This is the night deposit safe of the Guilford National Bank at the corner of Elm and Washington Streets. Guilford National Bank opened in 1934. At one time, the building also housed the Greensboro National Bank. Neither Greensboro nor Guilford National Banks are still in existence; however, the safe remains-- another artifact of a bygone era. The safe evokes the era when everyone carried large bags of cash to the bank. We were a cash and carry society. The bank building is still a dynamic and vibrant rock solid place.
By chance, we stumbled upon an interesting case that the Guilford National brought against the Southern Railway Company on behalf of the estate of Jesse Coble in 1963. This week in N on ABC Wednesday and some more "N's" on our to-do list: N is for News & Record. The N&R has compiled an interesting list of history related to our Greensboro banks (here). N is also for Nido (Qubein), president and powerhouse fundraiser of High Point University. N is for New Garden Nursery! We are working remotely today. If we get a chance, we will share this with our fellow bloggers at ABC Wednesday. As you can see from Monday and Tuesday this week, on days we don't link to our international viewers, local viewers tend to look without commenting :(
Neat! There was a restaurant in my college town called Tellers. It was in an old bank and they still had the counters for the bar and the old vault room was where the restrooms were. It was a neat place.
Posted by: Halcyon | Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 09:57 AM
Very interesting! Love history of any kind. Hope you have a wonderful week. :D
Posted by: Leslie | Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 11:56 PM
Well, that's clever... I never thought of NIGHT Deposit. Good choice for ABC letter "N".
Posted by: Wanda | Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 01:30 AM
Well, we are a talkative group! The history of banks, of how we used to trust our banks and our local bankers, who we knew personally, and your night deposit, which today would require armed guards, is an interesting story of our evolution.
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
Posted by: Roger Green | Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 04:25 AM
I've been so busy this week, I'm just getting around to visiting. Decided to visit from the bottom up since I know these get left behind.
I love these old signs of times gone by. My post is also about NC ~ I'm heading your way! So excited, I'm busting a gut.
Posted by: Cheryl | Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 05:57 PM
Don't think there are still night-deposit-boxes like these still in use but you can deposit cash & cheques via some ATMs these days.
Posted by: gerald | Friday, October 22, 2010 at 05:21 AM