By:Jerry Burke
The new status helps protects the building from an uncertain future. Citibank, which currently holds the lease, is moving out this year.
"The Franklin National Bank is one of the most important institutions in the development of 20th century Long Island," said Councilman Jim Darcy at the May 11 town board meeting. "The bank was a powerful stimulus to the region's suburban growth and commercial development, and it is only appropriate we recognize this rich history."
The history is indeed rich: from its humble beginnings as a local bank to its survival through the Great Depression, to its rise to become one of the largest banks in the nation and the collapse that shocked the banking world, the bank building at 925 Hempstead Turnpike represents Franklin Square's most lasting contribution to American history.
Three years after a group of local investors opened the town's first bank, the cornerstone for the new building was laid in September of 1929. A month later, the stock market crashed. As the Depression began in earnest, the bank dedicated the building on January 25, 1930.
The next four years were very lean for the bank, which avoided collapse only after shareholders pumped their own assets into it. Things looked grim for the bank when a young man named Arthur Roth was hired as a cashier in April of 1934.
Roth's first moment of inspiration was the creation of the installment loan, which helped the bank cut down on the number of bad loans it had accumulated during the Depression. He also advocated the bank's use of Federal Housing Assistance loans, paving the way for the rapid growth that lay ahead after World War II. According to Dr. Paul Van Wie's "The Way It Was, a Story of Old Franklin Square," about one quarter of all homes built in Nassau County between 1934 and 1970 were financed by the bank.
The bank's influence grew with each innovation, including owning its own parking lot, walk-up and later drive-up window service and a purchase club that helped customers save for big-ticket items like cars and the newest contraption, called television.
Oddly enough, it was one of the bank's failed programs that is perhaps best remembered today. In 1952, the bank gave customers the opportunity to purchase items from local merchants without a cash transaction. Instead, they would use a special card, with which the merchant would create a purchase slip. The bank would buy the slip from the merchant and would then receive payments from the customer. The "credit card" ended up being ahead of its time, and the bank sold the business off a few years later.
As the bank grew, so too did the building and the community. Expansions in 1939, 1947 and 1955 reflected the success of the business, which Roth insisted would remain customer-friendly. Murals on the walls, merchandise displays and even an airplane hanging from the ceiling kept people coming to the bank, which became not only the financial but social center of Franklin Square.
Roth realized, however, that Franklin Square could only grow so large. Beginning in 1950 with its first branch in Elmont (modeled after the original building, complete with the trademark weathervane), the bank grew outward. By 1959, the bank, now called Franklin National, was in need of a larger building.
Although the headquarters moved to Mineola in 1960, the Franklin Square site remained the most prized branch, with Roth keeping an office there. The Franklin National Bank reached its peak in 1968, when it was ranked the 18th largest bank in the country.
Shortly afterward, Roth was pushed out of the board of directors and the wheels began to come off. Italian banker Michele Sindona bought control of the bank, and the money started to vanish. By 1974, the bank was declared insolvent, marking the largest bank failure in American history.
The European-American Bank purchased what was left of the bank, including the Franklin Square location. Most of the images of the once proud institution were wiped away. Years later, Citibank would take over the site after buying EAB out.
Also granted landmark status at the May 11 meeting was the Schonlein-Mott House on Madison Avenue. Built in 1905, the Edwardian house became one of the first homes on Long Island designed as a suburban residence instead of the usual farmhouse.
