"MAPLEWOOD BANK & TRUST CO"

Dear old-timers,

How long since there was a "Maplewood Bank & Trust Co?" When we moved here (95) I think it was Fleet.


Googling shows that it was established in 1920 and merged with Summit Trust Co. in 1991, changing its name - not sure if this is accurate


elvis said:
Dear old-timers,
How long since there was a "Maplewood Bank & Trust Co?" When we moved here (95) I think it was Fleet.

 If you've been hear since 1995 you ain't no spring chicken and are, in fact, probably an old-timer! 

Just saying. 

We moved in in 1995 too. 



It was Summit Bank in 95. That's where I had a passbook account and saved all my overtime pay toward out honeymoon.


Maplewood Bank is such a handsome bank,something you rarely see any more. I have lived in Maplewood since  believe it or not 1937 and the bank was the same then.  


Moved here in 93 and my first account there read "Maplewood Bank and Trust". Didn't last long, though. Can't remember exactly when it switched to Fleet.


They were Summit Bank from 1993-2001. That's when Fleet acquired Summit Bank.

Fleet merged with B of A in 2004.


Long story made short:

One February during which the bank celebrated Valentine’s Day with a promotion showing customer appreciation, I drove up to the window on a Saturday morning to withdraw extra cash, preparing for an upcoming vacation to Brazil.


There were a number of cars ahead of me when I joined the line up. The car in front of me was served, and as I advanced, the teller rolled down a shade!

I honked my horn repeatedly and she came back to the window and stated I had arrived on The line after closing time when I had been on the line some 20 minutes.


Right in the window was a we love our customers sign!


Back in those days, sans MOL , one wrote letters to the editor at the News-Record to vent, which I did. 

After returning from our trip two weeks later, I met with friends for lunch and was surprised when they told me I must have been really mad at the bank.

Seems the day after my letter was published, the bank almost burned down. The fire was due to a roof repair accident, but the timing was the joke!


ATMs were around then , but I never used them. I got a call from the bank president to come to see him and he would personally show me how to withdraw money to insure I would not be inconvenienced in the future.

And he did just that.


galileo said:
Maplewood Bank is such a handsome bank,something you rarely see any more. I have lived in Maplewood since  believe it or not 1937 and the bank was the same then.  

 There are two old, "fortress style" banks on Springfield Avenue in Summit. The ceiling in the Bank of America building is higher than the one in Maplewood.


There are two rather nice bank buildings on Springfield Avenue right in Maplewood.  One is a dojo and the other a fine liquor store.


The dojo was a Maplewood Bank branch and the liquor store a crestmont savings and loan. 


When I moved here the Maplewood Bank and Trust was owned and operated by Frank Allen of Maplewood, of course.  Frank was a WWII survivor and was slightly disabled.  He voluntered nevertheless as an ambulence driver during the war.  His wife's name was Libby (short for who knows what). My usual contact was VP Dave Merklin who I met in the Maplewood Jaycees (now defunct).  That was a time when I could go to the bank and find friends and familiar faces as employees.  Time has changed, but not to my liking.


FYI Libby is usually a nickname for Elizabeth.  Thanks for sharing some snippets of the past. 


tinboy said:
The dojo was a Maplewood Bank branch and the liquor store a crestmont savings and loan. 

 Most recently the dojo was a Bank of America branch.


Frank Allen was the gentleman who gave me ATM tutoring! Thanks for reminding me!


I spent so many Saturday mornings at the Maplewood Bank & Trust waiting with my mother to get cash out for the weekend before the MAC machine (aka ATM).  The line always seemed to take forever from my little kid perspective.



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