Item 27938 - Lincoln Bank Check, Bath, 1853

Item 27938 - Lincoln Bank Check, Bath, 1853
Contributed by Patten Free Library
Item 27938
Lincoln Bank Check, Bath, 1853
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The Lincoln Bank was initially at the north corner of Front and Centre Streets, the second brick building built in this central business district in 1812 as Henry Owen wrote in his History of Bath.

This check has spaces for date, "pay to," numerical amount, written out amount, and signature. On the end a small engraving paints a picture of one of Bath's great hopes -- the prosperity that a railroad could bring a city.

Just a few years before this check was written in 1853, the first train came into Bath, part of the Portland and Kennebec Railroad in which much Bath money was invested.

The Lincoln Bank merged with the Sagadahock National Bank after a fire in 1894, taking over the latter's offices on the opposite corner of Centre and Front in the building known as the Lincoln Block.

Still later the Lincoln Block became the quarters of the First National Bank when it swallowed the expanded Lincoln Bank. The collapse of the Lincoln Bank was due, at least in large part, to the collapse of Charles Wyman Morse's financial affairs.

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