The Peninsula Banking Company was chartered on September 12, 1910 with $25,000 in capital. This small Mediterranean style bank was built that same year and opened on January 7, 1911. The bank weathered the teens and twenties, serving the financial needs of the community. Robbers attempted to break into the safe in 1920. After taking two men hostage, the robbers failed and managed to escape.
In 1933, President Roosevelt declared a “banking holiday” during the Great Depression and the bank closed. Although the Peninsula Banking Company never re-opened, all of the bank’s depositors were repaid in full by 1937.*
Recently re-purposed as Peninsula’s Coffee House, it has become a “must stop” community gathering place for locals and visitors alike. The lower level has recently been renovated as a hideaway wine bar that opens out to a patio overlooking the towpath and Cuyahoga River, and connects to an upper level deck and the coffee house!
