An Ode To The First ATM, 46 Years After Its Debut

On September 2, 1969, America saw an ATM (automatic teller machine) for the first time. The debut took place in New York, at the Chemical Bank in Rockville Center.

History.com looked back at this occurrence and reflected about its ramifications and implications.

The Revolutionary Potential Of The ATM

When the first ATM was installed, few imagined the reach they would have. However, ATMs carried the potential to revolutionize banking, as it was previously known. By “eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions,” they did.

The article noted that, “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.”

The first ATM, generally attributed to Don Wetzel, a Docutel executive, could only hand out cash. It took only two years before the manufacturers realized the machines could handle other tasks like providing account balances.

As the use of the ATMs increased, they started appearing outside of banks. Nowadays, these machines can be found virtually anywhere, from gas stations and parks to research centers in Antarctica. In fact, the world already counts with more than 1 million ATMs and every five minutes a new one is installed.

The Good Old Days Are Past Us

The article then jumps into the 1990s, when banks started charging fees to use ATMs. This was certainly “a profitable move for them and an annoying one for consumers.” Consumers were also faced with an increasing number of ATM crimes and scams. “In response, city and state governments passed legislation such as New York’s ATM Safety Act in 1996, which required banks to install such things as surveillance cameras, reflective mirrors and locked entryways for their ATMs.”

On the anniversary of the first ATM, shares of Chemical Financial Corporation CHFC, owner of the first bank to have one of these machines, were up 0.62 percent.