Greenwich Savings Bank - New York, NY

Bank Information

Episode Type: Run Only
Bank Type: savings bank
Start Date: August 1, 1893
Location: New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 4e741f77

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals

Description

Multiple contemporaneous newspaper accounts (Aug 1–3, 1893) describe a brief run/withdrawal pressure on Greenwich Savings Bank during the wider 1893 savings-bank disturbances. The bank posted the 60-day notice and continued operations; it did not suspend or close. Cause appears to be public alarm/rumors among less-informed depositors rather than insolvency or correspondent failures.

Events (1)

1. August 1, 1893 Run

Cause: Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details: Deposit crowding and withdrawals triggered by scares and rumors among less-informed depositors during the wider 1893 savings-bank disturbance; banks posted sixty-day notice to check runs.
Measures: Posted sixty-day notice (time-rule) restricting large withdrawals; paid withdrawals in gold/coin when needed; selectively honored emergencies by check.
Newspaper Excerpt: At the Greenwich Savings Bank eightythree women and thirty-seven men ... given notice yesterday that at the end of sixty days they would withdraw their entire account ... President J. Harsen Rhoades said ... Of the $52,000 taken out...
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (4)

1. August 1, 1893 The Jersey City News Jersey City, NJ

Article from The Jersey City News, August 1, 1893

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Article Text

DEPOSITORS CALMER. The Run on the New York Savings Banks Checked Today. NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 1893. - There was a marked decrease in the number of persons in the different savings banks this morning. The condition of affairs when the banks opened for bualness showed that the depositors had regained their confidence. The only depositors on hand were Italian and servant girls. who were scared by re ports they had heard. The only noticeable crowd was at the German Spar Bank at Fourteenth street and Fourth avenue. The depositers there were of the ignorant class. The line reached quite a distan ce on the sidewalk. At the Dry Dock Bauk. the Bowery Bank, the Greenwick Savings Bahk and several other banks where crowds gathered yesterday everything was quiet. Business was going on in the usual way. At the Green wich Savings Bank eightythree women and thirty-seven men End given notice yesterday that at the end of sixty days they would withdraw their entire account from the bank. A statement was given out this morning that 1$10,000 had been received yesterday from 114 depositors. Five hundred and thirty-two depositors withdrew $52,000. Or the $52,000 taken ont, $20,000 went to thirty depositors by check. It was not until each depositor showed that be really needed that he got what he wanted beyond the stipulated $100, President J. Harsen Rhoades said this morning: "From the accounts of July 31, 1892, we find that $28,000 was paid into the bank and $30,000 withdrawn; so you can see how it compares with yesterday. "The outlook is favorable. We shall have at least $10,000,000 in gold from abroad inside of ten days. It is already in (sight, All that the country needs is to have Congress meet and repeal the purchasing clause in the Sherman law at once and then go home. leaving everything else alone. The country needs rest and confidence will then be restored."

2. August 1, 1893 The Sun New York, NY

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PLENTY OF MONEY ON HAND. SAVINGS BANKS FIND THAT THERE'S HONK ION SCHRE General Enforcement of the Time Rule Ex. cept Where Money Was Actually Needed -The Poorest People Flocked to Their Banks, Which Are the Richest, and Drew the Limit-Plenty Who Came to Deposit, Not to Draw-Payments Chiefly In Gold. At second and third hand. in their clubs. churches. and other meeting places. in the gossip of the Sunday holiday. the less-informed classes of savings bank depositors had heard that something or other was up at the savings banks where their money was, and they took their bank books early yesterday morning and went around to see about it. What was up. as the newspaper readers knew. was that the banks proposed to check any ate tempt at a run by posting the sixty-day notice rule. The rule was applied whenever circumisou U 91 1I # ериш standed tive discourager of runs. and it did its work. Only one of the larger savings banks failed to post the rule. That was the Bank for Savings in Bleecker street. There had been no meeting of the trustees. and as President Trimble had plenty of cash he did not act. It is possible that a notice will be nosted there to-day. Several of the banks with deposits of less than ten millions did not post notices because the demand on them for money was notso great. Their depositors are.as a rule. of a class that is not ignorantly frightened. In New York city, with one exception. the biggest savings banks are those resorted to by the poorest people. These banks of the poor are the Bleecker Street. the Bowery. the Citizens'. the Emigrant Industrial. and the German. They have more of the and -steins than any others, and they naturally drew a crowd yesterday. At the German bank. at the corner of Fourteenth street and Fourth avenue. two hundred people were pushing and mauling each other for places nearest the door before the door opened. There was just as big a crowd at the Bleecker Street Bank. At the Bowery. the Citizens'. and the Emigrants the crowd was smaller. but was just as noisy. Of course, when the doors of those banks were opened line up places the 103 07 usns PIIM B SUM there for the paying tellers' windows. In a dozen places on the walls of the Emigrants' bank the following notice was posted: As provided by Chapter XVII. article 8, of the laws, -us our 10 notice sawp require IIIM queq #141 euo suins IIV JO pepues no фриш eq IIIM ROOM have ;unome 1841 01 B1 prud eq IIIM 001$ Suppesere uns ou puw "puetned each calendar month until further notice. The half-dozen watchmen who assisted in forming the crowd in line pointed out these notices. Some of those in the crowd who didn't want $50, put their books in their pockets and went home. Not more than one in a hundred left notice that be wanted his money when the time was up. A great many wailed. because they were born wallers. Up to 2 o'clock the Citizens' bank had recelved only thirty notices of withdrawal. The notice there was that sums under $100 would a thirty that pue рившер uo plud 0q would be required for the withdrawal of larger accounts. The notice at the Bowery bank permitted the withdrawal of sums under $300 on demand and required sixty days' notice on larger amounts. The crowd at these banks remained until 4 o'clock. It did not increase. and depositors got their money at the rate of about four a minute. At the Bleecker Street Bank and the German Bank the crowd extended out into the street all day. Competitors for place jostled each other 80 much that policemen were called W.JO.A eqf орвш pun Sujuend euror "up of paying slow. and they probably didn't average more than one in three minutes. The German Bank required sixty days' notice on '001$ JOAO suins The banks paid mostly in gold. with a little silver, small currency being scarce. The offiup perjun personsible baueq the 10 IIB 10 $100 saying that as a run the flurry was a complete failure. The President of the Dry Dock Bank said: eye "OM7 10 Aup B up 10A0 eq sterly IIIA 9I.. signs are that it is breaking already. There isn't even the possibility that any of the banks will use half of the cash it has ready.' President Trimble of the Bleecker Street Bank said: All the banks are in an excellent condition and can stand this sort of thing a long while. The notice demanded by some of the banks operates for the protection of the foolish depositor. and he needs it. People who object to this notice should remember that it is not possible for the banks to take money and invest it in order to make interest for them, and then to realize on the inand 91 seuon rection s quemous B qu Asstriet into savings banks to be saved and to earn more money The savings bank depositor must have his money locked up just as the business man has who invests his money. There is this difference. that the money of the savings bank depositor is absolutely safe. Thelaw fixes the nature of the investment." At the several banks where notice of withdrawal was required exceptions were madein show could OUM deposites 10 este the -ind offects AUB JOJ Aeuour our popeou they they " bardship V osiepun pinom pus 'esod did not get it. In two instances THE SUN repue 009'1$ another up pred $2.000 MUS Jersod our 1021 OUM ueur 140 $1.200 another up money brought with them the proof that it was required for immediate use. They were paid -sodep SUM Aeuou 10 [vep quest V check 4q "яморијм 10 108 euo 38 Aup our pepp while the timid were crushing each other at up 000'91$ recorded rusq euo new other the deposits before noon. On an average nearly products Aupuom JO sunows Jensn the was received The Greenwich Savings Bank. Sixth avenue and Sixteenth street, put up the sixty day notice. and most of the depositors who had come TEAM The AQUOU there no Map 01 em 18 line the affernoon the uI notice BUILD pus 1098 pus 1 MOLD MODUIM Pupied when the bank closed there were hardly more wodn there puno; eq 01 OJW than # up epiood any afternoon. President J. Harsen Rhoades said to a reporter: ply We for are depositors the want to enforcing purpose of the withdraw looking their it sixty-day up. rule money sim- Where where OM 1 10 001$ no aver 01 THAT SUSM Zeqz new 1 them 01 11 9A12 discritton uno esn 9M sums

3. August 2, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, August 2, 1893

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Italians and Hebrews, who evidently did not seem to know much about English, but who walted patiently in line and took their $50 as contentedly as If that was all they wanted. These people did not give any notice of the withdrawal of the balance. " Were there any deposits " Mr. Trimble was asked. "Quite a number," he answered, and I am sure there would be many more only for the difficulty and bother of pushing through the crowds. We had placed in our keeping to-day $7,000." J. Horace Rhoades, president of the Greenwich Savings Bank, said that as far as his bank was concerned, the run was over-"i if It ever could be called a run," he added. "There was no one time here today when I counted more than fifteen men and ten women." Did you have any depositors Of course we did," answered Mr. Rhoades, cheerily; "ninety-five of them who handed in $6,600, and we had eleven who took out $30,000." "Were any large sums paid out ?" "Yes, we paid some sums of over $1,000 each. Of the $30,000 withdrawn, $7,000 was taken by twentyone persons, and they were all paid by check. There were a couple of genuine European trips to be made and we furnished these people, whom we knew to be telling the truth, with all they wanted for this purpose." At the Bowery Savings Bank, the Emigrant, the Dry Dock, the Manhattan Savings Institution, and the other banks of the same class, the general condition of things was about the same as at the ones written about.

4. August 3, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, August 3, 1893

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SAVINGS BANK DEPOSITORS ARE CALM. AT THE GREENWICH MORE MONEY WAS TAKEN IN THAN WAS PAID OUT. The soundness of the savings banks in New-York City was never better demonstrated than by the manner 10 which they went th:ough the recent run made on them. E. A. Quintard, the president of that bank, said to a reporter: "The run is practically over. Our deposits for to-day were $4,000 against $12,000 withdrawn. On Monday $40,000 was drawn and $25,000 on Tuesday. The total amount drawn since July 1 is $500,000." Edward Wood, the president of the Bowery SavIngs Bank, said: The sum of $144,000 was withdrawn on Monday against $12,000 deposited. On Tuesday $28,000 was withdrawn and $14,000 was deposited. The figures for to-day are about the same." William G. White, the controller of the Bleecker Street Savings Bank, said: "We have sold no bonds and there is no reason why we should. On Tuesday $40,000 were withdrawn against $9,000 placed on deposit. To-day there was $26,000 withdrawn against $10,000 of deposits." Joseph Bird, the vice-president of the Manhattan davings Institution, said : "On Monday $99,000 was withdrawn against $5,000 in deposits. On Tuesday $15,000 was drawn against $5,000 deposited. and today $10,000 was withdrawn against $6,000 deposited. Some of the people who withdrew their deposits on Monday have redeposited them to-day." Some of the elderly women who have had accounts at this institution many years have been solicitous on account of the present financial difficulties. One came to the bank with $115 and said she thought it a shame that people should get so "skeary" about such things and It was about time that the depositors came forward and showed their confidence. Believing that the bank was in need of money, she desired to show her confidence in the institution by depositing extra money now. T. F. Amthor, the treasurer of the German Savings Bank, said: "We have $3,000,000 in actual cash in our vaults. On Monday $45,000 was withdrawn, on Tuesday $33,800. and to-day $27,000. It is not at all unusual for us to pay out $200,000 in one day when there is not the slightest suggestion of a run or a panic." J. Harsen Rhoades, the president of the Greenwich Savings Bank. said: "On Monday $52,000 was withdrawn against $10,000 deposited. On Tuesday $30,000 was withdrawn against $6,600 in deposits, and to-day only $8,000 has been withdrawn while $9,000 has been deposited."