First National Bank of Charlotte was a bank located in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

from 1865 until 1930.

Early history

In 1853,

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...

, the son of

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he commanded ' during the ...

, moved to Charlotte to supervise his family's mining and milling business. He served under the Confederacy during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, but he was pardoned by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

and Secretary of State

William Seward William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...

. Soon after the end of the war, Wilkes started the first national bank in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

after the war. By December 15, 1865, Wilkes had received $500,000 in

U.S. bonds United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as an alternative to taxation. Since 2012, U.S. gov ...

. The same year, First National Bank became the only North Carolina bank printing

National Bank Note National Bank Notes were United States currency banknotes issued by National Banks chartered by the United States Government. The notes were usually backed by United States bonds the bank deposited with the United States Treasury. In addition, ...

s. This bank played a major role in Charlotte's growth, as did the city's

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

access to other areas. Rufus Y. McAden, founder of the mills and mill village that became McAdenville, succeeded Wilkes as bank president in 1867. Robert M. Oates became president in 1891, and McAden's son Henry M. McAden served as president from 1907 until the bank's failure in 1930.

Later years

Rufus McAden and his family actually lived in the bank's three-story building on South Tryon Street. His son demolished the building in 1925 and chose

Louis Asbury Louis H. Asbury (1877–1975) was an American architect, a leading architect of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is asserted to be the "first professionally trained, fulltime architect in North Carolina who was born and practiced in the state." ...

, a leading Charlotte

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who had designed Henry's Myers Park home in 1916, to design what became the second tallest

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

in the state. The opening of the 250-foot, 21-story building, built at a cost of $1.8 million, was announced September 9, 1927, and ''

The Charlotte News ''The Charlotte News'' was the afternoon newspaper in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was first published on December 8, 1888. The newspaper was eventually purchased on April 5, 1959 by Knight Newspapers, owner of its larger rival ''The Charlotte Ob ...

'' proclaimed Charlotte's strength as a banking center. Later in 1927, the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

opened its branch office on the building's nineteenth floor. This showed Charlotte appeared likely to become a major banking center. However, three years after it opened, the building was only 30 percent occupied. The bank would not rent to just anyone, unlike the nearby Johnston Building.

Failure

On December 4, 1930, First National Bank announced it was closed. One reason given for the bank's failure was the ambitious building program, combined with the inability to make money from the new skyscraper. At the time, First National had only $1.6 million in deposits, the least of seven commercial banks in the city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First National Bank Of Charlotte Banks based in North Carolina Defunct banks of the United States Defunct companies based in North Carolina Banks established in 1865