Sunday, September 07, 2014

Recycled

Poughkeepsie, NY

When I was a little kid my parents did their banking—such as it was; checking, savings, safe deposit box, and mortgage—at The Montclair Savings Bank. It was an august institution with a vast high-ceiling marble interior and limestone exterior. Probably what this building looked like around 1955. I'd guess they were the local bank willing to give a machinist a mortgage to buy an acre of land in the mid-40s, then expand the loan for construction costs of a house (which he mainly built himself). Got their return, month in, month out, no flips or trades or bundles or tranches.

I wonder if Montclair Savings, or even the building, exists at all today. Probably not.

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