9. The Bank of New York

Inside today’s Museum of American Finance

In 1784, Hamilton founded the Bank of New York in order to boost the economy following the Revolutionary War. The bank opened with $500,000 in capital and with the title of oldest bank in the United States. Hamilton singlehandedly wrote the bank’s constitution and became one of its leading directors. The Bank of New York opened in the Walton House in Lower Manhattan. Today, it is the location of the Museum of American Finance. A few years later in 1791, he would lay plans for the development of the first Bank of the United States.