Monday, February 17, 2020

First Black owned bank: Capital Savings Bank

The first bank organized and operated by African Americans was Capital Savings Bank in Washington, D.C. which opened in 1888. Just four years after it opened, its deposits had grown to over $300,000.

Capital Savings Bank provided the capital essential to the growth of black businesses, capital that white-owned banks were unwilling to lend. The community proudly deposited its money in Capital Savings Bank. The public's confidence in Capital was rock solid in the early days, enabling the bank to exert a strong, positive economic impact on the community it served. During the Panic of 1893, the bank rode out the tide and was able to honor every obligation on demand. Capital Savings Bank helped many African-American businesses and property owners until it closed in 1902.

*NOTE: Although the Capital Savings Bank was the first black-owned bank to open in the United States, The Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers was the first bank to be chartered in the United States. That bank opened in 1889.

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