The firm of McCrea, Bell & Co. opened a "Banking Exchange and Collection Office" in Janesville; its first advertisement appeared in the "Janesville Gazette" on January 2, 1851.

The evidence

• “The firm of McCrea, Bell & Co. opened a "Banking Exchange and Collection Office" in Janesville about January 1, 1851, their first advertisement appearing in the "Janesville Gazette" in the issue of January 2, 1851. The office of this firm was in a small stone building situated about where No. 9 North Main street now stands.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/22-janesville-banking.md, Vol. 1, PDF p. 518 / book p. 480

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources