Protection for the Bank!
Bank robbery has been a problem as long as we have had banks because “that’s where the money is.” The prohibition era gave rise to many gangsters and subsequent Great Depression created many desperate people, so it should be no surprise that bank robberies increased in those times. Small town banks were an easy target as there was less staff in the bank and a quick get-away assured. January 2, 1932 the Waterville bank was robbed of $4000 by two pistol-wielding men with a third robber in the get-away car. This was the first time the bank had ever experienced a robbery. November 28, 1933 robbers struck again. Two men, one dressed as a woman, entered the bank on a Saturday morning, produced guns and grabbed all the cash they could find. This time an alarm was sounded to Graf’s Garage down the street and armed men came running. The women’s clothing caused the posse to hesitate long enough for the robbers to back their car up the hill to Fourth Street and get away amid a hail of bullets from the Waterville men. This time the loss was only about $600 due to precautions taken after the first robbery.
The bank, after two robberies in less than two years, was forced to consider ways to protect bank assets and personnel. Other banks in the area including Whitehouse had experienced the same problem so many were installing steel cages and bullet proof glass between bank tellers and the public. An article in the Toledo Sunday Times, dated December 5, 1937 shows photos of not only such cages installed but also “booby trap” devices such as high voltage electric barriers, steel spikes, improved alarm systems and even a gas mask for tellers in case tear gas was deployed by would-be robbers. Was this over-kill or what? In any event this idea apparently didn’t last too long. Ernest Ferrell became the bank manager in 1938 and put the bank on sound financial footing in short order. His autobiographical book “Stories I Want my Grandchildren to Know” makes no mention of the above mentioned cages and booby traps but he did “modernize” the building as bank profits allowed and eventually had the building completely remodeled in a Colonial or “Williamsburg” style. I am sure he probably had these medieval protections removed but the bank was not robbed again until 1955, when it was a more modern bank.