First Bank of the United States
The President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States, commonly known as the First Bank of the United States, was a national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791. It followed the Bank of North America, the nation's first de facto national bank. However, neither served the functions of a modern central bank: They did not set monetary policy, regulate private banks, hold their excess reserves, or act as a lender of last resort. They were national insofar as they were allowed to have branches in multiple states and lend money to the US government. Other banks in the US were each chartered by, and only allowed to have branches in, a single state.
3rd Street façade
John Lewis Krimmel, Winter Scene in Philadelphia (ca.1813)
Bank of the United States check signed by John Jacob Astor in 1792
The Bank of North America was the first chartered bank in the United States, and served as the country's first de facto central bank. Chartered by the Congress of the Confederation on May 26, 1781, and opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 1782.
Three pence issued by the Bank of North America on August 6, 1789, printed by Benjamin Franklin Bache on marbled paper obtained by Benjamin Franklin.
Demolishing the Bank of North America's building at 305–307 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, c. 1959