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1 Dollar & 75 Cents Fall River Union Bank - Rhode Island
| Issuer | Fall River Union Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1853 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | $1,75Cts. The President Directors and Company of THE FALL RIVER UNION BANK Promise to pay ONE DOLLAR & SEVENTY FIVE CTs to... or bearer on demand TIVERTON 1853 RHODE ISLAND |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain expanse of aged paper with no design, text, or ornamentation of any kind. |
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| Comments |
Fall River, Massachusetts — not Rhode Island, despite the name on this note's header suggesting otherwise to the uninitiated. The town sits on the state line, and the bank's "Rhode Island" designation reflected its original 1825 charter jurisdiction before Fall River's annexation to Massachusetts was definitively settled. By 1853 the legal geography had long been resolved, but the institutional branding lagged.
The fractional denomination — one dollar and seventy-five cents — was a practical response to chronic small-coin shortages in New England mill towns, where textile workers needed exact change for company store transactions. Banks in the region routinely issued odd fractional amounts that would be considered absurd under any consolidated national system, which arrived a decade later.