A study of banks and banking shows that in communities where banks have remained intact from their date of opening to the present, despite times of   stress and storm, doing business uninterruptedly, calmly, surely, meeting every just obligation as it came due, paying every check and draft properly presented, protecting their own patrons and the business of the community, strengthening other banks and by them being strengthened in turn, in such cities these financial institutions have promoted industries, encouraged business, and added greatly to the general welfare of the section. The monetary interests of the business of the land, ramified and scattered as it is, reaches a bank in every locality, where one is accessible, whence it takes a fresh start to strengthen the old lines of manufacture. Such an institution as described above is the First National Bank of Mt. Savage. What finer showing can a bank in any city of the size of this make ? What one can excel it’s record in the past six years ? In this period few banks in the Union can beat this record for rapid growth. The resources of the bank are over $300,000, six times as much as shown in the first statement issued on May 14^th, 1902. To the average business man this seems quite unprecedented, when it is remembered that the First National Bank began business on April 8^th 1902, with a capital of only $25,000. The deposits of the bank have grown month by month to large proportions, and the bank’s strong hold upon the business men of the community bears out the prediction that the record of previous years will be followed by corresponding increases.

       The bank’s strong list of officers are: W Bladen Lowndes, president;  Henry Shriver, vice president; H. A. Pitzer, cashier; W. Bladen Lowndes, Henry Shriver, Henry Mullaney, John Briscoe, Van Lear Black, Christian Engle, H. A. Pitzer, directors. No better or more conservative set of men can be brought together, and the personnel reflects the enterprise and hustling business spirit of the community. As a national bank, this institution is restricted by law to conservative  business methods and therefore offers complete safety to its customers. A general banking business is carried on in all its branches, commercial accounts and savings accounts, upon which 3 percent interest is paid, being solicited. During the six years of business of the First National Bank of Mt. Savage, the policy of its officers and directors has been to give its depositors and all those who have had business dealings with the bank, a thoroughly safe and sound banking institution, and to extend every convenience and courtesy that any safe bank could give . The First National Bank of Mt. Savage is distinctly a local bank owned by residents of the city and its immediate vicinity. It is a Mt. Savage institution, and is interested in the welfare of Mt. Savage and its people. The majority of the stock is held by residents of the city. The building and equipment of the bank is up-to-date and all that could be desired. The banking facilities are of the best, and this, combined with the fact that the building, safe, vault and fixtures are owned by the bank, insures its customers a safe, satisfactory and convenient means of transacting their banking business. There is no man in Mt. Savage who has taken a more active part in  the general life of the city and county than has W. Bladen Lowndes,  the bank’s president. Mr. Lowndes is also vice-president of the Second National Bank of Cumberland and also superintendent of the Mt. Savage Fire Brick Works, operated by the Union Mining Company of Mt. Savage. he has always been a man of far-seeing judgment and great financial insight, and his conservative policy has done much towards the success of the banking institution at Mt. Savage. He has not, however, stopped with lending his great good judgment and his energy in directing the  policies of the bank, but has taken an active part, commercially and otherwise, in directing every movement that has looked to the betterment of conditions and the advancement of the interests of the district. Prominent in banking, financial and industrial circles, Mr. W. Bladen Lowndes is most eminently fitted for the position he holds as president of the bank in question, and the prestige of his name adds greatly to the high standing and repute of the bank.

All the other officers and directors of the bank are men who are well known in the public and commercial life of the town of Mt. Savage, for the institution is such as to call for the services of the highest grade of men. By giving the affairs of the bank their conscientious and careful thought and management, they have been largely instrumental in building up its business and maintaining the confidence of its depositors and all who have business dealings with it. If one judges a bank by the men at the head of it, a perusal of the list of well-known and reputable business men who manage the affairs of the First National Bank of Mt. Savage will lead to a very favorable opinion being formed as its executive management.

Mr. H. A. Pitzer, the cashier, is a native of Cumberland, born there thirty five years ago and educated in the public schools of the city. It was necessary for him to start out on his career early in life and he did so with characteristic vim and energy. His first venture was in a glass factory in Cumberland, where as "off-bearer" he worked at the trade for a year, following which he entered the office of Butler and Co., furniture dealers, where he remained one year, then working in the furniture factory of the same firm for four years. With a desire to further advance himself along his career, Mr. Pitzer at this time took a course in the study of stenography at a night school and, after graduating from same, took a position as stenographer with the firm of Greenwalt & Co., where he remained two years. He then became secretary for Hon. C. Wood Dailey, general counsel for the West Virginia Central & Pittsburgh Railway at Elkins, W. Va., with whom he remained for two years, taking advantage of the opportunity to familiarize himself with the law. He then accepted a responsible position as book-keeper with the Second National Bank of Cumberland, which he held for six years. Upon the organization of the First National Bank of Mt. Savage, Mr. Pitzer was appointed cashier, A position he holds today, he being the bank’s first and only cashier.

Mr. Pitzer has always taken much interest in political matters of the county, he having been elected city treasurer of Cumberland by the city council, which position he filled satisfactorily for one term. At present he is one of the supervisors of elections for the county, and a man who is personally popular in all sections, while his work at the bank shows that he is possessed of an ability and knowledge of matters financial in a high degree, for he has made an enviable record for himself here, and depositors, officers and directors alike are convinced that they could not have secured an abler lieutenant than he. As cashier of the bank here he is generally indorsed as an instance of the right man in the right place.

In a concluding word as to the First National Bank of Mt. Savage, it might be said that the institution typlifies the solid financial bulwark which the city presents to the entire county, and as such it is entitled to the patronage of the citizens of the community. The appended statement shows the excellent financial conditions of the bank: