Citizens Bank of Monroe: A Town of Monroe Staple for Over Fifty Years.

Authored By Mike Maggin

23 Lake Street in Monroe NY once housed the Citizens Bank of Monroe in Monroe NY. This was a staple of the town of Monroe for more than 70 years. Now it is an abandoned property but when this photo was taken in 1965 the Citizens Bank of Monroe was celebrating its 50th anniversary.

In 1915, the United States had 7,598 National Banks and 18,227 State Banks (FDIC.Gov 2014). One of the banks that opened that year was the Citizens Bank of Monroe located in Monroe NY. Though the building is no longer in use the bank is still talked about and remembered for its great customer service, it’s giant vault, and the ability to survive the run on banks in the 1930s. Many banks did not survive the banking panics that began in October of 1930 and lasted until Roosevelts national banking holiday in 1933 (Bordo and Landon-Lane 2010, 487). During this time over 8,000 commercial banks were part of the Federal Reserve System, but nearly 16,000 were not members, including the Citizens Bank of Monroe (Richardson 2013).

Continue reading