July 27, 1929: $20 million crosses Superior Street

On this day in Duluth in 1929 (as well as the next), 15 armed guards escorted bank employees carrying $20 million in cash (worth about $285 million today) from the American Exchange National Bank across Superior Street to the First National Bank of Duluth after the banks merged. American Exchange traced its roots to 1879, when Hamilton Peyton reorganized the failing Duluth Savings Bank. First National first organized in 1883 as the Duluth National Bank, owned by Luther Mendenhall. In 1887 both banks constructed grand buildings designed by Oliver Traphagen to house their banks—and both were built at the intersection of Third Avenue West and Superior Street. The American Exchange building, with bank board member George Spencer driving its design and construction, went up first first. The bank stood four-stories tall along Superior Street, five along Michigan St., a brick-faced Romanesque structure that stood on a foundation of Fond du Lac brownstone. The Duluth National Bank was six stories tall on Superior Street and employed much more ornamentation than First National—and was topped off with a pyramidal tower at its southwest corner. After Mendenhall’s building went up, Spencer added a conical tower to the building’s northwest corner, directly across from Mendenhall’s tower. We’ll leave any speculation as to the reasons behind this apparent competition to those Freudians among our readers….

Duluth’s American Exchange Bank photographed in 1887. (Image: Duluth Public Library)

The Duluth National Bank photographed in 1887. (Image: Duluth Public Library)