Glassboro Title and Trust Company
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The Glassboro Title and Trust building stands on the northwest corner of High Street and Center Street (the coordinates: 39.702630,-75.110690). The front of the building faces south, towards High Street. The back of the building faces north, towards the Glassboro Public Library.
The Glassboro Title and Trust Company was given a $100,000 charter in 1925. They presumably purchased and obtained ownership of the land. They contracted a Philadelphian architect, Norman Hulme, to design the building. Hulme designed the building to be 48 feet by 36 feet, have one story plus a basement, utilize plumbing and electricity, and contain brick and cement elements. The building opened in 1926 once construction ended. Interestingly, the board of directors mainly was not professional bankers. The president, Mortimer Duffield, was a medical doctor, and the secretary, Roy C. Prickett, was a hardware store manager. Only the treasurer Morgan von Lohr was a professional banker.
From 1926 to 1931, the bank mainly dealt with farmers investing their money. All went well until the effects of the Great Depression hit Glassboro. In the panic of the depression, Glassboro residents began to withdraw their money which slowly drained the bank’s resources. On September 28, 1931, the bank failed to open and never reopened. In the investigation over the money on hand. The investigation found that two directors were embezzling money from the bank: board director Wesley Brown and bank treasurer Morgan von Lohr. The two were put on trial and found guilty in 1932. Both men got five year sentences (there is some discrepancy in the reporting because some newspapers say two year sentences). In 1934, Morgan von Lohr discovered he had a terminal stomach tumor, and it looked like he would die soon. He asked for permission to die at home and the courts granted it. He lived freely for one day until he passed away in January 1934. Unfortunately, Wesley Brown’s records and paper trail went cold after sentencing. However, it seems he served his sentence and then passed away in 1945. The closing of the bank did have ramifications for the town. Farmers lost their money alongside other local Glassboro residents. The town asked for US assistance with the closing of the bank. They asked for the bank to be converted into a post office. Mayor Downer said if that were to happen it would help relieve the depression in Glassboro.
After the bank’s closing, it was never reworked or reopened as another bank, nor did the Glassboro Title and Trust Company attempt to reopen. However, the bank building underwent a series of transformations into other uses. The first significant reworking started in 1934. The building became a District Relief Office for the Glassboro area due to the Great Depression. Around seven years later, in 1941, Albert F. White, chairman of the Glassboro Relief Council, permitted and offered the building as an emergency hospital in case of an Axis power attack during WWII. In 1951, it operated as a lumber company office. Sometime later, the building became the town library until 1964, when the library moved across the parking lot into the old Acme. The building then sat vacant for many years. Nevertheless, in 1979, it became the Glassboro Heritage Glass Museum, and it still fulfills that purpose to this day.
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