Does anyone remember how banks functioned before the age of computers? I was going through an old cardboard box and found my Bank Account booklet from 1973, some 50 years ago. I recall that I had a banking booklet associated with the account. When I went in to make a deposit or withdrawal, the teller would take the booklet, open to the next available page, insert the booklet into a machine, tell the machine what line number on that page was next to be used, and then record the date, deposit or withdrawal, and the account balance. My, how times have changed!

Actually, the first ATM became operational September 2, 1969 at Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely popular and handled many of the functions previously performed by human tellers, such as check deposits and money transfers between accounts. Today, ATMs are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail.

Several inventors worked on early versions of a cash-dispensing machine, and some existed as early as 1967 in other countries. Don Wetzel, an executive at Docutel, a Dallas company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment, is generally credited as coming up with the idea for the modern ATM. Wetzel reportedly conceived of the concept while waiting on line at a bank. The ATM that debuted in New York in 1969 was only able to give out cash, but in 1971, an ATM that could handle multiple functions, including providing customers’ account balances, was introduced.

Does anyone remember how banks functioned before the age of computers? I was going through an old cardboard box and found my Bank Account booklet from 1973, some 50 years ago. I recall that I had a banking booklet associated with the account. When I went in to make a deposit or withdrawal, the teller would take the booklet, open to the next available page, insert the booklet into a machine, tell the machine what line number on that page was next to be used, and then record the date, deposit or withdrawal, and the account balance. My, how times have changed!

Does anyone remember how banks functioned before the age of computers? I was going through an old cardboard box and found my Bank Account booklet from 1973, some 50 years ago. I recall that I had a banking booklet associated with the account. When I went in to make a deposit or withdrawal, the teller would take the booklet, open to the next available page, insert the booklet into a machine, tell the machine what line number on that page was next to be used, and then record the date, deposit or withdrawal, and the account balance. My, how times have changed!