I remember when I first walked into the Dime Bank on Broadway years ago, when I went in with my father to place some money into that bank. I saw Ed McKay sitting on the side of the tellers’ cage talking to a gentleman. He nodded his head while my father and I headed to see one of my dad’s friends who was a teller.

I remember looking around the inside of the bank, and my attention fell upon the bank’s vault in the back of the room. A thick steel door stood still as if ready to close at a moment’s warning.

While my father talked about something with the teller, Ed came over and he took me to the steel vault door. It was impressive to a young boy. Talk about security!

Banking had its origin in ancient times such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, Japanese and even the Romans. Even the great Julius Caesar needed money. He used this term in a letter, “rental of money,” as a way to gather funds needed from rental of land to be paid to a temple. Of course, even then, they required land as a security. Within a secure courtyard in the eternal City of Rome, species (coins) would be piled on a long bench called a bancu, the Latin word we eventually would Anglicize as bank.

In later times, goldsmiths were the bankers because of their wealth found in gold and silver.

In the City of Norwich, wealth earned through farming, shipping and industry led to the first bank founded in Norwich. The Norwich Bank was organized in the year 1796 by 13 prominent businessmen and citizens who were eyeing a way to gather income from the various opportunities in a growing city.

Beginnings in the 18th century

On June 21, 1796, the Norwich Bank subscribed 805 shares of stock, and with this issuance the bank also printed its own thousand dollars’ worth in small bills (mostly 20-dollar denominations.) This sounds fishy in today’s thought, but 200 years ago, this was a common practice due to the lack of sufficient species. The Pilgrims in the 1690s in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were the first group in North America to issue permanently circulating bank notes because species (gold, silver, and copper coins) were not plentiful.

In May 1824, The Norwich Savings Society was incorporated. The incorporators were local merchants, mill owners and lawyers such as John Breed, Russell Hubbard, Francis Perkins, Charles Rockwell and Charles P. Huntington. This organization, at first, opened to the public only twice a month. A few years later, their banking began full time and continued to grow and expand, assisting the people of Norwich in their saving and offering mortgages for its customers.

Their first office was in the old Norwich Bank building. They finally built a structure in 1847 on Main Street next to Trinity Church. On Jan. 1, 1895, the Savings Society moved into its new prominent building on the corner of Main Street and Broadway, which was once called Parlin’s Corner.

One little tidbit to remember is this: In 1862, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States during the American Civil War, issued a new type of legal tender — paper, country wide. This new money was called “greenbacks,” which we still use today due to the color of the dye used in the process. This new type of national paper tender was used to finance the Civil War.

Located at 16-20 Chelsea Harbor Drive (Shetucket Street as it was previously named) was the home of the old Thames National Bank (now a lawyers’ office), built in 1911. Its financial origin began on June 30, 1825, with directors who were the cream of the crop in Norwich.

They were William P. Greene, Roger Huntington, Joseph Perkins, William Gilman, Joseph Breed, Amos H. Hubbard and Calvin Goddard. In order for the Thames Bank to exist by state charter, they had to purchase the stock of the Channel Company and perform all of the requirements of dredging the Thames River to a depth of at least 10 feet so that oceangoing vessels could deliver their cargo or passengers to Norwich.

They were allowed to take a certain portion of toll money for this purpose. Also, the Thames Bank had to take all deposits, as the state mandated from the State School Fund, ecclesiastical societies, colleges and schools.

The Thames National Bank was responsible to pay dividends to these entities as they would for their own stockholders.

Quinebaug Bank

In May 1832, the Quinebaug Bank was incorporated in the General Assembly in New Haven. This sounds odd but, in those days, the General Assembly sat in New Haven or in Hartford depending on the year.

The bank began with a capital stock of $500,000, which in today’s value would be about $14.5 million, about 29 times the original value due to inflation. The state had one major condition: $200,000 must be set aside for the construction of the Boston, Norwich and New London Railroad. (This name was later changed to the Providence and Worcester Railroad, and they were responsible for the first railroad tunnel in North America in Lisbon).

The directors were Francis A. Perkins, Charles W. Rockwell, Asa Child, Arthur F. Gilman, Thomas Robinson and Edmund Smith.

First National

In June 1864, the bank’s name was changed to The First National Bank. It ceased operations on May 7, 1913.

In 1869, a dime could buy much more than it can today. For many people, this was their hourly wage. Today, the value with inflation is $2.05. The first incorporators of the Dime Bank were Amasa Hall, a grocer and an agent for a steamboat company; Francis Leavans, a manufacturer of cotton goods; Gurdon Jones, a well-known merchant; Hugh H. Osgood, a respected druggist; E.N. Gibbs, a banker, cotton mill operator and agent; N.T. Adams, a cotton goods manufacturer; plus, others; a tailor, steamboat operator, a wholesale seller of coffee, a railroad superintendent, a doctor, a lawyer and a judge of probate.

This was an exemplary representation of Norwich’s financial status in Connecticut. Its first deposit of $5 (1869) would equal $100 today.

Dime Bank

The Dime Bank grew quickly and, by 1881, the deposits were over $1.1 million ($27.6 million today). In 1926, the Dime Bank built a bank headquarters building at 33 Broadway and showed over $4.3 million ($68 million today) in value.

Since the opening of the bank at 33 Broadway, it has expanded many times. By 2021, the Dime Bank reached $1 billion in assets with its main office building located on Route 82.

The Chelsea Bank was incorporated in 1858. Lorenzo Blackstone was elected president.

The first office was located in the Merchants Hotel Building at 169 Main St. It moved its location to Shetucket Street just west of the Shannon Building (no relationship to me). This building held the old Thames National Bank and the Norwich Savings Society.

The devastating fire that destroyed the original Shannon Building required the Chelsea to move temporarily to another location while its new building was being completed. The opening date for this new building, at the junction of Cliff and Main streets, was Nov. 9, 1911.

Prior to the construction of this columned bank building, the Universalist Church had existed at this location since 1841. The church built a new building at 148 Broadway in 1910.

Chelsea Bank

The old Universalist Church building and the new 1911 Chelsea Bank building had close relationships in their shape and front facade.

Chelsea Bank’s architect was the fabled group of Cudworth and Woodworth, the same group that designed the French Gothic style Norwich State Hospital buildings 20 years earlier. The edifice is now the Chelsea Groton Savings Bank and still graces the Cliff and Main Street location in downtown Norwich.

This is just a few of the banks begun in Norwich. More information can be found on the internet or the Otis Library. For 226 years banks have been serving the Norwich area, growing and changing to assist industry and the everyday person in their “rental of money,” lending for the growth of Norwich and surrounding area.

Bill Shannon is a retired Norwich Public School teacher and a lifelong resident of Norwich.