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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Bismarck, Capital NB, 2986
Fr. 471 $5 1882BB
Grade: PMG VF 25    

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This is the statehood Brown Back from this ultra rare and desirable North Dakota capital bank. Only $5 Brown Backs were issued and just 1,038 sheets, with this being the only surviving statehood note. The quality is excellent and there are only four other $5 Brown Backs known from the state, with only one example possibly higher quality. The color and centering are excellent and the rarity unquestioned. This bank liquidated on January 14, 1896. C.B. Little was president when he signed this note and he went on to be president of The First National Bank of Bismarck until 1935. What an amazing pair of $5 Brown Backs we have here!! Clarence Belden Little was born in Merrimack county, N.H., Nov. 18, 1857. He received his academic training at Dartmouth College and took a course in law at Harvard. He came to Bismarck in 1882. In 1885 he was elected judge of probate of Burleigh county and reelected in 1887; he organized the territorial militia and he was inspector general of the citizen soldiery whereby he came to the title of Colonel. He was elected a director of the Capital National Bank, of Bismarck. Two years later he became president of that institution, until 1895, when he bought control of the First National Bank of Bismarck, and, liquidating the Capital National, merged the two. He was senator from his district from the time of the organization of the state until 1909. Bismarck, located on the east bank of the Missouri River, is the capital of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census. The city was formed in 1872 as "Edwinton" after Edwin Ferry Johnson, a chief engineer for the Northern Pacific Railway company. The name was changed less than one year later (on July 17, 1873), honoring German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, in an effort to attract German immigrants. The discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills in 1874 was the real impetus for growth. Bismarck became a freight-shipping center on the "Custer Route" from the Black Hills. In 1883, Bismarck became the capital of the Dakota Territory (when it moved from Yankton) and, in 1889, capital of the state of North Dakota. The first hospital for the Dakota Territory, Saint Alexius, was founded there in 1885. The 19-story state capitol building in Bismarck is one of only four tower-style capitols in the US. An observation floor at the top provides a panoramic view of Bismarck and the Missouri River Valley. Bismarck is the site of the state penitentiary, Bismarck State College, and the University of Mary.

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