The City of Margate was incorporated in 1955, but did not get its first local bank, the First National Bank of Margate, until 1963. Thus, in the early years Margate business owners had to travel to Pompano Beach or Fort Lauderdale to do their banking.

A solution of sorts was arrived at in the person of Mary Lou Beldin; she lived in Margate but worked for a Pompano Beach bank. As a favor to Margate businesses, she would carry their daily deposits with her on her commute to work.

Today she marvels at those simpler, more trusting times -- she was entrusted with what were often large sums of money, which she simply put in her purse and took to work with her!

(from William P. Cahill, "Margate, Florida: The First Quarter Century, 1955 - 1980" in Broward Legacy, Vol. 5 - No. 1, 2005-2006)