The Thurmont (National) Bank
The Thurmont Bank was located at 4 West Main Street, Thurmont, in a three-story brick building, with a basement, and was officially known as the Thurmont Bank Building (also known as the Thurmont National Bank Building).
The Thurmont Bank was formed from the Thurmont National Bank in May 1914, when the Thurmont National Bank was dissolved, in order to assume the new name of the Thurmont Bank.
Notice was published in the May 14, 1914, edition of the Catoctin Clarion, notifying all Thurmont National Bank noteholders and creditors to turn in all of their notes and claims for payment, thereby officially paving the way for the creation of the new Thurmont Bank.
The advertisement further noted that the customer accounts would be continuous “without interruption,” and that their bankbooks would be stamped with the name of the new bank. Lester S. Birely was given as having been the name of the bank president.
The Thurmont National Bank was initially founded in 1889, a founding date that continued to be promulgated as the founding date of the Thurmont National Bank.
The founders were identified in a story published on July 1, 1975, in The (Frederick) News as having been Samuel M. Birely and Van B. Osler, who also had constructed the 4 West Main Street headquarters in 1891. Birely had remained as the bank’s president until his death in 1904.
The News further noted that the Thurmont National Bank, upon having been granted its national banking charter in 1901, “was the first national bank outside of Frederick City with such a charter.”
Auction Management Group (amgbid.com) stated on its website that the bank operated out of the basement and first floor, that the second floor had been rented to a school, and that the third floor was rented out as offices (which included law offices). Hugh Eby also operated a shoe repair business out of the bank basement from 1917 to 1923, according to an article published in the July 1, 1975, edition of The (Frederick) News.
During the 1970s, the Thurmont National Bank sought to increase its revenues, but the bank’s charter stood in the way of some of the options.
However, The News reported on October 17, 1975, that a much sought-after means of garnering more revenue had remained off limits, due to the bank’s original founding charter.
The article stated that the then-president of the Thurmont Bank, Ralph Stottlemyer, had reported that the bank “never had ‘trust powers’ which would enable it to take the trustee role in dealing with estate, et cetera.”
It appeared that for the Thurmont Bank to be qualified to serve as trustees, one of the routes that had to be considered was to merge with a banking entity that already had such authority. According to the newspaper, Stottlemyer expressed interest in merging with the Suburban Bank Shares Company.
A January 16, 1976, article in The News stated that merging the Thurmont Bank with the Catoctin Trust Company would result in the Thurmont Bank then becoming a member of the Suburban Bankcorporation (Bankcorp)—a draft agreement had been approved by Suburban and the Thurmont Bank in August of 1975.
Without much fanfare (newspaper coverage), the Thurmont Bank became a member of the Suburban Bankcorporation in February 1976, according to the September 30, 1976, edition of The News. In a July 13, 1977, article in The News, Suburban Bankcorporation was stated as being the parent company of the Thurmont Bank.
Newspaper advertisements placed by the Thurmont Bank, beginning in 1977, had identified the Thurmont Bank as being the “Thurmont Bank/Suburban Trust.”
Nevertheless, in spite of a successful merger with Suburban Bankcorporation, the Thurmont Bank closed its doors for the last time in the 1980s. The long-abandoned bank building is now presently being reported as “undergoing renovations.”