When was the first Bank Robbery?

1798: The first bank robbery occurs in the U.S. when the Bank of Pennsylvania is robbed of $162,821 in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia

Carpenter’s Hall was built in 1770 and had been a meeting place for the First Continental Congress, home of the Philadelphia Library, and until the year preceding the robbery had housed the Bank of the United States. The new tenant of the building was to be the Bank of Pennsylvania, who had hired Samuel Robinson to oversee the move. One of the first things that needed to be done before moving into the building was the changing of the locks on the vaults. During the summer of 1798, Robinson hired a local blacksmith, Pat Lyon, to do the job. Lyon was on the verge of leaving the city because of the yellow fever outbreak but took on the rush job before he left town. While Lyon was working on the vault, Robinson brought a stranger to watch him work.

After completing the job, Lyon and his apprentice left town, taking a ship to Delaware. Two days after their arrival, the apprentice died of yellow fever. Reading the newspaper while he was away, Lyon was interested in accounts of a robbery at Carpenter’s Hall on the night of September 1, where he had changed the locks on the vaults just before leaving. The massive amount of $162,821 USD ($2.9 million today) had been stolen, and blacksmith Pat Lyon was a prime suspect.