Derby History Quiz
Current
Quiz Archives of all quizzes
![](../images/rule.gif)
The old Derby Savings Bank as it appears today
Lest
we forget, the owl in the quiz was not part of the original
building, but was added at some later day. Ironically, if you look
carefully, you can see a companion on the building next door which
dates from 1835! |
The Derby Savings Bank was not the first bank in Derby, but
it was its most famous starting from humble beginnings in 1846. It was
granted a charter by the Connecticut General Assembly on June 12 as the
Derby Society for Savings and
accepted its first deposit on August 11. It was opened as a "mutual" savings
bank for the benefit of its depositors with no stockholders. The bank was
originally operated from the back room of Sidney Downs shoe store at 168
Main Street where
it stayed for 11 years before moving to a building at the corner of Caroline
and Main Streets.
It operated from the second floor while the Manufacturers Bank which owned
the building was on the
first floor. The Manufacturers Bank later became the Birmingham National
Bank.
The men who established the bank were the leaders of the
community including Edward N. Shelton, John Howe,
David Plumb, David Bassett, Henry Atwater, and Sheldon Smith among others.
The first deposit was for the princely sum of $3.00 and the first loan was
made in the amount of $600. The bank began paying dividends on January 1,
1847.
![](../images/DerbySavings2.jpg)
In 1893, the Bank purchased the property from the Birmingham
National Bank and rebuilt the entire structure. It stayed there until it built a new
facility on the corner of Main and Olivia Streets in 1923.
It moved for the
final time as part of Derby's downtown redevelopment efforts in 1976
when it built another new facility on the corner of Main and Elizabeth
Street. That building will soon be transformed into a new city hall as the
Derby Savings Bank disappeared from the landscape during a wave of bank
mergers in the 1990's as Webster Bank purchased the bank and eventually
closed the facility in Derby.
One of the ironies of the banks location is that down
through the years, it occupied property on the corner of all four of the
"Women of Derby" streets. Derby Savings Bank was a true community bank fully involved
in the life of the community.
Correct answers were received
from: Henry Wajdowicz, Mayor Marc Garofalo, Millie from Ansonia, Rick Dunne,
Edward Baclawski, Amy Cobaugh, Bernie Williamson, Mary Lou Boroski, Cyndi
Poppa, Theodore Hawks III, Donald Nelson, Frank Lazowki Sr., Jim & Linda
Mascolo, Normand Audet, Sara Van Allen, Joan Driscoll, David Lenart, Eric
Lazowski, and Kathi Ducharme.
To see our other earlier quizzes and learn more about Derby's unique
history, click here.
![](../images/rule.gif)
|