Bank of North America - Philadelphia, PA

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Start Date: January 27, 1908
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (39.952, -75.164)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 247c7958

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (datelined New York Jan. 27, published Jan. 28, 1908) reports announcement of a receivership for the Bank of North America in Philadelphia. No run or prior suspension is described; the paper emphasizes depositors would not lose funds and that liquidation/receivership was announced. I classify this as a suspension leading to closure/receivership (suspension_closure).

Events (1)

1. January 27, 1908 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: The announcement of a receivership of the Bank of North America produced no disagreeable sensation in wall street ... it was plainly seen that the depositors would not lose anything and this, coupled with the fact that liquidation meant only the end of a disagreeable incident gave rise to feelings of relief rather than of anxiety.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. January 28, 1908 The Washington Herald Washington, DC

Article from The Washington Herald, January 28, 1908

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

WALL STREET NOTES Suit Against Union Pacific Causes No Alarm. MARKET ADVANCE IS STOPPED Reaction in Last Hour Is Accelerated by a Rumor that Union Pacific Will in the Near Future Announce an Issue of $35,000,000 Additional Common Stock. New York, Jan. 27.-The advance in the market to-day, following the definite announcement of the government's intention to bring suit to dissolve the relations existing between the Union Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Company, made it very clear that Wall street has no apprehension regarding the outcome. The general opinion was that the Department of Justice had fired at random and had failed to hit the mark. Not the least extraordinary part, from Wall street's point of view, against the Union Pacific is that as a result of a close union between Union Pacific and Atchison "competition has to a large extent been destroyed.` The "union" shown to exist between the two companies consists of the ownership by the Union Pacific of $10,000,000 Atchison preferred out of a total of $216,000,000 capital stock outstanding How the ownership of less than 5 per cent of the voting capital constitutes control or a union nobody in Wall street has ever been able to see, and the only side of the matter that ever was regarded with any real interest in the financial section was, From whom was the stock purchased and for what reason? The announcement of a receivership of the Bank of North America produced no disagreeable sensation in Wall street, In fact the effect was of a reassuring kind. as the news set at rest the rumors that had been in circulation at the end of last week, exaggerating, as such rumors usually go, the significance of the matter to which they vaguely referred. From the state. ment of the bank commission it was plainly seen that the depositors would not lose anything and this, coupled with the fact that liquidation meant only the end of a disagreeable incident gave rise to feelings of relief rather than of anxiety. Up to 2 o'clock the market advanced with a considerable degree of vigor, and then stopped The advance was largely at the expense of the short in. terest. When the shorts who could be forced into a covering movement had retired their contracts there was nothing to sustain an advance, and in the last hour a short reaction occurred speculators who had been largely instrumental in causurg the decline last week renewing their activity on the downwar] side. The reaction in the last hour was accelerated by a rumor to the effect that Union Pacific would in the near future announce an issue of $35,000,000 additional common stock. Nothing of this kind had been heard since last summer, and coming unexpectedly the story exerted an unfavorable influence over the general market. Denials came from authoritative quarters, but these only mitigated the effect of the rumor and could not entirely remove it. Northern Pacific did not act well. It was one of the strongest features at the opening, but stock was met with in quantity when the price reached 129. and thereafter the buils seemed to be much more intent on realizing profits than on adding to their lines. The borrowing demand indicated that the short interest had been largely reduced, the stock being freely offered in the loan crowd without finding many takers.