Historic vault door unearthed in El Paso USA

Huntlocks · 2009-05-29T07:46:28+00:00

I’ve just had a look at this news shot of an old Diebold vault door being removed for restoration. It’s worth a watch and we will have to keep our eyes on it in the future. Does anyone know the locksmith interviewed? Hopefully he or one of our friends nearby could keep a log of the work. http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S= … 9&nav=AbC0

Doug MacQueen

More Diebold Pics

wylk

Could we get a progress report on this restoration? Thanks in advance.

cookiebear7

wylk wrote
Could we get a progress report on this restoration? Thanks in advance.

I am very sorry to state that not much has been done recently. We have had to have many gears, bolts, bolt covers, and plates machined to match the original missing parts. Most of the parts are back and the restoration should resume pretty soon.

I promise that as things start moving, I will get photos and info available.

[unknown]

wylk

It’s unfortunate that so many parts were missing. Can you speculate why? Did people remove them as keepsakes before the door was rescued?

Were any parts damaged or worn? These were great big mechanisms built for brute strength and I’ve never heard anything about how well they held up to decades of operation.

cookiebear7

wylk wrote
It’s unfortunate that so many parts were missing. Can you speculate why? Did people remove them as keepsakes before the door was rescued?

Were any parts damaged or worn? These were great big mechanisms built for brute strength and I’ve never heard anything about how well they held up to decades of operation.

This vault door was stored in the basement at another building for many years. Some of the parts were probably taken as repair/replacement parts on another one. The time locks were missing. The flip out step in the walkway is missing. The inner glass door was broken. Someone tried cutting the inner door frame probably thinking it was brass and planning to sell it. The rest - who knows. There is very little wear showing anywhere. It is funny that there are impressions in the bottom side of the door and frame of paper clips that were complessed.

[unknown]

wylk

I can’t find the original KVIA story but I found another copy on KTSM’s web site. However, the video will not play; at least the text is there and one frame from the video:

http://www.ktsm.com/news/bank-vault-unearthed

wylk

For the sake of documentation I thought I’d mention that the “other” Diebold door Doug supplied images of is in Mansfield, Ohio, at 4 West 4th Street. The building was constructed in 1913 for the Mansfield Savings Bank. At one time it was a community policing office for the Carrousel District but a Google search suggests this may no longer be the case and the building may be vacant. A nice short history of the building is at http://www.abandonedonline.net/commercial/mansfield-savings-bank/ with a few pictures.

wylk

Can I assume this restoration is complete? I ran across a news item from about a year ago (June 28, 2013) about such a door, including the text:[INDENT]
Pictures of the United Bank of El Paso Del Norte’s Downtown location,
including the 25-ton vault door from the 1870s that had remained
undiscovered for nearly half a century. The antique behemoth was housed
in the basement of the now demolished Southwest National Bank in
downtown El Paso before the building was torn down in the mid ‘70s. The
space was then converted to a parking garage.[/INDENT]

The pictures look like the same door, and a very nice display for the bank. See http://www.kvia.com/news/20767240 for the article.

Though not stated in the article, this is probably 401 East Main Street in El Paso.

greenhorn

Every time I see these big bank vault doors I am in awe. Unbelievable craftsmanship.
And you think back when they were built, in the early 1900s and the tools that they had to work with.
WOW

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