A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from August 22, 2012
“Drive-in banking was invented so cars could go in and see their real owners”

The first bank drive up window has been credited to the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, MO, in 1930. The November 22, 1959 Family Weekly included a quote by Thomas J. Mullen:
 
“You know why drive-in banks were established, don’t you?—so the cars could see their real owners.”
 
The line was further popularized when it appeared in the Reader’s Digest. E. Joseph Cossman included the “drive-in banks” line in his book, How I Made $1,000,000 in Mail Order (1963), and Cossman is most frequently credited (falsely) for its authorship.

 
Wikipedia: Drive-through
A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s but has since spread to other countries. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive up window teller was the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri in 1930. The drive up teller only allowed deposits at that time period.
 
22 November 1959, Humboldt Standard (Eureka, CA), “Quips and Quotes,” Family Weekly, pg. 9, col. 1:
You know why drive-in banks were established, don’t you?—so the cars could see their real owners.
—Thomas J. Mullen
 
Google Books
The Reader’s Digest
Volume 76
1960
Pg. 91:
You know why drive-in banks were established, don’t you? So the cars could see their real owners (Thomas J. Mullen in Family Weekly).
 
9 May 1962, State-Times (Baton Rouge, LA), “Little Liz” (comic strip), pg. 10D, col. 4:
Drive-in banks were created so the real owners of the cars could see them once in a while.
 
8 September 1962, Evening World-Herald (Omaha, NE), pg. 4, col. 2:
“Drive-in banks were established,” the father explained to his son, “so that the cars could see their real owners.”—Wall Street Journal.
 
Google Books
How I Made $1,000,000 in Mail Order
By E. Joseph Cossman
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1963
Pg. 226:
“Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.”
 
21 April 1963, The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, OR), “Today’s Chuckle,” pg. 1, col. 6:
Drive-in banks were established so that cars could see their real owners.
 
Google News Archive
6 May 1966, Beaver County Times (PA), “The Old Timer” (comic strip), pg. A6, col. 2:
“Drive-in banking was invented so cars could go in and see their real owners.”
 
Google Books
May 1967, The Rotarian, pg. 63, cols. 1-2:
Our neighbor, who drives a 12-year-old sedan, wonders if drive-in banking was invented so the new cars could see their real owners. — The Bull Wheel, El Dorado, Kansas.
 
Google News Archive
16 July 1972, The Sunday Star-News (Wilmington, NC), “Honeysuckle” by Rip Collins, pg. 1, col. 2:
Someone pointed out the reason for drive-in banks was so cars could visit their real owners.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityBanking/Finance/Insurance • Wednesday, August 22, 2012 • Permalink


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