Union Bank, Federal-style museum near Historic Capitol, Tallahassee, United States.
Union Bank is a two-storey brick building completed in 1841 for Tallahassee's first bank, chartered to finance local cotton plantations. It stands just east of the Capitol at Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Street, where it was moved in 1971 and restored before opening as a museum in 1984.
The building opened in 1841 as Florida's first bank and witnessed major changes after the Civil War. It then served African Americans as a financial institution and became important to their economic history.
The building reopened in 1868 as a branch of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, serving emancipated slaves. Later it housed a church, feed store, art house, coffee house, dance studio, locksmith's shop, beauty shop and shoe factory. In the 1920s cobbler Willis Jiles, a Tuskegee Institute graduate, kept his shop here.
The museum sits near Historic Capitol and is easy to reach on foot from the main downtown area. Plan time to read the detailed information about each exhibit and the stories behind the collections.
The building was moved in 1971 from its original site on the west side of Adams Street, between College Avenue and Park Avenue, to a spot just east of the Capitol on Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Avenue. It reopened there as a museum in 1984.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,595 contributors worldwide.