Woodman Institute Museum

Many of you can remember banking at the MERCHANTS NATIONAL or STRAFFORD SAVINGS BANK and remember when there was a bank on the corner of Washington and Locust Streets called DOVER CO-OPERATIVE.  Days when banking was simple and everyone knew your name. When kids would turn in empty bottles and save nickels and dimes in a special bank, then they would go to the bank teller for a key to open and deposit the contents into a savings account book.  You had a little book that you carried home, that recorded your deposit and a total amount that had been collected and saved.

Woodman Institute Museum trustee Thom Hindle and FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK (formerly Dover Co-Op) have prepared a special exhibit that represents those old days of banking.  Sponsored by Federal Savings, items from the Thom and Mira Hindle Dover Collection will be on display throughout the 2011 season.

Remember the Hopalong Cassidy Savings Club in the 1950s…..you received pins that represented different levels of savings.  Tenderfoot, Wrangler, Bronc Buster and Trail Boss were some of the pins given out. You had a small bank that was a bust of Hoppy and coins would be inserted through a hole in his hat. Remember the metal banks with slots for inserting various coins, when full you would take it to a bank teller who had the keys to open and count the change before making a deposit into your savings account.  Maybe you received a cardboard coin holder in the shape of a candy cane at Christmas or an Easter Bunny filled with dimes. Did you ever receive a nice mechanical lead pencil from the bank, usually in celebration of an anniversary….well these and many other pieces of banking memorabilia now on display should bring back fond memories.

Dover Co-operative was located in the Walker Building on Washington Street next to Robbins Auto.  It was originally three stories until 1954 when the third floor was removed.  That became Dover Federal Savings.  Merchants National was located on the corner of Third Street and Central Avenue, now Baldface Books. Strafford Banks erected what would be called the “fortress of finance” in 1895 on the corner at Central Square. Strafford was established in 1804 near Tuttle Square.

Gone are the savings books and metal banks shaped like famous people, horses, cars and buildings, replaced by drive-up windows, automatic teller machines and on-line banking. Take a moment and step back in time this season with a visit to the Woodman. There are several new exhibits and additions to some older exhibits for all to enjoy.

This exhibit is now closed and will be removed during the winter to make room for a new 2012 exhibition.  We thank the folks at FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK for sponsoring this special exhibit enjoyed by young visitors that thought the old banks were “kool” and older visitors that remember Hopalong Cassidy and the  Strafford Bank “savings club”.