During the Great Depression many banks suffered runs and failures. The Montgomery Centennial history book stated that in March of 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared all American banks to close while they would be reviewed to assess that they were financially stable. The bank was reopened within a few days when it was deemed that the bank was able to operate successfully.

Joan Wheal Blank reported in her book “Around Montgomery” that after the Great Depression was over, the First National Bank emerged successfully from the trying times.

More than thirty years after the bank building was open, it underwent renovations. Joan Wheal Blank wrote in “Around Montgomery Borough 1940-1990” that in 1959, some necessary work was done to the exterior, and the inside of the bank was given a more modern look. New furniture was added to the customer lounge from H. E. Pysher, Isaac Decker, and Irvin’s Furniture Company. Upholstery work was done by Donald Hutchinson and Page Upholstering.

Farmers and Citizens Bank was built across the street from First National Bank in the early 1900s. According to the Montgomery Centennial history book, in 1965, the decision was made to merge Farmers and Citizens Bank with First National Bank. The new organization was called First Citizens Bank and everything was consolidated to run in the First National Bank building.

Montgomery resident Les Gruver began working for the bank when he was still in high school. “Everyone that worked there was congenial, and all the customers were nice. It was like a big family because everyone in town knew each other.”

The bank was a busy place in those days. Gruver said, “Montgomery was filled with stores and had lots of industry. Everyone was paid with paper paychecks back then. Montgomery Mills employed 1,500 people, and Arrolet employed about another 1,000. It was a very different environment. It made a lot more work for the bank because of so many checks. In the back of the bank there was a photograph machine, you had to photograph every check that came into the bank by hand.”

“There was a loan department on the right when you first went in. On the left side going in was loans and savings.”

He also said, “I opened and closed that big vault many times. It was so well -balanced all you had to do was give it a little tug. It was a good solid bank. We never had a break in, and there never was one, as far as I know.”

The Montgomery Centennial history book reported that a new branch was added in 1969 in Montgomery Plaza, next to Weis Market. It featured a drive-thru window, unlike the bank on Main Street.

In the 1970s, air conditioning was added, but the pipes had to run across the original ornate ceiling, so a drop ceiling was added. The air conditioning unit was so loud, that the second story boardroom in the back of the bank made it impractical for meetings. From that point forward, board meetings were conducted in the front second story room, according to Gruver.

An announcement in the Grit was made on April 29, 1973, that First Citizens National Bank became The Montgomery Bank Offices of Northern Central Bank and Trust Company.

The bank stayed at the Main Street and Houston intersection until 1986. After that, the bank moved to their branch office next to Weis Market, according to Joan Wheal Bank’s “Around Montgomery Borough 1940-1990.”

The bank building was converted to the library in 1986, when it became the new home of the Montgomery Area Public Library.

The Muncy Luminary reported on August 28, 2012, that the lower level of the building housed the Adam Print Shop from 1944 – 2009. In 2012, the Montgomery Area Historical

Society took over the space and opened the Adam Room Museum.

The library and the historical society are having a celebration to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the building on Saturday, Nov. 25, at 1 p.m.