On Monday, November 16, 1931, as most Pompano residents were at breakfast or on their way to work,or out in the field getting crops ready for early harvest, news spread that a decline in deposits and steady withdrawals had caused the Bank of Pompano, the town's only banking facility, to close its doors. Employed then as a bookkeeper in the bank, Pompano pioneer Lorena A. Hardin Robson recalled that as the panic intensified crowds gathered outside to find out if the news was really true and to claim the money they had placed in the bank for safekeeping. According to Mrs. Robson, who continued to work at the bank until it was liquidated, refunds to depositors never amounted to more than ten percent of their total deposits.

Excerpted from a history of Pompano Beach published in the Pompano Beach Diamond Jubilee commemorative book (1983).