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54-398: Mechanics National Bank may refer to: Mechanics National Bank (Philadelphia) , founded 1809 Mechanics National Bank (New York City) , founded 1810 Mechanics National Bank (New Britain) , where Philip Corbin served as Director Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

108-439: A Frenchman who spoke only French and Zeitler, a German who spoke only German. Rosengarten, a German immigrant who was fluent in both (as well as English), was so helpful that they took him on as a partner and within two years he had become the sole owner of the company. The business began to prosper after he took on another partner, N.F.H. Denis, a French chemist who was an expert in processing the malaria drug quinine, which financed

162-522: A group of Quaker elders and told to "stop teaching the clarionet to our boys or we will have thee put in prison." Rudolph “Old Dutch Cleanser” Blankenburg (director) , Mayor of Philadelphia In 1911, Rudolph Blankenburg became Philadelphia's 164th mayor. A German-born dry-goods manufacturer and merchant, he had been active in local affairs since 1880 and was affectionately known as "Old Dutch Cleanser" because of his origins and zealous dedication to reform. During his four years in office, he tried to replace

216-596: A meeting where they started their own College of Apothecaries and Penn shelved its plans. This institution later became the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and is now the University of the Sciences. George D. Rosengarten (Director) , Accountant, Pennsylvania Railroad Director and Quinine Distributor In 1821, the 20-year-old George D. Rosengarten was called in to mediate a dispute between two business partners, Seitler,

270-495: A water-powered pumping station to fill the reservoir at Fairmount (now the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art), but the water department decided to continue to use steam pumps. Three years later, the city changed its mind, bought them out, and constructed a station on their plan just below the reservoir. Uriah Hunt (director) , Publisher A generation after his death, Publishers’ Weekly still fondly remembered "Uriah Hunt,

324-482: A window – and nearly 700 people were turned away. Within an hour, they had adjourned to a nearby coffeehouse and organized the Commercial Bank. By the end of the day, five more banks had been organized in the city. The pundits were skeptical. An editorial entitled "Infatuation" appeared in several newspapers: This nation is certainly verging to a crisis, which no wisdom, no counsel, appears adequate to check or stem…

378-473: Is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates — but is a unique building styled to fit the site. It was to be located on a triangular plot at the intersection of two major thoroughfares between the waterfront and the business district . The elegant, curved east façade faces the waterfront, and reflects the carriage and foot traffic that would have been circulating in front of the building. This elevation

432-559: Is now Princeton University in 1845 and traveled extensively in Europe and the America's studying Romany, witch and Native American cultures. His first literary acclaim was for the comedies, The Hans Breitmann Ballads, and was followed by his more serious folklore studies. Throughout his career he produced more than 50 books including The English Gypsies (1873), Algonquin Legends (1884) and Aradia, or

486-516: Is unique — Greek Revival, but modern — while a more staid and formal elevation can be found on the west side, facing Third Street. In the same year he designed the Merchants' Exchange, 1832, Strickland entered a project in the competition for Philadelphia's Girard College, which won the second prize. Strickland's 1836 National Mechanic Bank at 22 South 3rd Street, set on a narrow plot between two taller neighbors, has strong, square pilasters to support

540-482: The 1814 charter, directors no longer had to be active mechanics, and a few merchants, "gentlemen," and professional bankers began to join the board. As manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution replaced handicraft, factory owners and managers replaced the remaining artisans and master craftsmen. The bank continued to specialize in funding the manufacturing industries and Philadelphia mechanics, continued to lead

594-623: The First Presbyterian Church (now the Downtown Presbyterian Church ) was controversial but today is widely recognized as a masterpiece and an important evocation of the Egyptian Revival style. Strickland was also a civil engineer and one of the first to advocate the use of steam locomotives on railways. Some argue that Strickland's observations made during visits to England in the 1820s were highly influential in

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648-568: The Franklin Institute and his wife's cousin. Because of the narrow lot at 22 S. 3rd St, the Mechanics' Bank is one of Strickland's smallest buildings, but the challenge seems to have inspired him. The heavier square pilasters that support the corners of the portico instead of round columns and the especially fine stone carving (by his longtime partner John Struthers) help to keep the building from being overwhelmed by its bulkier neighbors. Because

702-568: The Freedom Theater complex. His descendants remain in the brewing business to this day – one of his daughters married a Yuengling . Joseph Gillingham (director) , Merchant and engineer Although Joseph Gillingham was a merchant, not a mechanic, he shared the other early directors’ interest in manufacturing and technology. With Josiah White, he built a water-powered nail factory at the Falls of Schuylkill (now East Falls). In 1817, they offered to build

756-662: The Gospel of the Witches (1899). He died in Florence, Italy in 1903 and his ashes were interred in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery. His works are still read today by Wicca's and others interested in folk history for their fine lyrical content and first-hand sources of antiquated incantations and spells. Ebenezer Maxwell (director) , Eminent Victorian William Strickland (architect) William Strickland (November 1788 – April 6, 1854)

810-407: The Mechanics' Bank is not inferior to any in the city either in its appearance, exterior or interior, nor in respect to its perfect adaptation to the use for which it has been erected." Unfortunately, their satisfaction with Strickland's architecture didn't extend to his business practices: he had sent them a bill for $ 3,920 in additional expenses resulting from changes to the corners of the portico and

864-665: The Western Hemisphere. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1820. Strickland was born in the Navesink, New Jersey to John and Elizabeth Strickland. While William was still a child, the family moved to Philadelphia (c. 1790), where his father -- a master carpenter -- became, in 1811, a charter member of the Practical House Carpenters' Society In his youth, Strickland

918-468: The antiquarian Abraham Ritter recalled that "Mr Flintham was a very active and intelligent man, whose mechanical trade could not confine his genius; and passing from the cooper-shop to the counting-house, entered more extensively in the shipping business, but alas, in fine, not to profit." William Gaul (director) , Malt manufacturer and brewer Director William Gaul was part of a large family of brewers in Philadelphia. His father, Frederick Gaul, had come to

972-623: The arrangement of the vault and offices. They claimed not to have authorized most of them and refused to pay the additional money, perhaps in part because the charter limited expenditures on land and buildings for the banking house to $ 50,000. The aids to be derived from the existing Banks cannot but be too limited and too casual to answer fully all the good purposes to which, under special modifications, such Establishments may be made conducive. Conducted as they generally are by men, tho' liberal and enlightened, yet of commercial rather than mechanical pursuits, their information cannot but be imperfect as to

1026-704: The best material, for $ 19,930." Their choice as architect and contractor was William Strickland , one of the most prominent in Philadelphia and a pioneer of the Greek Revival style who had already designed the Second Bank of the United States on Chestnut Street and was working on new buildings for the Bank of Philadelphia and Merchants' Exchange. In addition, he had personal ties to the bank, whose directors included several contractors he had worked with, as well as colleagues from

1080-867: The character and credit of persons engaged in occupations entirely different from their own. Memorial of the Directors of the Mechanics’ Bank of the City and County of Philadelphia to the Pennsylvania State Legislature . January 14, 1812 By the time the bank moved into Strickland's building, the bank's character had already begun to change. The original organizers had been among the city's most successful craftsmen (most employed many apprentices and journeymen and several had sidelines as merchants as well as their trades), but most still had started as apprentices and worked alongside their employees, but starting with

1134-518: The church as a “neat and elegant edifice” whose “design was given by Mr. William Strickland, of this city,” and whose “execution has done justice to the taste of the Architect.” (Jeffrey. A. Cohen, 1983). Strickland's evolving talent and confidence is seen in the later Merchants' Exchange (1832–34). Also in Philadelphia, the Merchant Exchange is built on classical example — for example, the cupola

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1188-449: The city from Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany in 1804 and owned the former Robert Hare brewery which had made George Washington's favorite porter. William Gaul was a successful malt manufacturer and dealer as well as brewer and built one of the first mansions on North Broad Street. It later became the home of the actor Edwin Forrest and, after his death, a home for retired actors and now forms part of

1242-560: The company's expansion. Its products won numerous awards from the Franklin Institute and by 1862 it was selling more than 350 different chemicals and was the main provider of quinine to the Union Army. Frederick Lennig (director) , Chemical Manufacturer Another German, Nicholas Lennig established the Tacony Chemical Works in 1831 but died soon after. His son, Charles, and nephew Frederick Lennig (a Mechanics' Bank director) inherited

1296-542: The corporation and transfer its business to Girard National Bank . Subsequent owners rented the building to various other banks until the depression; then sold it to the Norwegian Seaman's Mission, which remodeled it as a chapel and social service center for sailors until 1982 when the dwindling congregation moved to Old Swedes’ Church in South Philadelphia and sold the building at auction. After twenty-five years as

1350-420: The den of sordid speculation. Within weeks, the legislature had banned unchartered associations from most banking activities and the new bank temporary closed, lent most of its capital back to the shareholders, and began lobbying for a charter, which was finally granted in 1814. For its first twenty years, the "Banking House" was a three-story brick building formerly occupied by a hat and bonnet maker (the vault

1404-465: The early days of the 19th century. Colonial blacksmiths forged nails one at a time, but by the 1790s, machines had been developed that could cut many nails from one long iron bar and, later, shape the heads as well. Davis was one of the first to adopt this new technology: in addition to running his own shop, he was in 1795 appointed as an assistant keeper at the Walnut Street Prison to "help direct

1458-522: The factory. At the Centennial Exposition in 1876, they were awarded a medal "for the products exhibited coming from the distillation of wood, for metallic salts and especially for the careful manufacture of sulphate of alumina and alum". Charles Godfrey Leland (customer, son of director) , Poet, folklorist, and educator Charles G. Leland was a poet, folklorist, antiquarian, libertarian and educator. Born in Philadelphia, he matriculated from what

1512-465: The finished painting for its explicit and erotic depiction of male students and friends. The following year, he fired Eakins for removing a drapery from a male model in front of female students, though he continued to buy his paintings. His brother, George M. Coates, was also a director of the bank. Abner Davis (director) , Nail factor and jailer Nail manufacturer Abner Davis's life shows how Philadelphia's economy shifted from handicraft to industry in

1566-407: The first to acquire its capital from a large number of small shareholders instead of a few large investors. While the organizers bought some stock themselves, they reserved most of the 14,000 shares for a public sale at Independence Hall the next month. There wasn't enough room in the building for everyone who wanted to buy stock – according to one report, a man lost his hat and wig trying to climb in

1620-447: The founders of the Mechanics' Bank were artisans who had served traditional apprenticeships but whose later paths set them apart from their peers. John Aitken was a silversmith in his native Scotland, but when he moved to Philadelphia in 1785, he became one of North America's first music publishers. While his competitors printed sheet music using hand-engraved metal plates, Aitken introduced the use of standardized punches to stamp notes onto

1674-667: The greatest American realist painter. As chairman of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts’ Committee on Instruction, Coates was instrumental in appointing Eakins as director and supported reforms like teaching anatomy from nude models instead of plaster casts. In 1883, the two served together on a University of Pennsylvania's committee to oversee the photographer Eadweard Muybridge 's pioneering studies of human and animal movement. However, he soon grew uncomfortable with many of his practices, especially his use of students as models. In 1885, he commissioned "The Swimming Hole," but rejected

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1728-712: The iconic Parthenon of Athens . Proud of the building, Strickland had it included in the background of his 1829 portrait by Philadelphia society painter John Neagle . The oldest building designed by W. Strickland, which is preserved to this day, is the Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church, located at 222-230 Brown Street Philadelphia (Northern Liberties Area), formerly known as St. John's Episcopalian Church . An anonymous report from its consecration, published on September 21, 1816, in Relf’s Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertiser , describes

1782-422: The legendary Club Revival and several other bars including an ill-fated Coyote Ugly and Foggy Goggles, the building has seen a rebirth. The current tenants have chosen the historically pertinent name, National Mechanics, to make an upscale bar and restaurant where the décor and demeanor tip their respective hats to the building's original incarnation. The front of the structure remains as Strickland built it, but

1836-405: The plates, a faster process which also produced more legible scores. In 1807, Aitken opened a music store at 76 North Second Street in an odd-looking building known as "Jones’s Folly." In addition to his publishing business, he dabbled in composition (with little success) and rented the second floor to an Englishman by the name of Blake, who gave flute and "clarionet" lessons until he was visited by

1890-463: The political cronies appointed by predecessors like John Reyburn with trained professionals, instituted a modern civil service system with on-the-job training and standardized employee benefits, and systematized city contracts. His wife, Lucretia Longshore Blankenburg , was a prominent women's suffragist and an important reform activist in her own right. George H. Boker (director) , Playwright and poet While almost forgotten today, George Henry Boker

1944-690: The portico and ornate stone carving at their tops to defend the building against its taller and bulkier neighbors. One of Strickland's last Philadelphia designs and among his smallest, the building is now occupied by National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant . Strickland also executed works in other styles, including very early American work in the Gothic Revival style, including his Masonic Hall (1808–11, burned 1819) and his Saint Stephen's Church (1823), both in Philadelphia. He also made use of Egyptian, Saracenic and Italianate styles. He later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where his Egyptian -influenced design of

1998-502: The rear and interior have been greatly altered. In 1898, the architect James Windrim renovated it for the bank, replacing Strickland's vault and directors room (as well as a small office added later) with a much larger two story structure of fireproof brick and iron construction, while the church divided the main room into two stories and added additional office space at the rear in 1930 and later tenants made further changes. John Aitken (subscriber) , Music publisher and composer Most of

2052-490: The ruin and bankruptcy and depreciation of credit, as well as morals, that have been exhibited by the multiplication, beyond all measure, of banking institutions; within a week a new bank called the Mechanics' Bank… the run for signatures of its stock was so great that six or seven hundred persons could not obtain access to the place of subscription...We may expect to see the whole property of this flourishing state, and all its useful industry and frugal habits, about to be sunk into

2106-511: The side walls faced very narrow alleys, most of the building was a single high room in which a large skylight lit both the main banking room with its U-shaped mahogany counter and the president and cashier's offices, which were separated from the main room by lower partitions of wood paneling. The vault and second-story directors’ room occupied a narrower wing at the back. In November 1837, the building committee reported that "the Banking House of

2160-775: The tall, serene, and in every way worthy and admirable Quaker publisher of county and other school books and useful works." One of Hunt's best-selling authors was Parson Mason Weems, the fanciful biographer who invented the story of George Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree. Jacob Johnson and William Woodward (directors) , Publishers Both Johnson and Woodward published religious books, primarily for western, rural markets, and pioneered new methods of wholesale and "mail-order" distribution. Johnson and his partner Benjamin Warner both traveled extensively and built personal relationships with small town merchants and booksellers, while Woodward relied on his reputation for personal piety to gain

2214-525: The title Mechanics National Bank . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mechanics_National_Bank&oldid=1107569492 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Mechanics National Bank (Philadelphia) In 1809, Philadelphia

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2268-526: The transfer of railway technology to the United States: "William Strickland's Reports are the starting point of American railway engineering, and represent the state of knowledge as the first railways were planned in that country." In 1835, the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad hired him to survey a route from Wilmington, Delaware , to Charlestown, Maryland . Later that year, he was named chief engineer of

2322-808: The trust of local ministers who handled his distribution for him. Philip Justice (director) , Manufacturer and war profiteer Philip Justice owned a factory for cast steel springs and other railroad parts and equipment in North Philadelphia. He was the first American to import steel tires for railroad cars, which he sold to Philadelphia's Baldwin Locomotive works. During the Civil War, he invented "an improved mode of attaching Armor Plates to Vessels" and he turned over much of his plant to military production, but he seems to have been far more interested in profit than patriotism: an investigation and court case found that, in

2376-492: The words of the US Supreme Court, "the arms were unserviceable and unsafe for troops to handle." Stephen North (director) , Pharmacist Stephen North was a pharmacist and early director of the bank. In 1821, the University of Pennsylvania announced that its medical school would establish a pharmacy program, a move that local pharmacists saw as an attempt by physicians to take over their profession. In response, North chaired

2430-569: The work… of the Men in the Yard, Smith Shop, & Nail Factory," which he had set up. William Flintham (director) , Cooper and would-be merchant The bank drew its early directors from among Philadelphia's most successful tradesmen. Most of these employed many apprentices and journeymen and some moved on to become manufacturers or merchants – with varying success. In 1807, William Flintham invested profitably in shipping some flaxseed to Ireland. A generation later,

2484-423: The world in building and maintaining the equipment that it required, but by the time it became part of the new federal banking system as Mechanics National Bank, it answered to mechanics’ employers, not the mechanics themselves. The surviving records of Mechanics National Bank end in 1900. Two years later, it bought back most of its stock, and on February 16, 1903, the fifteen remaining shareholders voted to dissolve

2538-488: Was a landscape painter, illustrator for periodicals, theatrical scene painter, engraver, and pioneer aquatintist . His Greek Revival designs drew much inspiration from the plates of The Antiquities of Athens . Strickland and Latrobe competed to design the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia (1819–1824), a competition that called for "chaste" Greek style. Strickland, who was still copying classical prototypes at this point, won with an ambitious design modeled on

2592-525: Was a noted architect and civil engineer in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and Nashville, Tennessee . A student of Benjamin Latrobe and mentor to Thomas Ustick Walter , Strickland helped establish the Greek Revival movement in the United States. A pioneering engineer, he wrote a seminal book on railroad construction, helped build several early American railroads , and designed the first ocean breakwater in

2646-459: Was a well-known poet, playwright, and diplomat in the mid-19th century. He was originally trained as a lawyer but after traveling in Europe, he was inspired to become a writer instead. He published a few books of unremarkable lyric poetry in the 1840s and then turned to drama, becoming one of the most successful American playwrights by the mid-1850s. He specialized in blank verse romantic tragedies, usually in historical European settings; his best known

2700-529: Was already known for both skilled workers and as America's main financial center, but the merchants who controlled its banks had little interest in lending to mechanics or manufacturers. So a small group of artisans and master craftsmen resolved to organize one that would be run by and for the mechanics themselves. The following January, they adopted a set of bylaws that required all directors to be mechanics currently working at their trades and prohibited mercantile investments like ships. The bank would also be one of

2754-475: Was also a director of the Mechanics' bank, and later was president of the much larger Girard Bank during the 1857-8 financial crisis. George Boker's The Book of the Dead was a response to his father's posthumous critics. Edward H. Coates (director) , Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Mechanics' Bank director Edward H. Coates was a businessman and art patron most notorious for his association with Thomas Eakins, perhaps

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2808-445: Was an addition in the back yard) and by 1833, it had become completely inadequate for its purpose. After a burglar took $ 3,995 in gold and silver one night, an inspection found the building "in a decayed state and in many parts quite insecure." Despite some hasty repairs, the bank outgrew the building within two years, temporarily expanded into the house next door and began to buy land on the opposite side of Third Street. Unfortunately, it

2862-467: Was only able to obtain two adjacent lots, resulting in a narrow site flanked by higher buildings on both sides. The name Philadelphia Mechanic has become synonymous with skill and superiority in workmanship. Edwin Troxell Freedley, Philadelphia and Its Manufactures, 1859 In the summer of 1836, the directors authorized "the erection of a Banking House...to be completed in a substantial manner of

2916-636: Was the 1855 Francesca da Rimini. In the 1860s, he returned to writing lyric poetry, especially sonnets. During the Civil War, Boker helped organize (and later became president of) the Union League to support the war effort and published Poems of the War, a collection of lyric poetry In recognition of his services, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him Minister (Ambassador) to the Ottoman Empire in 1871 and, four years later, to Russia. His father, Charles S. Boker,

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