Proposed by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton

The First Bank of the United States was created to strengthen the young nation’s finances, establish public credit, manage government funds, and support economic growth. The bank quickly became the center of a heated debate over federal power and the Constitution, with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison arguing that Congress lacked the authority to establish it. Despite the controversy, President George Washington approved Hamilton’s proposal, and the bank operated under a twenty-year charter until 1811.

The First Bank of the United States building introduced a level of architectural grandeur that signaled the authority and permanence of the new federal government. Its most striking feature is the marble Corinthian portico, a hexastyle (six‑column) arrangement spanning nearly 48 feet across the façade. The front is clad in Pennsylvania blue‑gray marble, while the rest of the structure is brick, an intentional choice that concentrated visual power on the public‑facing elevation. The façade’s sculptural program includes a carved eagle, Mercury’s head, a cornucopia, and other allegories of commerce and national prosperity, executed by Clodius LeGrand, whose pediment eagle is the earliest surviving architectural use of the U.S. national emblem.The building’s composition draws heavily on European precedents, especially the Royal Exchange in Dublin, but adapts them to the emerging American Federal style. Its seven‑bay façade, hipped copper roof (with portions still original), and balanced classical proportions made it one of the most admired buildings of its time. Contemporary critics noted both its ambition and its imperfections: Benjamin Henry Latrobe praised the marble’s beauty while criticizing the uneven stonework, a reminder of the young nation’s still‑developing craftsmanship. Inside, the original barrel‑vaulted banking hall was replaced in 1901 by architect James H. Windrim, who inserted a dramatic glass‑domed skylight supported by steel beams—an early 20th‑century modernization that remains part of the building today.Architecturally, the First Bank stands at the crossroads of politics, symbolism, and style. Its classical vocabulary asserted federal authority at a moment when the Constitution’s meaning was still being contested, and its monumental presence helped establish Philadelphia as the nation’s financial capital in the 1790s. Today, it remains one of the most significant surviving examples of early American neoclassicism and underwent restoration to reopen as a museum interpreting the origins of the U.S. financial system.

After the charter for the First Bank of the United States expired on March 4, 1811, Stephen Girard purchased most of its stock as well as the building and its furnishings on South Third Street in Philadelphia and opened his own bank, later known as Girard Bank. It opened for business on May 18, 1812. Girard was the sole proprietor of his bank, and thus avoided the Pennsylvania state law which prohibited an unincorporated association of persons from establishing a bank, and which required a charter from the legislature for a banking corporation.After Hamilton left office in 1795, Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott Jr. proposed selling the government’s shares in the bank to raise funds. Congress approved the sale despite Hamilton’s opposition. The First Bank’s charter expired in 1811, and it was succeeded by the Second Bank of the United States in 1816.

Following a massive $43 million restoration, the historic building is reopening to the public as a museum.

A national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years by the United States Congress.

Built 1795-97, Samuel Blodgett, designer and Joseph P. Le Grand, marble mason. It served as the Bank of the U.S. from 1797-1812 and as the Bank of Stephen Girard's, 1812-1864. Later occupied by the Girard National Bank, 1864-1926. The interior was drastically altered in 1901, James Windrim, architect. It was purchased for the Independence National Historical Park Project in 1954.

The 1797 First Bank of the United States, commissioned by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton when the nation adopted a single currency.

First Bank of the United States, Independence National Historical Park

The 1st Bank of the United States

Stephen Girard was a French‑born merchant, banker, and philanthropist whose financial acumen and civic leadership made him one of the most influential figures in early Philadelphia. Arriving in the city in 1776, he built a vast trading empire through Atlantic and Caribbean commerce before turning to banking, where his personal resources proved decisive during the War of 1812. When the First Bank of the United States closed, Girard purchased its building and much of its infrastructure, operating Girard’s Bank, which helped stabilize federal credit at a moment of national crisis.Girard was also a major civic benefactor. During Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic, he personally nursed the sick and helped manage the city’s emergency hospital. At his death in 1831, he left the bulk of his fortune—one of the largest in American history at the time—to public institutions, most notably Girard College, founded to educate orphaned boys. His legacy remains visible across Philadelphia in its financial history, philanthropic institutions, and the enduring imprint of his estate

From “The life and times of Stephen Girard, mariner and merchant (1918)”

Entombed in a marble sarcophagus located within the vestibule of Founder's Hall at Girard College.

Stephen Girard

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