Farmers & Mechanics Bank, Pawtucket

“Incorporated in 1823 with a capital of $200,000 to accommodate the large textile industry in the Pawtucket area. The bank was heavily dependent on the Wilkinson family, one of the largest manufacturing owners in the city. Samuel Slater, the founder of the American cotton industry, was married to Hannah Wilkinson. Her father and brothers were wealthy mill owners in the Pawtucket area. The failure of their business caused the downfall of this bank in 1829. The bank managed to pay all of its creditors, but the stockholders lost all their investment. The stockholders organized a new bank under the forfeited charter and moved it to Providence. They named it the Phenix Bank because it had risen from the ashes as in Egyptian mythology.” – Roger Durand, Obsolete Notes and Scrip of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations.

Albraham Wilkinson served as its president and Henry Marchant as its cashier. It appears that this bank only issued $1, $2 and $3 notes, all printed by Graphic Co.

The bank was located in a part of the village of Pawtucket that was within the borders of North Providence. This is why banknotes from Farmers and Mechanics bear the names of both locations.

In 1874, the boundaries were redrawn and the area where the bank had been located was annexed to the neighboring town of Pawtucket, which itself was incorporated as a city in 1886.

>Click here for more on the Phenix Bank of Providence.

60-day promissory note from December 2, 1824 showing Bernard (or “Barned”) Wheeler and Joshua Miller borrowed $80 from the Farmer’s and Mechanic’s Bank.

Back of the promissory note showing Wheeler and Millers periodic repayments on the loan.