Category:Banks in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Banking in Allentown began in 1814 when the Northampton Bank opened for business at Center Square at the present-day location of the Allentown Financial Center at the northeast east corner. The Northampton Bank operated until July 1843 when it failed due to financial difficulty caused by some bad loans it made.

In 1855, the Allentown National Bank was organized with $100,000 in cash capital and opened for business at the same location. It later opened in a new building on the same site in 1915. The Second National Bank opened in 1863 on the southeast corner of Center Square. The Lehigh Valley Trust Company opened in 1886 and the Merchants National Bank in 1903 on the southwest corner.

Other early banks in Allentown were the Liberty Bank and Trust Company in 1919, and the First National Bank in 1863. This First National Bank failed in 1877; a second First National Bank was created in 1954 when the Allentown National Bank and the Second National Bank merged and formed the First National Bank.

In 1929, Allentown had 10 banks, all locally owned and controlled. During the Great Depression following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Ridge Avenue Deposit Company (1912-1932); the Dime Savings Bank (1922-1932); the Jordan National Bank (1919-1932); Penn Counties Trust Company (1912-1932) and the Allentown Trust Company (1907-1932) all failed in one extent or another. But the rest of Allentown's banks, using a clearing house association, curbed a panic by arranging a series of mergers, preventing further failures and creating a climate of stability, although the Allentown Trust failed completely. The city came out of the Depression with 3,410 more jobs than in 1929. About half of the money lost by Allentown Trust customers was paid back by 1945, the rest was lost.

By the end of World War II, Allentown National and Merchants became the leading local banks. Some consolidation took place. For example, in 1954 Allentown National and Second National formed First National. That trend continued in the 1960s and '70s as small banks were merged with bigger ones. But with the merger mania that hit in the 1980s, even Allentown's biggest were not immune. First National of Allentown became part of the Reading-based Meridian Bank, and Merchants was merged into First Fidelity Bancorp

Today all of Allentown's banks are owned by out-of-town bankers or organizations.