Founded 1852 | Parent organization Chemical Bank | |
The Corn Exchange Bank was founded in 1853 in New York, but had branches in other states, including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. It was a retail bank that acquired many community banks. In 1855, the bank moved into an existing building at the northwest corner of William and Beaver streets. In 1894, the bank completed a new headquarters, an 11-story building designed by Robert Henderson Robertson, at 11-15 William Street. Between 1923 and 1925, together with a number of other New York banks, it held a small stake in the Connecticut-chartered Bank of Central and South America. In 1929 it was renamed the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company. In 1954 it merged with Chemical Bank and the combined entity took the name Chemical Corn Exchange Bank. After Chemical Corn merged with New York Trust, the "Corn" was dropped. The Corn Exchange Bank in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was famously robbed by Willie Sutton in February 1933.
As late as 1928, photographs show the Corn Exchange had a branch in a building on Grove Street, approximately 50 feet East of 7th Avenue South in Greenwich Village. The building was likely expanded following the bank's merger with Chemical Bank in 1954. The enlarged building's exterior appearance is virtually unchanged since 1954, likely due to New York's Landmark Law, passed in 1965 in response to the mounting losses of historically significant buildings in New York City, most notably the old Pennsylvania Station. The Grove Street building currently houses a Chase Bank branch. Chase Manhattan (Now known as JP Morgan Chase) merged with Chemical Bank in 1995.