The Union Bank of Tallahassee was established around 1830 and is the state's oldest surviving bank building. It is located at Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Street. On February 24, 1971, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.HistoryThe Union Bank was completed in 1841 as Tallahassee's first bank by William Williams when Florida was still a territory. Chartered to help finance local cotton plantations, it ultimately closed in 1843 due to the Seminole Wars, unsound banking practices, and the Panic of 1837. In 1847, the bank was purchased by cotton plantation owners William Bailey and Isaac Mitchell.After the Civil War, the bank reopened as the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company in 1868 for emancipated slaves. It later served as a church, feed store, art house, coffee house, dance studio, locksmith's shop, beauty shop, and shoe factory.In 1971, the bank was moved from its original site on the west side of Adams Street between College Avenue and Park Avenue, to just east of the Capitol on Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Avenue where it underwent restoration and was opened as a museum in 1984.Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and MuseumThe Union Bank now serves as an extension of the Florida A&M University Southeastern Regional Black Archives, Research Center and Museum. The site is also known as the Capitol Complex Extension Branch of the Southeastern Regional Black Archives.
