March 23, 1872: First National Bank of Duluth organized

On this day in Duluth in 1872, the First National Bank of Duluth was organized by some of the most prominent men in the Zenith City: J. B. Culver (president, pictured below), George C. Stone (cashier), and directors James D. Ray, Sidney Luce, R. S. Munger, J. D. Ensign and Clinton Markell. The set up shop at the corner of Lake Avenue and Superior Street with a starting capital of $50,000, worth just over $1 million today. Despite this strong backing, the bank was unable to survive the Financial Panic of 1873. Like Duluth itself, the bank held on for a few years before folding. George C. Stone was one of the first to resign, traveling to the East in early February of 1875 to gain support for other projects to pull Duluth out of its financial quagmire. Culver resigned a few months later, turning over the reigns to Luce. Henry H. Bell took over Stone’s position. But a year later, in March, 1876, the bank was bust. A notice in the March 11 Minnesotian reprinted a statement by the bank’s directors: “The First National Bank of Duluth is closed by order of the Directors. A statement of its affairs will be published in this weeks papers.” It was signed by C. P. Bailey, who had replaced Bell as cashier. After Duluth lost its city charter in 1877 and reorganized as a village, Bell and Wilhelm C. Eyster opened the Bell & Eyster Bank. As Duluth once again began to thrive, so did the bank, and in 1884 it moved into a new home at 3 West Superior Street designed by George Wirth. November 26, 1890.