Digital Bob Archive

The banking business in Juneau got off to a poor start. The town's first bank, which was also the first in Alaska, went broke and closed its doors less than two years after it opened them.

Local newspapers had commented from time to time on the need for a bank but it was not until November 18, 1893, that The Juneau City Mining Record was able to announce that \"Harrison Brothers will open a banking department on or about January 1, 1894.\" And The Alaska News, five days later, expanded a little on the story: \"Juneau is to have her first bank, a convenience long wanted. On or about Jan. 1, Messrs. Harrison Brothers will open a banking department in Juneau, to carry on a commercial and general banking business.\"

One of the Harrisons was a dentist, the other a photographer. It is not known that either of them had any banking experience, and the opening was somewhat delayed. It was on March 1, 1894, that The Alaska News announced: \"The Bank of Juneau, J.N. Harrison, cashier, has opened its doors for business.\" It was in the Sanford Building, corner of Third and Seward, where the Log Cabin is today.

Not long after it opened, the bank moved across and down Seward Street to a building adjoining the B.M. Behrends store, the same building, apparently, that Mr. Behrends would use a few years later for his bank. The Bank of Juneau did not remain there for very long, either. The next move was down to the corner of Second and Seward, and in May 1895 there was an announcement that a lot had been purchased on the north side of Second Street and that the bank would put up its own building.

The new two-story building was 22 feet wide on Second Street and 62 feet deep and it stood on the west side of the present Silverbow Inn. The bank moved into those quarters in November 1895 and Dr. H.J. Harrison, dentist, had his offices upstairs.

The first published word of trouble at the Bank of Juneau was this announcement in the newspapers on February 8, 1896:

\"NOTICE TO CREDITORS\"

\"The Bank of Juneau, Harrison Bros., proprietors, has temporarily suspended business and payment. The bank will be reorganized and incorporated and resume business and all creditors will be paid in full. Harrison Bros.\"

There were rumors that the bank owed between $12,000 and $15,000, but only one lawsuit was filed, for $352.80, and if that was settled it was done out of court. A Grand Jury convened in Juneau in April, but no indictments were returned against the Harrisons. Things perhaps have not changed that much in a hundred years.

Such assets as the bank had were liquidated rapidly. On February 29, only 23 days after the notice of the closing, this item appeared in the weekly Searchlight: \"The large Hall safe of the Bank of Juneau has been purchased by B.M. Behrends.\" Then on May 6, 1896, one short new line appeared for the first time in the regular full page advertisement of the B.M. Behrends store: \"For the accommodation of our many customers, we are doing a banking business.\" Juneau's second bank was open for business.