First National Bank (Philadelphia)

First National Bank was a bank in Philadelphia. Chartered in 1863, it was the first national bank created under the Civil War banking reforms that began to define the modern U.S. banking system, and the first commercial bank to issue a federal banknote. It operated independently until 1955, when it was merged into the Bank of North America and Trust Company, today part of Wells Fargo.

During the Civil War, the cash-strapped Lincoln administration, acting on the suggestion of Philadelphia financier Jay Cooke, sought to create a true national currency by fostering a class of strong banks entitled to print banknotes backed by the U.S. government. Congress took up the effort with the 1863 National Banking Act and National Currency Act, passing the latter on February 25, 1863.

Uncoincidentally, the first charter under the new Act went to a group of Philadelphia financiers that included Cooke. They received the charter on June 20, opened the doors of First National Bank on July 11, and that same day became the first commercial bank to issue a federal banknote.

The bank's first president was Owen Wilson Davis, who on June 16, 1863, provided money to buy horses for the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry so it could deploy to meet the Confederate Army at Gettysburg.

The bank's president from 1863 to 1873 was Clarence Howard Clark, Sr.

In 1955, First National Bank merged with the Bank of North America and Trust Company, a successor to the Bank of North America, to become the First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust Company. "This firm became Corestates which was acquired by First Union, which became Wachovia Bank," which was acquired by Wells Fargo in 2009.

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