BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2019: Apple Bank’s historic Harlem roots (original) (raw)

Recently, New York banking veteran Ebony Miranda started her new job in Harlem — taking a position as branch manager at the historic Apple Bank, an institution that has grown from a storefront location in rural upper Manhattan in 1863 to a New York-area bank with close to 80 branches and $12.8 billion in assets.

Over its 156 years, Apple has become the second-largest state-chartered savings bank and grown to 79 branches in the city’s five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, and Westchester and Rockland counties north of New York City.

Ebony Miranda

Miranda — who has worked at several other banks in the city — is now the assistant vice president and branch manager of the newly relocated Apple Bank Harlem branch at 169 E. 125th St. near Third Ave., not far from where the institution was born way back in 1863.

Apple Bank’s story is one of rich history and community. The precursor of Apple Bank started and grew while the Civil War still raged. It was the same year the Battle of Gettysburg took place, and the year President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery in America.

It all began uptown, at Apple’s founding bank — the Haarlem Savings Bank, which opened in a storefront on Third Ave., between 125th and 126th Sts., before Harlem was urbanized. Merchants from the area — which then had farms and undeveloped lots of land — founded the bank in the then-suburban village of Haarlem.

The bank branch made several moves around the neighborhood over the years, relocating from its original spot to its own building at Third Ave. and 124th St. around 1869 and, in 1907, settling at 124 E. 125th St., where it remained until this past December.

Miranda oversees the new location just a block away at 169 E. 125th St., a contemporary branch for a bank steeped in history and accomplishments.

In its early years, the bank went from strength to strength, growing in part due to a sizable number of female clients.

Harlem women displayed their economic might. More than 25% of the Haarlem Savings Bank’s depositors were women, according to 1868 depositor information.

Ongoing prudent financial management and decades of acquisitions and mergers fueled the growth of the bank throughout the years.

Apple Bank

It made deals to take over Central Savings Bank, Eastern Savings Bank (formerly the Bronx Savings Bank), Sag Harbor Savings Bank and 29 branches of Emigrant Savings Bank — expanding the financial institution into the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island.

Over the years, name changes brought Apple Bank into being. In 1983, the Harlem Saving Bank (which dropped Haarlem’s Dutch-inspired second “a” in 1933) changed its name to Apple Bank due to expansion outside Manhattan, and the new name brought in new dollars and customers.

In the first month after the name change, the bank tripled its normal number of new accounts to 5,000 and added $116 million in deposits. A 2015 Apple Bank expansion included new branches in Rockland County, Brooklyn and Queens. Apple Bank executives say Miranda is a great fit for Apple and its New York City-greater New York-area focus.

“Ebony Miranda has served successfully in a series of management positions that have taken her to diverse neighborhoods throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx,” said James Matera, executive vice president, who heads Apple Bank’s Consumer Banking Division.

He added that Miranda’s strong retail banking experience will be invaluable to the financial institution’s “growing customer base in Harlem and ongoing commitment to the community.”

Originally Published: February 7, 2019 at 2:55 AM EST