Women’s Department

The Stocking Room

In 1903, pioneer lawyer and writer Clara Foltz estimated that the women of San Francisco, on any given day, carried around $2 million tucked into their stockings. Ladies trusted no one — not even a bank — to keep their life-savings secure.

Banks, including Wachovia Loan and Trust Company, warned of the folly of stocking safe-deposit. Articles and ads urged customers to bring money and other valuables to the bank for safekeeping. Wachovia’s magazine The Solicitor gave one example of the peril of not heeding this advice:

Mrs. R.H. Shore, wife of a Pittsburgh commission merchant, used one of her stockings as a safety deposit vault and is now mourning the loss of jewels valued at $2,150.  She was waiting for a street car and stepped on a rotten board and her stocking was ripped.  When she reached a department store she discovered that a bag containing her jewels had fallen through the rent in her stocking.

The jewel-less Mrs. Shore had a particularly bad run of luck, but her dilemma was shared by many women — where to stash their valuables. Even women who had bank accounts had to enter a masculine mahogany or marble banking hall, dodging spittoons in their long skirts, and wading through cigar smoke on their way to the teller window.

Producing cash for deposit from a coin purse tucked into a stocking, or another undergarment posed a delicate problem for ladies standing opposite a male teller at the bank counter.
Savvy banks began adapting their facilities to fit the particular needs of female customers. One banker at the National Bank of Commerce in Kansas City, noted that half the woman customers carried their cash in either their stocking or bosom. He came up with the idea of creating a private “stocking room,” where woman customers could retire to remove their cash.

The stocking room featured satin upholstered chairs with matching footstools. There were writing desks, and tastefully appointed lavatory and reception room — all for the exclusive use of female customers. Soon banks across the country began to furnish similar rooms.

By 1913, evolutions in female fashion decreased the necessity of stocking rooms. Hemlines rose, and wads of cash tucked in stockings became harder to hide. Women acceded to a new accessory — the handbag.