1893 Established National Union Bank of New York, TheNew York Bank History N / Scripophily.com
04/01/1900 Merge to Federal National Bank of Commerce in New York
04/01/1929 Merge to State Guaranty Trust Company of New York
04/24/1959 Name Change to Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York
The National Union Bank was founded by directors of the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company and its successor, the Guaranty Trust (Samuel D. Babcock, G.G. Haven, R. Somers Hayes, Augustus D. Juilliard, Richard A. McCurdy, Henry H. Rogers, H. McK. Twombly, and William C. Whitney); and Frederick P. Olcott of the Central Trust, along with Tobacco Trust financier Oliver H. Payne, with whom Olcott had had dealings; and Joseph D. Crimmins, a contractor and President of several NYC surface railroad lines. Joseph C. Hendrix, formerly a newspaper editor, congressman and president of the Kings County Trust Company, was the President; and Edward D. Leech, a former Director of the Mint, was the Vice President and Cashier. It moved into the former offices of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. in the Mutual Life Building, 32 Nassau Street. (This Bank Well Backed. New York Times, May 26, 1893.)
In 1903, the National Bank of Commerce purchased the Western National Bank of the United States. "The interesting details of the physical transfer were taken up on Monday, the day when officially the merger was to have effect. They involved carrying some $16,000,000 of cash, of which $12,000,000 was in gold and $67,000,000 of securities in bags and boxes from the Western National Bank Building, on the northwest corner of Nassau and Pine Streets, to the building of the National Bank of Commerce, correspondingly situated at Nassau and Cedar Streets. It was a simple process, and one which attracted but little attention from the passing throngs." The transaction was explained as a merging of the interests of two of the most powerful financial forces in the country, the Equitable Life Assurance Society and the Mutual Life Insurance Company. (Big Interests Merged in Bank of Commerce. New York Times, Oct. 7, 1903.) The "new directors" from the Western National, however, included a substantial number with ties to the Guaranty Trust.
Directors of the Western National Bank, 1890: Brayton Ives, President; V.P. Snyder, Vice President; Edward J. Berwind, Charles J. Canda, William N. Coler, Jr., Chauncey M. Depew, Louis Fitzgerald, Marcellus Hartley, Henry B. Hyde, F.O. Matthiesen, John E. Searles Jr., Sidney F. Tyler, William C. Whitney. (Display Ad 8. New York Times, Nov. 19, 1890 p. 7.)
Directors of the Western National Bank, 1898:
Charles J. Canda, Juan M. Ceballos, William N. Coler Jr., Chauncey M.
Depew, Marcellus Hartley, Henry B. Hyde, Brayton Ives, John Howard
Latham, Gen. Thomas H.
Hubbard, John E. Searles, Valentine P. Snyder,
Sidney F. Tyler, Dr. James H. Parker. (Annual Bank Elections. New York
Times, Jan. 12, 1898.)
James S. Alexander was president of the National Bank of Commerce
between 1912 and 1915, and also a director of the Bankers Trust Company of New York. In 1916,
he was one of the guests at the Tobacco Summit hosted by American
Tobacco Company financier Thomas F.
Ryan. (Thomas F. Ryan Is Host. New York Times, Feb. 18, 1916.) He
was Chairman of the National Bank of Commerce at its merger with the
Guaranty Trust in 1929.
Circa 1914, the National Bank of Commerce was the same size as the
National City Bank, with $25 million capital. Its largest stockholders,
according to Dow, Jones & Co., were: Equitable Life, 24,700; Mutual
Life, 17,294; G.F. Baker,
10,000; Northern Finance Corporation 9,300;
J.P. Morgan & Co., 7,800; Mary W. Harriman, 5,650; E.J. Berwind,
5,650; T.F. Ryan, 5,100; R.W.
Winthrop Co., agents, 4,900; S.J. Saltus,
4,757; T.A. Reynolds, 3,175; P.M. Warburg, 3,000 (since sold his
holdings); A.J. Hemphill, 2,000; A.D. Juilliard, 2,000;
J.J. Gerdan,
and lesser amounts by J.F. Goodhart & Co.; J.N. Jarvine, F.A.V.
Twombly; Kidder, Peabody & Co.; J.P. Morgan Jr.; L.P. Morton; H.B
[?] Davison; W.W. Astor; J.H. Schiff; V.P. Snyder; G. Whittell; and
E.T. Nichols. (Banks' Stock List Full of Surprises. New York Times,
Sep. 23, 1914.)
"Mr. Strong, a son of the late Benjamin Strong, governor of the Federal Reserve Bank, was a sophomore at Princeton when he left in March, 1917, to enlist in the American Field Service. Because of his war sevice he later received a diploma from Princeton University as of the class of 1919. Following the war, Mr. Strong traveled around the world and in 1921 entered the employ of the National Bank of Commerce. During his employment there he studied at the Wall Street Division of New York University. The following year he spent in London as a member of the staff of J. Henry Schroder & Co., private bankers. In 1930 he became assistant vice president of the Bank of Manhattan Trust Company, the position he now holds." In 1931, at the age of 34, he was one of an "unusually young" trio who were elected to the New York University Council, along with Col. Allan M. Pope, president of the First National Old Colony Corporation of Boston, whose brother, Bayard F. Pope, later became a director of Benson & Hedges shortly before it merged with Philip Morris; and George Emlen Roosevelt. Fred I. Kent of the Bankers Trust Company was president. (Three Financiers Join N.Y.U. Council. New York Times, Nov. 3, 1931; Named for New Term on Council of N.Y.U. New York Times, Nov. 14, 1941.)
Directors of National Bank of Commerce in New York, 31 Nassau
Street, Feb. 28, 1928 (prior to its 1929 merger with the Guaranty
Trust):
James S. Alexander, Chairman; John W.
Davis of Davis, Polk, Wardwell,
Gardiner & Reed; Henry W. de Forest, Chairman, Southern Pacific
Railroad; John T. Dorrance, Pres. Campbell Soup Co.; Edward D.
Duffield, Pres. Prudential Insurance Co.; Charles E. Dunlap, Vice
Pres., Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.; Lewis Gawtry, Pres. The Bank for
Savings in the City of New York; Angus D. McDonald, Vice Chairman,
Executive Committee, Southern Pacific Co.; George E. Roosevelt of
Roosevelt & Son; Charles B. Seger, Chairman, Finance Committee,
Union Pacific System; Frederick P. Small; Valentine P. Snyder, retired;
Harry B. Thayer; James Timpson; Stevenson E. Ward, President; and
Thomas Williams of I.T. Williams & Sons. (New York Times, Mar. 8,
1928 p. 35.) Vice President J. Howard Ardrey, who became a vice
president of the merged firm, was a vice president of the John D.
Rockefeller Jr.-founded Dunbar National Bank (Rockefeller Jr. Forms
Negro Bank in Harlem; To Be in Dunbar Apartments, Which He Built. New
York Times, Aug. 15, 1928 p. 1.), and a Deacon of Junior's Park Avenue
Baptist Church.
"The merger plan was worked out by Myron C. Taylor, chairman of
the
Finance Committee of the United States Steel Company, and Henry W.
deForest, chairman of the board of the Southern Pacific Company, and is
said to have been initiated by Thomas
W. Lamont." (Largest Bank in U.S.
Created by Two-Billion Commerce-Guaranty Merger. Bankers' Magazine,
Mar. 1929.)
cast 12-16-07