File:Men inside Dexter Horton Bank, Seattle, 1882 (MOHAI 9520).jpg

In 1870 Seattle pioneer Dexter Horton (1825-1904) opened the first business in Seattle dedicated to serving as a bank. Dexter Horton Bank was one of the corporate ancestors of Seattle First National Bank, which eventually merged into the Bank of America. This image taken of the interior of the Dexter Horton Bank at the northwest corner of Commercial Street (First Avenue South) and Main Street includes (from left to right) cashier B. F. Briggs, bank partner Arthur Armstrong Denny (1822-1899), cashier Rolland Hershel Denny (1851-1939), cashier Norval Hastings Latimer (1863-1923), and Norman Penfield (1830-1911), whose wife's sister, Caroline Eliza Parsons (1836-1878) was Dexter Horton's second wife. The large bank vault was installed in January 1883 and its claims at the time of being fireproof were soon proven true. This building was gutted in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 and continued to serve as temporary banking quarters until being replaced by the large buff-brick Maynard Building, which still stands.

Caption information source: "Horton, Dexter (1825-1904)" by Junius Rochester, HistoryLink.org Essay 1048

• Subjects (LCTGM): Banks--Washington (State)--Seattle; Business districts--Washington (State)--Seattle
• People: Denny, Arthur A. (Arthur Armstrong), 1822-1899 ; Denny, Rolland Herschel, 1851-1939 ; Horton, Dexter, 1825-1904