Posted on 08/10/2010 8:02:34 PM PDT by Libloather
Catasauqua loses last bank
The Wachovia branch, a borough landmark structure, closes its doors.
By Devon Lash, OF THE MORNING CALL
6:42 p.m. EDT, August 10, 2010
After emptying its vault, boarding up its ATM, and sealing its deposit drop box, the last bank in Catasauqua closed its doors for good on Tuesday afternoon. And a landmark building that had housed a bank for more than 100 years, was vacant for the first time in its history.
The Wachovia branch at Second and Bridge streets wasn't seeing enough business to justify keeping it open, corporate spokeswoman Barbara Nate said. The accounts and the branch's employees were transferred to other locations, she said.
It ended a half-century of tradition for Dave Steele, now 54, who has been banking at the Catasauqua landmark since he was 6 years old.
He walked from Lincoln Elementary to deposit $1 into his account each week — money his parents gave him to teach the value of a dollar and the importance of a savings account.
**SNIP**
The hardest hit will probably be the seniors in town, Mayor Barbara Schlegel said.
"They're very upset," Schlegel said. "A lot of senior citizens said, 'There's nothing there now for me.' "
Schlegel said she plans to call banks to see if any are interested in occupying the historic space.
"Everybody's hoping another bank will come," said Bob Sook, who's been banking on Bridge Street for 20 years. "No one can quite believe it's closing."
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
Or start a community credit union.
Mayonnaise jars yield a higher return.
Check cashing places will follow.
Unfortunately for this town, all they really need are food stamp card-swipes. Next they’ll be trading chickens..
... or bullets.
Mattress...or online. Just like the theaters got weeded out when television came along. There were still theaters, but fewer and not so elaborate.
And banking is a lot less fun than a movie. For most people.
Oh brother. The people of this town can drive three minutes and will have millions of banks to chose from. This article is such BS.
They sure make banking easy; I'm surprised other banks don't follow their business model. They've been profitable enough through this recession that I've received a membership dividend every year. On the other hand, my other bank, Comerica (which I will end my relationship with very soon) makes me mail my checks in and then they hold it as unavailable funds for two days after receiving the check no matter how small the check may be. It's almost like the internet compared to old fashioned newspapers.
I lived in Catasauqua in the seventies when I was a grad student, and I visit the area regularly. It’s small, and contiguous with several other municipalities northeast of Allentown, and there’s no lack of banking services in the area. The vestigal downtown area where the bank in question is located no longer has any significance as a commercial center. There have been plenty of other seismic changes in that area, e.g. the closing of Bethlehem Steel, without worrying about a bank. You’d have to say it’s amazing that it lasted this long.
Until you wrote this and then I looked up their contact info, I would have thought this town was in the middle of the upper peninsula of Michigan and the nearest town was 45 miles away.
Well, it’s a ongoing trend. Lots of places are seeing businesses, schools, and Catholic churches closing and consolidating.
That area is an area where population has been declining for years, so it’s not surprising. It might make some people fondly remember the good old days, but, if there’s not enough business there for a bank, then they can’t be expected to stay.
Wachovia is now Wells Fargo.
Unfortunately for this town, all they really need are food stamp card-swipes. Next they’ll be trading chickens..
... or bullets.
You're in Houston also, I see. ;-)
My comparison is Navy Federal CU and Key Bank. I do most of banking with NFCU and there is almost nothing I can’t do with my accounts online, which is good because the nearest branch is 1000 miles away.
To have a local account I keep some cash at Key Bank. What a PITA they are. Their online baking is almost non-existent compared to NFCU so you have to go in. At the branch there will be one teller trying to handle the walk-ins and the drive through so there always a wait. I’m going to switch to local CU and get rid of banks all together.
Is everyone in the world expected to know in what state, or even what country Catasauqua exists?
Catasauqua is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, settled in 1805 and chartered as a borough in 1853. Catasauqua is a suburb of Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.
Free Republic is a worlwide forum.
Is everyone in the world expected to know in what state, or even what country Catasauqua exists?
Thanks for pointing this out. It is very annoying to read news items on Free Republic and then have to figure out what city or state the story happened in. It seems like as many as half of the posts are like this especially when they are newspaper reports. Many times after reading all the way through I find the story is from another country. It seems like this could be partially fixed with a foreign news section.
The writer of the article also appears to be a novice, as that critical fact is nowhere to be found in the article itself (basic journalism...WHO...WHAT...WHEN...WHERE). I had to root around the originating website for quite a while to actually find out that it was Pennsylvania.
Finally found it at the very bottom of the "Contact Us" page, in microscopic print.
Free Republic is a worlwide forum.
Is everyone in the world expected to know in what state, or even what country Catasauqua exists?
Well I got a clue from the keywords: mars
Otherwise I had no idea.....
Hint...look at “Topics”
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