Living in Philadelphia’s Society Hill during the 1976 Bicentennial was a
Most Americans experienced it through the lens of patriotism and politics. I experienced it through the lens of
Philadelphia didn’t just host the Founding Fathers. It financed them.
Philadelphia gave us the bank that funded Washington’s army, the brokers who built our first capital markets, and the institutions that turned a fragile new republic into a creditworthy nation.
Unfortunately, as was the case 50 years ago, our nation’s 250th anniversary is being celebrated without properly recognizing the many institutions and financiers who made independence possible.
From our townhouse at the corner of 4th and Spruce, I would regularly walk past our nation’s first commercial bank of a modern type. This was the Bank of North America, chartered in 1781 at 3rd and Chestnut by financier Robert Morris to fund the Revolutionary War.
A few blocks away, I visited our nation’s first central banks, the First and Second Banks of the United States, established in 1791 and 1816 by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively.
On the way to visit historic Independence Hall, I’d pass the Philadelphia Board of Brokers at 2nd and Walnut, founded in 1790 as our nation’s first real stock exchange.
Sorry New York, but Philadelphia was our nation’s birthplace, our capital before 1800, our first financial center, and our largest city when the Constitution was ratified in 1789. When my grandfather arrived at Ellis Island, he moved straight to Philadelphia where he became a door-to-door salesman.
Besides being the birthplace of American banking, the City of Brotherly Love is also home to our first savings and loan in 1831 and our first mutual savings bank in 1816, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, or PSFS, where I had an account.
Most celebrations of our 250th anniversary, technically a “semiquincentennial,” are on the East Coast.
New York, with its controversial mayor and clowning courtside celebrities hot off celebrating the Knicks’ NBA championship, will remind everyone that it is the world’s most important city and financial capital. Signature anniversary events include a tall ship parade, Macy’s fireworks and Times Square celebrations.
Washington, D.C., flush with federal money and forever-feuding politicians, where governing sometimes seems like a joke, is the focus of the nation’s celebration. There are many made-for-television spectacles, including the White House’s UFC Octagon spectacular, the Great American State Fair, National Mall festivities, military parades, concerts, and, of course, fireworks.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia, with
Other than the long-overdue, federally funded restoration and reopening of the First Bank of the United…
Read More: As the US celebrates 250, remember the cradle of its banking industry
