Beaver Staff
Dollars and cents will be the subject of the newest travelling exhibition to come to the Lennox and Addington County Museum and Archives this summer.
Running from July 3 through Aug. 23, the ‘In The Money’ exhibit will consist of a display from Ottawa’s Bank of Canada Museum. It will include interactive stations and displays with fun facts and insights for visitors to explore. They’ll get a glimpse into modern methods for developing, testing and producing secure and innovative bank notes.
In The Money will also teach visitors how paper money is made, how to spot counterfeit bills and the purpose of the holograms that are printed on modern notes.
Lennox and Addington has a notable link with early paper currency. As settlement advanced, thrifty farmers and merchants of L&A invested in the stock of early banking institutions, the Bank of Upper Canada and the Commercial Bank of the Midland District. But, in 1837, 63 subscribers formed the Freeholders Bank of the Midland District at Bath. When the Provincial Legislature passed an act to protect the public from the injury of private banking, Peter Davy and 386 freeholders of the Midland District petitioned the Legislative Assembly to be allowed to continue. Despite this, the affairs of the bank had been wound up by November 1838.
As a local feature, the museum will display one of the engraved promissory notes printed for this venture. The first savings bank opened in Napanee was the Napanee Savings Bank Society founded by Sir Richard Cartwright. The first chartered bank in Napanee was the Commercial Bank which opened for business on June 4, 1864 in a small frame store on John Street. Also founded by Sir. Richard Cartwright, this bank was managed by Alexander Smith who lived in the building and kept a cash safe in his dining room.
On the subject of money, the museum has also announced that it has dropped its price of admission to just a loonie for July and August.