First Drive-In Bank

November 12, 2009

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Profile America — Thursday, November 12th. Many of us rarely see the inside of a bank anymore, standing in line to be served by a teller in person. Instead, we take care of our financial business at an ATM, by going online, or at our bank’s drive-in windows. The first such drive-up facility opened on this date in 1946 — at the Exchange National Bank in Chicago, which offered its motoring customers 10 teller windows with sliding drawers. Now, drive-up tellers are available almost everywhere, and Americans have a choice of more than 97,000 banks to handle their money, with deposits totaling $6.7 trillion. You can find these and more facts about banking in America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: www.history.com
Kane's Famous First Facts, 3796
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 1141
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009edition.html