---

National Bank Notes > Minnesota

---

---

Owatonna, Farmers NB, 2122
Fr. 401 $5 1875
Grade: Ch. AU    

---

OWATONNA is the county seat of Steele County, first settled in 1853. Platted in September 1855, it was incorporated as a town August 9, 1858; the post office was established in 1855. Located on the Straight River, Owatonna the Dakota name of the river, which is its translation; on the early state maps, it is called Owatonna River, but by 1870 it had become the Straight River. It had a station of the Chicago and North Western Railway. The Minnesota State School for Dependent and Neglected Children was built in 1886. The school took in orphans from around the state and taught them "the value of drill, discipline and labor." Owatonna's National Farmer's Bank is widely recognized as one of the premier pieces of the "Prairie School of Architecture" in America. Designed by Louis Sullivan, the building was finished in 1908 and features gold leaf arches, stained glass windows, and nouveau baroque art designs. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is now occupied by a branch of Wells Fargo Bank. This first charter is only AU due to a upper right corner fold. Beautiful, bright, fresh and crispy.

---