Category:Ridge Avenue Deposit Bank

The Ridge Avenue Deposit Bank opened in October 1912 at 402-404 Ridge Avenue in the First Ward, outside of the Central Business District. At the time, it was the first major bank located in the area.

The bank origionally opened at 418 Ridge Avenue, in October 1921, the bank relocated into a large, 4-story building at the corner of Ridge Avenue and Gordon Streets. The building had been erected in 1904 as the Bellvue Hotel.

After the Stock Market crash of 1929 and the economic crisis that followed put pressure on several local banks, the Ridge Avenue bank being one of them. In June 1932 a "run" began at the bank as people, hearing rumors, and having become unemployed, began withdrawing their savings in order to survive. This led to the finances of the bank becoming insufficent, and the bank being unable to pay their depositors. Finally, on July 19 1932, the Ridge Avenue Deposit bank was closed. At the time of the closure it's available assets were put into the hands of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The bank was subsequently put into the hands of the Pennsylvania banking comission and was liquidated on September 13, 1932.

As this was before the advent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the deposits in the bank were not covered under federal banking insurance. However, the former bank depositors received some of their money eventually from the Pennsylvania Banking Comission, taking until 1945. About half of its liabilities was returned to depositors, the rest was lost.

The former bank's main floor was converted into a Pennsylvania State Liquor Store in late 1933. The upper floors were converted into apartments in 1941 when the building was finally sold, and remains so today. The PLCB store closed in 1989. The downstairs has had several uses since then, currently an appliance store on the first floor. The word "Bank" still remains over the main door.

In December 1949, banking returned to the area when the Merchants National Bank built a new branch bank at the northeast corner of Ridge avenue and Tilghman Streets, returning banking services to the residents of that part of Allentown.

Object location	40° 36′ 42″ N, 75° 27′ 30″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.611667; -75.458333