Unique Bank & Town Previously Unreported Likely The Rarest Note In The Collection

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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Westhope, First NB, W7162
Fr. 613 $10 1902RS
Grade: PMG Ch. Fine 15    

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As I have approached the end of the cataloging I continued to wonder what would be considered the rarest note in the collection. Now I believe I have found it. In March 1904, in Bottineau County near the Canadian border, a national bank was chartered in the town of Westhope. This bank issued 490 sheets of Red Seals and 180 sheets of 1902 Date Backs, for a total of 670 sheets. On December 12, 1910 this bank was placed into liquidation. This note is currently the sole survivor and no one I know would be surprised if the next example is never recorded. This note is a pleasing, problem free Red Seal with excellent quality for the grade. It has clearly penned signatures of P.S. Hilleboe, Vice President and William J. Cooper, Cashier. Glen acquired this note from Leland Stickle. William J. Cooper was born in Ontario, Canada, March 9, 1875. Cooper began his education at the Mayville Normal School and studied law the University of Minnesota. He did not complete his course there, however, but turned his attention to banking. In 1904, he arrived in Westhope as cashier of the First National Bank, in which important position he capably served until the business was closed out in 1910, it being absorbed by the Bank of Westhope. Subsequently Mr. Cooper entered into partnership with V. Ormsby Soule for the practice of law, being regarded as one of the leading barristers of the Bottineau county bar. Westhope is located in Bottineau County; the population was 429 at the 2010 census. Westhope was founded in 1903 along a Great Northern Railway branch line that began in Rugby. Westhope calls itself 'The City of Trees,' but its name was coined from an earlier slogan, 'Hope of the West,' created by Great Northern officials to promote prosperity for the new town. Within a short time, Westhope had absorbed the rural communities of Richburg, Scotia, and Sergius. The Scotia post office moved here December 17, 1903 with George Fulwiler as Postmaster. Westhope incorporated as a city in 1906, and reached a peak population of 824 in 1960, aided by the discovery of oil nearby in the 1950s.

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