Merchants National Bank

Merchants State Bank opened for business on July 8, 1890, in a building located on the northeast corner of Broadway and N.P. Avenue. The bank opened with a capitol of $50,000. Burleigh F. Spalding was the first bank president. The bank building was destroyed in the fire that leveled most of downtown Fargo in June 1893. The bank was rebuilt on the same site, and the business continued at that site. On April 10, 1906, the banks charter was changed and it was renamed the Merchants National Bank. Then on January 13, 1920, the bank was the first in North Dakota to add trust services, and in 1921 the bank moved to a new building at 122 Broadway.

The bank became affiliated with the First Bank Stock Investment Co. in 1927, and was the first bank outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul to do so. A new modern bank building was built at 505 2nd Avenue N. The building was designed by Seifert & Staszko Associates. On April 10, 1964 the bank opened for the first day of official business in the new building. The bank opened a second southwest location in 1976 at the intersection of 13th Avenue and 25th Street S. The Merchants National Bank and Trust became First Bank of Fargo on May 5, 1977.

Sources:
Polk’s Fargo and Moorhead City Directories. St. Paul, MN: R.L. Polk and Company
"Merchants National Bank"Fargo Forum and Daily Republican (19 July 1907): 28
"History of the financial institutions of Fargo which tell of city's prosperity" Fargo Forum and Daily Republican (21 April 1909): B3.
"From 'small town' to 'All-American' City; Merchants National Bank" Fargo Forum (24 February 1960): B-11.