SEPTEMBER 21 ISSUE ANSWERS (photo to right): The first bank in Romeo was a wildcat bank organized under the general banking law of 1837. The bank was organized in December 1837, but the great collapse of the economy prevented the bank from opening. The Village of Romeo was without a bank until December 1863 when the First National Bank of Romeo organized under the guidance of Bank President Dr. Neil Gray. The bank was located in the north end of J.L. Benjamin’s newly built brick block, where the present PNC Bank is located. On April 5, 1871 the Romeo Observer reported that, “The First National Bank paid $1,700.00 for a new safe and feel sure of finding in the morning what they lock up at night.” In 1897, the National Bank’s cashier, Levant E, Bedall, persuaded the Board of Directors to reorganize the bank as a state institution and the Romeo Savings Bank was born. Romeo Historical Society archives