARELLA said...

I'VE GOTTA SAY IT AGAIN. THE DAYS GONE BY WERE SO MUCH MORE BENEFICAL, THAN TODAYS ACTIVITES. THEY MAY SAY WE'RE OLD FASHION BUT EVERYONE GOT SOME SATISFACTION WHEN PROBLEMS EXISTED. AT MY AGE I STILL PREVERE THE GOLDEN YEARS OF THE PAST. BEST REGARDS.

Tom Glover said...

SO DO I, RALPH. CAN YOU IMAGINE CALLING A DEPARTMENT STORE AND HAVING THE OPERATOR TELL YOU "ALL OF OUR REPRESENTATIVES ARE BUSY HELPING OTHER CALLERS. YOUR CALL IS VERY IMPORTANT.....: YADA YADA YADA. AND WHEN YOU FINALLY GET THROUGH YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE PERSON WHO CAN'T SPEAK CLEAR ENGLISH.

TOM

Unknown said...

Hi Tom...
If it was not for Mr. Lestor Robbins, Brothers Saloon would still a wooded area. He loaned me all the money to build Brothers Saloon in 1969 and when the drinking age dropped to 18 from 21 in 1973 he loaned me a ton of money to expand....and the rest is history.
Happy New Year 2022...
Best regards,
Henry Poreda
Henderson Nevada