I recall the branch on College Ave. issuing an ATM card to me in the fall of 1974. At the time it was said it was one of first (or few) in the country. It was built into the brick wall in the outside corner of the building.
First ATM you used. Anyone remember 'Rosy' at Mid-State Bank, College Ave.?
- Thread starter Thus Spake Mainer
- Start date
First saw this during Fall Term 1974...this was new ground for almost everybody. She was there at the beginning of the term. I think she was born sometime earlier that year.
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I remember my first ATM experience. It was very different than what we are used to today. The ATM looked, moved and sounded just like a real person! I think the bank was trying to replicate the experience of dealing with a real teller, since people were still not comfortable dealing with machines. I remember not being sure what to do with my ATM card. Do I insert it into the ATM's "mouth"? Do I swipe it between his butt cheeks? Seeing my confusion, the ATM offered to take my wallet, with my ATM card, and handle the transaction for me. He took my wallet and said he would be right back and then went around the corner. Unfortunately, I waited more than an hour, and the ATM did not return. Apparently, there were still some technical glitches, but I was amazed by the technology considering it was the 1970's! It's a shame they didn't pursue this further and instead switched to the machines we are used to today. It just doesn't have that same human touch.
It was Mid-State Bank, HQ in Altoona, later bought by PNC. I worked for IBM in those days and Mid-State Bank was one of my main customers. Rosy was written up in a national banking magazine as the second most used ATM in the US. The #1 one was in Knoxville TN, directly across from the main gate of the University of Tennessee. What both of those machines had in common was a disproportionately high usage rate during late night hours by students. When you needed a quick $20 to buy more booze, Rosy is where you went. Rosy was located in the building on College Ave currently occupied by Urban Outfitters.
Rosy was my first. It's true that you never forget your first.
Rosie was my first... and last. Somehow the Rosie receipts from all of those trips from Zeno's to get more money never were accounted for in my checkbook balancing act. End result, way too many overdraft charges from Mid-State Bank. It was crushing to get those overdraft notices in the mail the following week! Damn, used to wreck my day.
I seem to remember one on South Allen Street. That was the first one I used. I thought it was awesome.
to this day, the entries in my checkbook for cash withdrawls are still listed as "Rosy". when I started dating my wife, she once looked in my checkbook and go jealous because of all the money I was giving to Rosy
I never had a State College account, but as a UP student from 1976-1978, I remember Rosy well. I used my hometown account and wrote checks at McClanahan's to get cash (and sometimes cashed work study paychecks there).
Good story, mid state actually became keystone financial which ultimately merged with m&t bank.
i know I am old. I still to this day do not call them ATMs.
They are MAC's to me. all of them in eastern PA were MAC machines back then.
They are MAC's to me. all of them in eastern PA were MAC machines back then.
Like most students in the 70's and 80's I had an account at Mid-Penn and used Rosy quite often. However, Girard Bank had an ATM system they called George and that was my first. Mid-Penn had the worst customer service I've ever experienced, still today. Shortly after Savings and Loan Bank were allowed to issue checking accounts in 1980 I moved my money to the one between Pugh and Allen (Federal?, I can't recall the name). Either way, the Savings and Loan was very happy to issue me a new account and I never had a bank line to wait in again as there were very few customers.
True, True. Tap MAC was the slogan. MAC stood for Money Access Center. I believe they were MACs until the early 00s, when MAC merged with the STAR network.
My recollection is GEORGE from Girard Bank in Philadelphia was the first ATM. Would guess mid 60's; there were many technical flaws. If you withdrew $20 you could continue to withdraw 20's and only have your account charged for the first $20.
Same here in the fall of 1971 (what a great FB team that year!). I think it was the first ATM I'd ever seen.
How could a machine named "Rosie" swallow anything? Seems counterintuitive to me.
Mid 60s would have been too early. The first ATM in the US opened for business in September of 1969. Chemical Bank in Rockville Center NY has the honor.
Perhaps it was late 60's, we are talking almost 50 years ago. I worked with a couple of the "George" developers who were with Girard Bank in PHL. George became part of MAC which I believe was operated by PNB. I do remember the first ATM was in New York, may have been in a tough neighborhood, because it was dubbed the "Muggermatic".
In the late 80s early 90s my grandparents used to take my brothers and me to the "Five and Ten" in Greengate Mall ( it was big time at the time) and would get money from a MAC machine right outside the store. I forget the bank but it was eventually bought by PNC. I remember thinking how neat it was that grandma and grandpap had money in the wall.
...these are the kinds of threads that drive up traffic here and why people should be visiting.
...these are the kinds of threads that drive up traffic here and why people should be visiting.
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