Only Example In Private Hands

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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Grand Forks, First NB, W2570
Fr. 571 $100 1882DB
Grade: PMG Ch. Fine 15    

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This is a lovely, problem free example of a rare and desirable type, and the only example in private hands; there is also one in the Smithsonian collection. The note has lovely pen signatures of C.C. Gowran, Vice President and S.S. Titus, Cashier. Well centered and with excellent color, but several pinholes can be seen in the light. New to the census and one of 1,861 notes printed. Seymour S. Titus was born in Oak Grove, Minnesota, June 3, 1851, He began life as a farmer until October, 1872, when he entered the First National Bank of Shakopee, Minnesota, as a general helper. He went to Grand Forks in 1879 and in company with J. Walker Smith opened a small bank under the name of the Bank of Grand Forks, the first bank on the lower Red River valley. On November 1, 1881, the Bank of Grand Forks was converted into the Citizens National Bank. Mr. Titus remained its cashier, while Jacob S. Eshelman became the president and J. Walker Smith vice president. In 1890, the bank assumed the title of the First National Bank and on Sept. 18, 1912, the consolidation of the First National and the Union National Banks was announced. Mr. Titus remained as cashier until September 16, 1912, a period of thirty-three years, when he was elected president, and so continued until August 1, 1916, when he retired from the presidency and was elected chairman of the board of directors. He was for many years treasurer of the University of North Dakota, located in Grand Forks. Grand Forks is the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 52,838 making Grand Forks the third-largest city in the state of (after Fargo and Bismarck). Its location at the fork of the Red River and the Red Lake River gives the city its name. Prior to settlement by Europeans or Americans, the area where the city now sits had been an important meeting and trading point for Native Americans. Early French explorers, fur trappers, and traders called the area Les Grandes Fourches meaning "The Grand Forks". By the 1740s, Les Grandes Fourches was an important trading post for French fur trappers. Settlers arrived here in 1868, making Grand Forks the oldest of North Dakota's four major cities, and the second oldest permanent white settlement in the state. The post office was established June 15, 1870 with Sanford C. Cady as Postmaster. It was named county seat when Grand Forks County organized in 1873. It reported a population of 30 in 1870, but had grown to a city of over 7,000 residents by the time North Dakota became a state in 1889. Grand Forks was officially incorporated on February 22, 1881. The city quickly grew after the arrival of the Great Northern Railway in 1880 and the Northern Pacific Railway in 1887. In 1883, the University of North Dakota was established, six years before North Dakota was formally recognized as an independent state born from the Dakota Territory. The State Mill and Elevator was built in 1922, and the North Dakota School for the Blind moved here from Bathgate in 1961. Arthur G. Sorlie (1874-1928), governor of North Dakota 1925-1928, was born here.

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