Going to the Schenectady Savings Bank in 1939


It's March 15, 1939 at 10:27 am, and in this imaginary journey I'm going to the Schenectady Savings Bank in Schenectady, New York to do something that I haven't done since the crash, deposit my money in a bank. We're on State Street looking west towards Clinton Street.

By the way, before I do that, I want to say thank you to my top history adventurer (who prefers to remain anonymous) for finding out the exact location of this photo, which was scanned by the nice people at Duke University for their website ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions). They did all the hard work, and now I'm gonna have some fun. Come on along!


It's been ten years since the stock market crash, and I'm ready to display my confidence in the economy by taking my life savings out from under my mattress, and taking it over to Schenectady Savings. I figure that I have almost seventeen dollars, although there may be some wooden nickels, and maybe even some Confederate money. I'll let the teller figure it out.

Let's see, they've been in business for over 100 years, and it looks like they pay interest quarterly. I'm not really sure what "bankers hours" are, but I'm gonna assume that they're open since it's past 10.

There. I've made the deposit, and they gave me a little book with numbers written on it. Fourteen dollars and sixteen cents! I expected the manager would come out and shake my hand, but he was probably busy. Let's go across the street and look around.


The Save Supply Company looks interesting. Their slogan is "We Light and Shade Your Home", lighting fixtures and I'd guess window coverings. Not sure what the Marcy Shops sells, we can look in the window. Hey, let's go to Cassedy's and get a piano! They have everything in music, maybe we can get a banjo!


We could stop in at Richmond's, but I don't have enough money for a suit. Maybe once the interest is paid! Do you need a permanent wave? It's $3.00 at the Ideal. Maybe I should get a haircut? Let's stop in at Whelan Drugs, they might have something that I can afford there, like a glass of Coke.


Wait a minute, look at that! It's RKO Proctor's! Looks like Ice Follies of 1939 is playing, with the second feature being Mr. Moto in Danger Island! I wonder if they'd let us in with my wooden nickels? And look, another bank! I wonder if I should have made my deposit with the Citizen's Trust Company?


And now a word from our sponsor, which is why the photo was taken in the first place, for the advertising. The photo was proof that the billboards were up and visible. It looks like Ballantine's was promoting a way to order their ale and beer by holding up three fingers. To me, it's just a symbol for "OK" so I'd probably use that sign if you were asking me if the beer was okay. There's also an ad for Coca-Cola, pretty straight-forward: delicious and refreshing. I'm not convinced that the ad for the Hotel Lexington is placed very well, but the billboard for Richmond's fine clothes seems to be pretty visible. Interesting about the goose-neck lamps, I wonder how they all looked at night?

I'm sure that the Schenectady Savings Bank will take good care of my money. They tell me that the interest adds up, little by little as time goes by.



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