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The First National Bank is a historic bank building in Huntsville, Alabama. The temple-form Greek Revival structure was built in 1835–1836. Designed by locally famous architect George Steele, it occupies a prominent position, facing the courthouse square and sitting on a bluff directly above the Big Spring. It was the longest-serving bank building in Alabama, operating until 2010 when Regions Bank moved their downtown branch to a new location. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.〔 ==History== The First National Bank building is situated on the west side of Courthouse Square, on a bluff above the Big Spring and Big Spring Park. The site is where the founder of Huntsville, John Hunt, built his cabin in 1805.〔 The first bank to open in what was then the Mississippi Territory was the Planters and Merchants Bank, chartered in 1817. Beginning in 1818, they occupied a small brick building on the square, which had been built as a mercantile store two years prior. Despite its long list of wealthy local investors, the bank soon became over-leveraged. Governor Israel Pickens ordered the bank to be shut down in 1822, but legal challenges staved off dissolution until 1825. The bank's building burned sometime between 1828 and 1830. Pickens won re-election as Governor in 1823, running on a platform that included the establishment of a state bank. The bank was founded in 1824 in the capital, Cahaba, moving to Tuscaloosa along with the government in 1826.〔 Assets came from bond sales and trust funds owned by the State.〔 Branches were established in Mobile, Montgomery, and Decatur in 1832. Feeling slighted that the North Alabama branch was given to the younger and smaller Decatur, Huntsville legislators fought for a branch, which was awarded in 1835.〔 Construction of the building was completed the following year.〔 The availability of credit further fueled the land rush known as Alabama Fever. The banks provided enough revenue to the state government that the legislature abolished state taxes. The good times were short-lived, as the bank quickly became over-leveraged in the Panic of 1837. Benjamin Fitzpatrick was elected Governor in 1841, promising to shut down the state bank.〔 The charter expired in 1844, and was not renewed; the bank's debts were not settled until 1853. The same year, the Northern Bank of Alabama was founded in the old State Bank building. It operated until the Civil War, when Union troops occupied Huntsville in 1862. During the war, the building was used as a commissary.〔 At the end of the war, the National Bank of Huntsville was founded, using assets hidden from Union troops inside the building.〔 In 1889 the bank changed its name to the First National Bank of Huntsville.〔 First National merged with the Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham to form the First Alabama Bank in 1971. First Alabama changed its name to Regions Bank in 1992.〔 Regions occupied the building until February 2010, when they moved their downtown branch to a larger location and donated the building to a non-profit redevelopment group.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First National Bank (Huntsville, Alabama)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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