Union Bank (Tallahasee, Florida)

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Union Bank
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)

Location:	Tallahassee, Florida
Added to NRHP:	February 24, 1971

Union Bank of Tallahassee

The Union Bank of Tallahassee was established around 1830 and is the state's oldest surviving bank building. It is located at Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Street. On February 24, 1971, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

[edit] History

The Union Bank was completed in 1841 as Tallahassee's first bank by William Williams when Florida was still a territory. Chartered to help finance local cotton plantations, it ultimately closed in 1843 due to the Seminole Wars, unsound banking practices, and the Panic of 1837. In 1847, the bank was purchased by cotton plantation owners William Bailey and Issac Mitchell.

After the Civil War, the bank reopened as the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company in 1879 for emancipated slaves. It later served as a church, feed store, art house, coffee house, dance studio, locksmith's shop, beauty shop, and shoe factory.

In 1971, the bank was moved from its original site on the west side of Adams Street between College Avenue and Park Avenue, to just east of the Capitol on Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Avenue where it underwent restoration and was opened as a museum in 1984. The Union Bank now serves as an extension of the Florida A&M University Black Archives, Research Center and Museum. It is open to the public and school groups only on weekdays. Artifacts and documents reflecting black history and culture are on display, and public programs are provided by Black Archives staff.