In 1804 the First Bank of Virginia was founded in Richmond, Virginia, beginning a long history of successful banks in the city. With a founding capital of $1,500,000.00, this Virginia institution was in step with Southern state banks in the antebellum period. It was not until the organization of a national banking system in the mid 1860’s that Virginia embraced independent or unit banking.Thomas C. Boushall was an executive officer and early historian of the Bank of Virginia. In 1963, he authored The Story of the Bank of Virginia. The Bank of Virginia was founded in 1922 as a Morris Plan Bank, banks that specialized in making small consumer loans as originated by Arthur J. Morris. The Bank of Virginia remained a pioneer in consumer banking, including introducing one of the first credit cards in 1953. Boushall was active in the community and wrote on a wide-range of topics, including banking, health care, health insurance, and the Roosevelt administration’s New Deal.