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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Fargo, First NB, W2377
Fr. 476 $5 1882BB
Grade: PMG VG 10 Net    

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This is the earliest type offered from this Cass County bank that was the first of the city's nine national banks. There were 10,400 sheets of $5 Brown Backs issued but there are only five other $5 Brown Backs known on the state. Although well used and with a repaired tear the stamped signatures of F.A. Irish, President and Fred Abbott Irish, Cashier are clear. PMG notes: tear repair. Fred A. Irish was vice president of the First National Bank of Fargo. He was born at Taylors Falls, Minnesota, on the 29th of September, 1870. Fred A. Irish turned to the banking business, securing a position in the First National Bank at Moorhead, Minnesota, where he remained as assistant cashier until 1902. In that year he removed to Fargo and was appointed to the position of assistant cashier in the Red River Valley National Bank, with which he remained for about four years. On the 1st of January, 1906, he was elected cashier of the First National Bank of Fargo and acted in that capacity until he was chosen vice president of the same institution. Fargo, the county seat of Cass County, is the largest city in North Dakota, accounting for nearly 16% of the state population. According to the 2010 census, its population was 105,549. Known as "The Biggest Little City in the World," Fargo is the economic center of southeastern North Dakota. The area that is present-day Fargo was an early stopping point for steamboats floating down the Red River during the 1870s and 1880s. The city began in 1871 as The Crossing, was unofficially called Tent City, and was known as Centralia until becoming Fargo in 1872. The community was named after Northern Pacific Railway director and Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo. The area started to flourish after the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the city became known as the "Gateway to the West". It incorporated as a city in 1875 with George Egbert as mayor. During the 1880s, Fargo became the "divorce capital" of the Midwest because of lenient divorce laws. The North Dakota State Agricultural College was founded in 1890 as North Dakota's land-grant university, becoming first accredited by the North Central Association in 1915. In 1960, NDAC became known as North Dakota State University. Early in the century, the automobile industry flourished, and in 1905, Fargo was home to the Pence Automobile Company.

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