First National Bank Building - Lead, South Dakota

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Lead's first bank was founded in 1879 under the name of Samuel Wood & Co. and was later renamed Thum, Lake & Co. It became a state bank in 1883 under the name of the Lead City Bank, a name which was changed to the First National Bank in 1891, and most recently to Norwest Bank.

From humble beginnings in Harlow's Feed Store on Mill Street, the bank moved to a new brick structure on the corner of Main and North Mill in 1883, later occupying an even more imposing building on the same site in 1903 (seen pictured here).

This building was abandoned in the early 1920s as ground subsidence from mining activity caused blocks of the original commercial district to be razed and relocated.

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