The Bank of Florence was a
wildcat bank
Wildcat banking was the issuance of paper currency in the United States by poorly capitalized state-chartered banks. These wildcat banks existed alongside more stable state banks during the Free Banking Era from 1836 to 1865, when the country ha ...
located in
Florence, Nebraska Territory. It originally operated for three years in the 1850s, and another bank adopted the name and location in 1904. Today the building that housed the bank is the Bank of Florence Museum. It is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, and is the oldest building in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
.
About
The town of Florence was founded on the ruins of
Winter Quarters, with dozens of small buildings still intact from the early
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
pioneer settlement. A speculator's dream, the town was quickly built.
The Bank of Florence was built as a
wildcat bank
Wildcat banking was the issuance of paper currency in the United States by poorly capitalized state-chartered banks. These wildcat banks existed alongside more stable state banks during the Free Banking Era from 1836 to 1865, when the country ha ...
for speculators to make an easy profit. Many of the early investors included members of the land company that founded the nearby town of
Saratoga, as well as local businessmen. When the
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...
hit, many local townspeople and farmers were financially drained.
[Bristow, D. (1997) ''A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tale of 19th Century Omaha'', Caxton Press.]
The building reopened as the Second Bank of Florence in 1904, and was restored as a landmark in the 1980s.
Today the building has been turned into a museum, which is owned and operated by the Florence Historical Foundation. Visitors can view the main bank floor, the vault, the rooms upstairs that served as the home of the original bank manager, and a restored Florence Telephone Company switchboard. The bank is open on Saturdays and Sundays 11AM-3PM from May through August and on special event days. Tours on other days can be arranged by appointment.
See also
*
List of the oldest buildings in Nebraska
This article lists the oldest extant buildings in Nebraska, including extant buildings and structures constructed prior to and during the United States rule over Nebraska. Only buildings built prior to 1870 are suitable for inclusion on this list, ...
References
External links
Bank of Florence - a.k.a. The Florence "Wildcat" Bank- Historic Florence, includes history and visitation details
from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
Historic Florence website. Founding manager of the Bank of Florence.
{{NRHP Omaha
Landmarks in North Omaha, Nebraska
Banks based in Omaha, Nebraska
National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha Landmarks
Banks established in 1856
Museums in Omaha, Nebraska
Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska
History museums in Nebraska
Bank museums
1856 establishments in Nebraska Territory