LIVERMORE FALLS – Second-graders got a close-up view inside the Androscoggin Bank’s vault on Wednesday. They also learned some of the history of the bank, which celebrates 110 years on Monday.
The students from the Livermore Elementary School crowded around teller Jane Hodgkins in the vault as she explained how the money is kept.
“It’s a jackpot in there,” second-grader Chrissy Bean said as she came out.
The students watched as Hodgkins showed them how three clocks act as timers to open the vault’s thick metal door at a certain time.
Hodgkins showed how the door closed automatically, making a slow, balanced swing. She spun a metal wheel resembling a ship’s steering wheel before reopening the door again for bank business.
From there, students moved out to the drive-up window service section.
Hodgkins showed how the press of a button sends a tube out to a customer.
Several students got to press the button and activate the vacuum system.
Then it was back behind the tellers’ counter inside, where Hodgkins showed them how fast 25 $1 bills could be counted in an automatic counter – about one second.
Regional Vice President Gordon Flint took over the tour from there and had the children sit in front of pictures of the bank’s presidents.
The bank was established in 1895 as the Livermore Falls Trust Co. by President Chester Sturtevant. More than 40 years later, his son Reginald would become president, followed by grandson Arnold Sturtevant, then great-grandson L. Gary Knight, who is still with the Androscoggin Bank.
The Livermore Falls Trust Co. was acquired by Androscoggin Bank within the last decade.
Flint showed the children a mural showing what downtown Livermore Falls looked like back in 1895. In some ways, Flint said, the downtown looked better back then, but he said a group of people is trying to upgrade the area.
Flint recounted the history of the bank’s buildings. The original, a wooden structure, was eventually moved to another location before a brick building was built. He also told the students of two fires, in 1899 and 1910, that destroyed a large section of the town.
Flint even brought the children up to speed on fund-raising efforts to raise $20,000 to restore and maintain the town’s historic clock atop the bank building.
The bank’s building – but not the bank – was sold to Fletcher Properties in Auburn in December after 94 years of ownership, Flint said, and the bank now leases space for banking operations.
After the banking and history lessons, the children had a chance for some edible goodies, although one child piped up that she was hoping for money.
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