The Way We Were Wednesday - My First Checking Account

The building on the left, was my hometown bank. Now long gone, bought, sold, merged.  There are few small town state chartered banks left. There was a dime-store next door on the right when I was a child, complete with a candy counter.  

I had had a savings account in a larger bank in a nearby city, the fall I turned 15 I asked for a checking account.  The local bank said, yes if your parents approve we can do that.  They did. I remember there was a 3-cent charge for each check - forget that and your statement wouldn't balance.  

I remember the first check I wrote, to the G.B. Dupont company to rent an airplane, that my father flew, so we could go take photos of farms from the air.  I was making a few hundred dollars a year on aerial photos, and I stepped up to paying for the airtime with that first check. I should have kept that check.  

The account for the first year or so did not have an account number.  The check clearing house finally forced the bank to issue account numbers, or they wouldn't clear checks.  I remember the letter from the bank, apologizing and assuring us that we would never be a number to them, always a customer, a neighbor, a friend, a family member.