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1806, and which continued in business, enjoying the proud distinction of being one of the leading institutions in the State, until a few years after the close of the Civil War, when it was forced out of business by the stringencies of those times The first authentic record of the bank, available now, is November 1st, 1860, when Joshua Grainger Wright was its President. Upon the death of Mr. Wright the affairs of the bank were turned over to Richard Bradley; later to Dr. Jno. Hill, Dr. Thos. H. Wright, Jno. D. Jones, and still later to Mr. William A. Wright, who was president of the bank during and after the war, until it was closed. The bank did a very large business all over the State and before the war as early as 1830 had established, branches in Washington, N. C., with Thos: H. Hardenburg as Cashier; at Greensboro, with J. J. Lindley as Cashier, and at Raleigh and Asheville with officers in charge, whose names cannot be learned. There were also in existence here before and after the war the "Old State Bank" and a branch of the Bank of the State, all of which enjoyed a large clientelage. The Bank of Cape Fear occupied the site upon which the handsome new Masonic Temple was built here in 1899, and many of the employes and officers of the bank, either for purposes of security or convenience, lived with their families in the same building The Commercial Bank was organized in the seventies, and also was a flourishing institution until forced out of business by conditions following the war. O. G. Parsley was its leading president and Timothy Savage its cashier. The Bank of Wilmington was founded about 1850 with John MacRae President and Stephen Jewett Cashier; afterwards William L Smith was Cashier until it. too. was forced to suspend during the reaction in financial affairs following the civil conflict between the State. The old State Bank enlisted the services as directors and officers of such men as Jno. A. Taylor, Gilbert Potter, Col. E. D. Hall, Jno. A. Lillington, William E. Anderson, William Reston and others long since gone to their reward. The banking interests of the city were very much unsettled just after the war, and the careers of institutions of that period were usually very short and undistinguished. James G. Burr was associated for a short while with Mr. Swepson, of Raleigh, but the business lasted only a short time and ended in ruin. At the same time the late John Dawson conducted a large brokerage business, with a banking feature, and was reasonably successful. Very soon after the war he went into the banking business exclusively, and Dawson's Bank was founded with the late I. B. Grainger as Cashier. In 1870 E. E. Burruss came here from Petersburg, Va., and also embarked in banking. Later he consolidated his business with that of John Dawson, calling the new institution the First National Bank of Wilmington, which continued in the old banking house of the Cape Fear Bank until 1883. when it went out of business About the same time that the First National Bank was established, the late I. B. Grainger left Mr. Dawson and was instrumental in founding the Bank of New Handver, the memory of the failure of which in 1893 is still fresh in the history of the financial interests of the State. In 1892 Mr. J. W. Norwood, of Greenville, S. C., came to Wilmington and established the Atlantic National Bank. About the same the Wilmington National Bank was founded by Mr. Jno. S. Armstrong, and the two continued until about two years ago when they were consolidated into one of the very first institutions of its kind in the State, the merged banks having taken the name "Atlantic." While this steady devolpment of the banking interests of the city was going on, Murchison & Co., had been rapidly building up a large banking business, and four years ago necessity de manded that steps be taken to more easily serve their patrons. Accordingly the Murchison National Bank sprang into existence, and it is now not one whit behind any bank of the city or State. The city has also developed during the past several years three of the strongest savings institutions to be found anywhere in North Carolina, and they are enjoying a full measure of the prosperity that now exists among the banks all over the State. Wilmington's bank resources now amount to $5,450,032. Its banks are managed by men born to their calling, shrewd, conservative and responsible. Many of. their names are the same as their distinguished ancestors who long ago managed the affairs of the Old Bank of Cape Fear, the Commercial Bank, the Old State Bank and others, which were powerful factors in the financial life of the State in their day. BANK OF CAPE FEAR. Brief History of An Institution That Did Great Good In North Carolina. Wilmington, N. C., June 25.-The president. directors and company of the Bank of Cape Fear, commonly known as Bank of Cape Fear, was incorporated by the General Assembly of North Carolina in the year 1804, with a capital stock of $250,000, divided into 2,500 shares of the