>The Bank of United States was chartered on June 23, 1913 with a capital of $10 and a surplus of $50,000. The bank was founded by Joseph S. Marcus, a former president of the Public Bank, also of Delancey Street. Marcus, who was responsible for the building up of Public Bank, started the new bank, with the backing of several well-known financiers, because of a disagreement with other members of the management. Though the directors of Public Bank objected to the choice of name, arguing that “ignorant foreigners would believe that the United States government was interested in this bank and that it was a branch of the United States Treasury in Washington”, the name was approved and the bank came into being.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-NYTfound-2) The use of such an appellation was outlawed in 1926 but did not apply retroactively.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-nytstreet-4)
>The closing of Bank of United States came as a shock to the banking industry, which had not seen a failure of a large New York bank since the stock market crash of 1929, and the first failure of such magnitude since the failure of the [Knickerbocker Trust Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_Trust_Company) in 1907.[[16]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-16) Worried city and state officials tried to reassure the public by rushing through the program by which Bank of United States depositors could borrow money against their deposits.[[17]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-17) Some depositors started to receive their loans on 23 December 1930 and *The New York Times* reported that throngs of depositors lined up to receive their loans, many arriving hours before the branches opened and many were turned away because they could not be served by the end of the day.[[18]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-18)
Johannes_P
The founding of the [Bank of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States):
>The Bank of United States was chartered on June 23, 1913 with a capital of $10 and a surplus of $50,000. The bank was founded by Joseph S. Marcus, a former president of the Public Bank, also of Delancey Street. Marcus, who was responsible for the building up of Public Bank, started the new bank, with the backing of several well-known financiers, because of a disagreement with other members of the management. Though the directors of Public Bank objected to the choice of name, arguing that “ignorant foreigners would believe that the United States government was interested in this bank and that it was a branch of the United States Treasury in Washington”, the name was approved and the bank came into being.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-NYTfound-2) The use of such an appellation was outlawed in 1926 but did not apply retroactively.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-nytstreet-4)
The bank run:
>On December 10, 1930, a large crowd gathered at the [Southern Boulevard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Boulevard_(Bronx)) branch in the Bronx seeking to withdraw their money, and started what is usually considered the [bank run](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_run) that started the [Great Depression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression) (though there had already been a wave of bank runs in the southeastern part of the U.S., at least as early as November 1930). [*The New York Times*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times) reported that the run was based on a false rumor spread by a small local merchant, a holder of stock in the bank, who claimed that the bank had refused to sell his stock.[[14]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-select.nytimes.com-14)
>
>By the midday, a crowd of 20,000 to 25,000 people had gathered and had to be controlled by the police, and by the end of the day 2,500 to 3,000 depositors had withdrawn $2,000,000 from the branch. However, most of the 7,000 depositors who came to withdraw their money left their assets in the bank. One person stood in line for two hours to claim his $2 account balance. As the news spread, there were smaller runs at several other branches in the Bronx as well as in the [East New York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_New_York) section of [Brooklyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn).[[14]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-select.nytimes.com-14)
The end:
>The closing of Bank of United States came as a shock to the banking industry, which had not seen a failure of a large New York bank since the stock market crash of 1929, and the first failure of such magnitude since the failure of the [Knickerbocker Trust Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_Trust_Company) in 1907.[[16]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-16) Worried city and state officials tried to reassure the public by rushing through the program by which Bank of United States depositors could borrow money against their deposits.[[17]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-17) Some depositors started to receive their loans on 23 December 1930 and *The New York Times* reported that throngs of depositors lined up to receive their loans, many arriving hours before the branches opened and many were turned away because they could not be served by the end of the day.[[18]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_United_States#cite_note-18)