1935 Westfield Trust Co NJ Brochure FDIC Bank Statement Directors Union County
$ 6.86
Description
1935 Westfield Trust Co NJ Brochure FDIC Bank Statement Directors Union County. The inclusion of John Z. Hatfield, President of the First State Bank of Scotch Plains, and Louis K. Hyde, President of the Plainfield Savings Bank, underscores the regional banking network in Union County, New Jersey. This brochure for the Westfield Trust Company, dated December 31, 1935, is a tri-fold pamphlet that served as a combined annual statement and directory of the bank’s leadership. The left panel lists the officers, including William M. Beard as President and Trust Officer, Robert W. Harden as Vice-President, James E. Walsh as Secretary, and John M. Hull, Jr. as Treasurer and Assistant Secretary. The central panel outlines the bank’s departmental services, which encompassed commercial and savings banking, safe deposit boxes, trust administration, investments, foreign remittance, and travel services, reflecting the comprehensive financial needs of a mid-1930s clientele. This panel also prominently displays the circular seal of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, noting the $5,000 maximum insurance for each depositor, and states the bank’s membership in the Federal Reserve System since 1918. A handwritten numeral “3” in the upper right corner of this panel may indicate a filing code or a set number within a larger collection of such statements. The right panel presents the bank’s name in a bold, classic serif typeface beneath a detailed line illustration of a classical-style bank building, complete with a flag flying from the roof, an architectural depiction that conveyed stability and permanence during the Depression era. A separate panel within the brochure lists the directors, a distinguished group whose affiliations reveal the interconnected business elite of the period. Among them are Samuel Armstrong, Vice-President of the Chase National Bank; William H. Davies, Treasurer of the Delaware and Hudson Company; Robert A. Fairbairn, a director of the National Biscuit Company; and Joseph B. Harrison, a physician. The inclusion of John Z. Hatfield, President of the First State Bank of Scotch Plains, and Louis K. Hyde, President of the Plainfield Savings Bank, underscores the regional banking network in Union County, New Jersey. The condensed statement of resources provides a snapshot of the bank’s financial health, listing cash and due from banks at $669,039.48, United States Government securities at $413,856.16, and loans totaling $1,636,397.31, among other assets. This document is a valuable artifact of New Deal-era banking, illustrating the integration of federal insurance, local commercial services, and the personal reputations of the directors in a single printed piece.
