Dime Savings Bank - Middletown, CT

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: savings bank
Start Date: July 13, 1878
Location: Middletown, Connecticut (41.562, -72.651)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 9f4dc1bbf11dbc62

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (New York Herald, 1878-07-14) reports that the Middletown Dime Savings Bank was ordered by the State Bank Commissioners to suspend payments (payments suspended until books can be reduced). Cause was impairment from shrunken Hartford real-estate values and nonpayment of mortgage interest (bank-specific asset losses) and the suspension was an action ordered by regulators. The article does not report a run or a receivership/closure; subsequent outcome is not mentioned, so I classify as a suspension (no run) and tentatively as suspension_reopening (no evidence of permanent closure).

Events (1)

1. July 13, 1878 Suspension

Cause: Government Action
Cause Details: State Bank Commissioners ordered suspension due to impairment from shrinkage in value of Hartford real estate owned by the bank and consequent non-payment of interest on mortgages (estimated impairment 30–40%).
Newspaper Excerpt: The Middletown Dime Savings Bank in embarrassed, and the State Bank Commissioners have ordered payments suspended until the books can be reduced equally.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. July 14, 1878 The New York Herald New York, NY

Article from The New York Herald, July 14, 1878

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Article Text

EMBARRASSED SAVINGS BANKS. [BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.] NEW HAVEN, Conn, July 13, 1878. The Middletown Dime Savings Bank in embarrassed, and the State Bank Commissioners have ordered payments suspended until the books can be reduced equally. The bank has been embarrassed three years. Two years ago a deficit of $2,500 was paid, but two dividends have been passed since The embarrasyment 19 caused by the shrinkage in value of real egiate in Hartlord owned by the bunk, and consequent non-payment of interest on mortgages. it 18 thought the impairment IS between thirty to torty per cent. The total deposits are about $70,000. The bank has been going about tou years. Within five years the Townsend Savings Bank, New Haven; Farmers and Mechanics' National Bank, Hartford; Suffolk Savings Bank. Thompsonsville Savings Bank and Middletown Dime Bank have become embarrassed. The former has been in the bands of receivers since 1874. with assets of $2,000,000, on which only thirty per cent has been de lared ID dividends.