When JS and other leaders of the Church of the Latter Day Saints took steps to establish a community bank in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836, stock sales were vital to its success. In order to acquire the funds needed to operate the institution, which they named the Kirtland Safety Society, and redeem its banknotes for specie, the society solicited subscriptions from individuals interested in purchasing the society’s stock. The society’s constitution and articles of agreement set the capital stock at $4 million and divided that amount into 80,0000 shares of stock sold for $50 each.[1]

[1] The Society’s capital stock was a considerably higher amount than that of other community banks in the period, which ranged from $100,000 to $300,000.