The Bank of Florence was an early wildcat bank located at 8502 North 30th Street in Florence, Nebraska Territory

Florence, Nebraska

Florence is a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska on the city's north end and originally one of the oldest cities in Nebraska. It was incorporated by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature on March 10, 1857. The site of Winter Quarters for Mormon migrants traveling west, it has the oldest cemetery for...

. After originally opening in the 1850s, it closed and reopened 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

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, and is the oldest building in Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

.

About

The town of Florence was founded on the ruins of Winter Quarters

Winter Quarters, Nebraska

Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. The...

, with dozens of small buildings still intact from the early Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 pioneer settlement. A speculator's dream, the town was quickly built.

The Bank of Florence was built as a wildcat bank 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

Saratoga, Nebraska Territory

Saratoga Springs, Nebraska Territory, or Saratoga, was a boom and bust town founded in 1856 that throve for several years. During its short period of influence the town grew quickly, outpacing other local settlements in the area including Omaha and Florence, and briefly considered as a candidate...

, as well as local businessmen. When the Panic of 1857

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. Indeed, because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the time of the 1850s, the financial crisis which began in the autumn of 1857 was...

hit, many local townspeople and farmers were financially drained.

The building reopened as the Second Bank of Florence in 1904, and was restored as a landmark in the 1980s.

Bank of Florence Museum

Today the building has been turned into the Bank of Florence 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 Fridays and Sunday from May through August and on special event days. Tours on other days can be arranged by appointment.

External links

• Bank of Florence - a.k.a The Florence "Wildcat" Bank - Historic Florence, includes history and visitation details
• A photo of a dollar issued by the Bank of Florence from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
• James Monroe Parker Historic Florence website. Founding manager of the Bank of Florence.