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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Finley, First NB, W7324
Fr. 598 $5 1902PB
Grade: PMG Ch. AU 58 EPQ    

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This bank issued 4,280 sheets of Blue Seals, both Date Backs and Plain Backs, which this note is. This note is quite a prize and it's definitely a peach. It looks new but a light bend is always possible. Fantastic stamped signatures of E.H. Gilbertson, President and E.O. Ellison, Cashier. Acquired from Kent Forseth. Finley is the county seat of Steele County; the population was 445 at the 2010 census. A peak population of 809 was reached in 1970. The community was founded in 1896 as Walker but changed its name to Finley and absorbed its rival adjoining townsite of Gilbert in January 1897. It was named for W.W. Finley, a Great Northern Railroad official. The post office was established January 29, 1897 with Alfred Kenning Cochrane as Postmaster. The village incorporated in 1903, and it became a city in 1926 with Benton J. Long as first mayor. The county seat for Steele County was moved to Finley from Sherbrooke in 1919 after a vote of the county residents. Previous county seats were Hope from 1883 to 1885 and Sherbrooke from 1885 to 1919. Since 1919, the county seat has been Finley. Peter O. Sathre (1876-1978), a Justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court and North Dakota Attorney General began his law career here, and Harvey B. Knudson (1903-1979), also a Justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court, was born here.

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