The Corn Exchange Bank, West Village, Manhattan
Frequently on the way to work I walk pass this intersection. I noticed some scaffolding go up around one of the buildings a while ago. I assumed they were just doing work on it. Pretty quickly the building was gone. Revealed on the building in front of the demolished building was some old signage for the Corn Exchange Bank.
I tried to do some research on the Corn Exchange Bank but it’s really hard to find much information since it no longer exists. The bank was founded in 1852 and opened its doors for business in 1853. the Corn Exchange was an aggressive retail bank that acquired many smaller community banks. As far as I can tell it was big in NY, with many branches, but also existed in other states like Wisconsin and Nebraska. In 1929 it became the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company and in 1954 it merged with Chemical Bank to become the Chemical Corn Exchange Bank. Chemical Corn’s merger with The New York Trust Company in 1959 was the last of the “Corn”. The name was then changed to Chemical Bank New York Trust Company. Many mergers and acquisitions followed and in 1996 Chemical merged with the Chase Manhattan Corporation forming what was then the largest bank holding company in the US. Chasethrives today as part of JPMorgan Chase. As for the building that the Corn Exchange Bank signage is painted on? It’s now a Chase branch, of course.
44 responses so far ↓
1 tien // Oct 15, 2003 at 10:53 am
i wonder if the various JPMorganChase entities have owned the corn bank space all this time. hmm.
grand street goes to the west village? it looks like the building with the chase on canal street…next to the 1/9 stop.
2 rachelle // Oct 15, 2003 at 10:55 am
Yeh, that is what I was wondering too.
It is that building.. but I didn’t know the neighborhood. I consulted with Danielle, next to me, and we couldn’t decide what that neighborhood is considered.
3 tien // Oct 15, 2003 at 12:18 pm
it’s kind of at the meeting point of three areas - tribeca, the village, and soho - and yet not really in any of them. clearly not in tribeca because it’s not below canal. maybe soho or the village. i would say more soho though. the way this site defines it, that is soho. i would actually agree with all it’s definitions.
4 dy // Oct 15, 2003 at 12:21 pm
See #3 - that’s the old Corn Exchange building in NYC - is it the same one you’ve got the picture of? I can’t tell.
#6 is the old Corn Exchange building in my city!
http://66.70.245.136/museum/quiz1us.html
5 Richard // Oct 15, 2003 at 1:19 pm
This Chemical Bank?
6 joel // Oct 15, 2003 at 1:36 pm
I hate chase
… and I really mean that.
7 dad // Oct 15, 2003 at 4:29 pm
Very interesting article.
You could spend a life time
Digging up information of the past
About New York City or any other major cities in this country
The small pox hospital was also very interesting keep up the good job
Love Dad
Recived your card thanks and the book
8 rachelle // Oct 15, 2003 at 5:22 pm
Dy - I don’t think that’s the same building .. the one on Varick/Canal isn’t that tall.. although the corner looks similar…
That site brings up a point I was trying to research. “Corn Exchange” “Cotton Exchange” “Sugar Exchange” “Produce Exchange”.. why were the banks named like this? Back in the day did they actually exchange corn? Is it literal?
Richard - Great Seinfeld reference. Given that Chemical was in NY and that Seinfeld was in NY and that this episode ran in 1994 and Chemical didnt merge with Chase until 1996, I would say “yes, it is the same Chemical Bank”.
Joel - spillit!!!! Most everyone in New York has either a Chase or Citibank account. I have Citibank so I don’t know much about Chase. Surprising, though. I thought everyone in Boston had Fleet accounts. Even my friends in NY who are from Boston have Fleet.
9 petrol // Oct 15, 2003 at 7:30 pm
Your Dad’s right, R. You can be a New York archeologist or something. That’d be cool (:
10 tien // Oct 15, 2003 at 10:21 pm
my hypothesis: back in the day, there were various exchanges that traded futures on goods, just like there are now. currently, futures tend to be traded in specific markets, like the chicago board of trade (CBOT), but maybe in the past before consolodation, they traded in their individual exchanges. and the bank was a natural step after that. seems to make sense, no?
11 joel // Oct 16, 2003 at 12:42 am
the chase auto loan, and high APR credit card … those would usually be enough for someone. Nah, not for me. I actually work WITH Chase people! For the most part they’re nice but there’s one HORRIDLY ROTTEN apple that’s ruins the whole damn bunch. Terrible.
That’s why.
I have a fleet checking and savings account and I absolutely love that bank. The only other bank I dealt with was Wells Fargo out in SD … and they were kinda lackluster.
12 rachelleb // Oct 16, 2003 at 1:42 am
joel, so the cat’s out of the bag? is that the client who’s site you are/were working on who you werent sure if you could/should name?
tien, you’re probably right. and you probably wouldnt believe that for several years i had my securities licenses (so i should know these things!)..
13 joel // Oct 16, 2003 at 7:57 am
Actually our client is a partner in a joint venture with chase. Chase doesn’t sign our checks :). But they are people who’s opinions have counted throughout the whole process.
14 Mike // Oct 17, 2003 at 9:16 am
I think that area is known as NoHo.
15 Steve // Oct 19, 2003 at 4:20 pm
Just road by that sign and was about to do the research when I found you’d done it already, thanks.
16 Steve // Oct 19, 2003 at 4:21 pm
rode
17 rachelleb // Oct 19, 2003 at 9:26 pm
I see that rachelleb.com is now coming up #1 when you search for “The Corn Exchange Bank”.
18 joe // Oct 20, 2003 at 9:16 am
Have you noticed whether the google rankings are very volatile for rachelleb.com? On Saturday my site came up first when I searched for my name, and fifth when I searched for celluloid skyline. This morning neither is in the top 100. Maybe it is the nature of blogs, or in my case typepad. Maybe I should get to work rather than looking for myself.
19 rachelle // Oct 20, 2003 at 5:24 pm
joe - my google rankings actually hold pretty steady.. im not sure why though.
20 Pat // Nov 7, 2003 at 8:28 pm
In 1953 I went to work at a Corn Exchange bank in Lincoln Center at West 65th and Broadway. The building is still there, across the street from the Lincoln Center Complex.
21 colleen // Jan 15, 2004 at 9:59 am
I also notices a Corn Exchange sign on a building that seems to be in the process of being demolished or renovated at 125th Street in Harlem. Have anything on this?
22 carl johnson // Mar 10, 2004 at 3:05 pm
hi…….very interesting site…..thanks for the picture………..my wifes grandfather,fritz hubert owned a well known nyc cafeteria back in the late 1920s……..catering to a lot of the bohemians in the greenwich village area…and the place is mentioned in one of scott fitzgerarlds books….cmon,lets go down to huberts….his cafeteria was sold soon after his death,and the site taken over by the corn exchange bank………..whether for a bank or offices i dotn know…..i wonder whether there is still a bank there……..the site must be in greenwich village………..any info on huberts would be apprecitated…………press on, carl johnson
23 John // Mar 12, 2004 at 3:45 pm
My first share of stock was corn back in the early 1930’s. I’m still with them.
I have still got an old check book from the Corn.
24 Hal // Jun 15, 2004 at 11:34 am
I live in Cheltenham Township in Suburban Philadelphia. The land that my house was built upon (1926) was once owned by Dell Noblitt, circa 1871-1881, a onetime president of the Corn Exchange Bank. He was a neighbor of the Civil War financer Jay Cooke (as a result Cooke became the richest man in America). When Jay Cooke went bankrupt on the Northern Pacific Railroad, Dell Noblitt sat on his credit committee. Samual Chase, Lincoln’s Treasury Secretary was a buddy of both Noblitt and Cooke.
25 Hal // Jun 17, 2004 at 3:49 pm
The Philadelphia Corn Exchange Bank was a predecessor of Girard Bank which was aquired by Mellon in the 1980s.
26 Claudene // Aug 28, 2004 at 8:13 pm
My Great Aunt, Miss Alice E. Crawford was elected as (the first Woman) Director of the Board of Directors of Corn Exchange Bank Trust Company in October 19?? - she filled a vacancy caused by the death of James A. Fulton. One of the few women in those years to hold positions of such high regard (& normally a man’s position).
I have a photograph of the newspaper article (do not know which paper) showing her photo and the announcement of her election to the Board. I also have a photo of a Life Magazine article (early 1950’s I think) entitled American Women of Achievement which shows a group photo of the “25 Ladies from all over the U.S. who were given the title of “American Women of Achievement” in Boston” (no date). Some of the other 25 ladies besides Aunt Anan (she went by Anan instead of Alice) were “Publisher Oveta Culp Hobby of Houston, former director of WAC (Women’s Air Corp, I believe), Elsie M. Murphy, president of the textile firm of S Strooock & Co., Designer Hattie Carnegie; Eleanor R. Beliaont, founder of the Metropolitan Opera Guild; Captain Anne B Stelle, Army Nurse Corps, veteran of Korea; Cosmetician Rose Laird, developer of indelible lipsticks; Life Photographer Margaret Bourke-White; Actress Cornelia Otis Skinner; Hazel H. Wightman, “mother of American tennis”; Physicist Katharine B. Blodgett of General Electric; Actress Faye Emerson; Actress Ethel Waters; Soprano Eleanor Steber of the Metropolitan Opera; Jacqueline Cochran, executive and aviatrix…..”
27 louis // Oct 3, 2004 at 2:39 pm
While going though some of my parents old papers I ran across an old Corn Exchange Bank Trust Co. Dividend check that was never cashed. From 1952, are they still around and if so how can I find them.
Louis
28 GREG // Oct 29, 2004 at 7:32 pm
CORN BANK IN FLATBUSH BUILDING AS WELL AS VAULT AND STONE WORK OUTSIDE STILL INTACT VAULT USED FOR WINE STORAGE I BELIEVE BUT TOP OF BUILDING ENGRAVED CORN EXCHANGED BANK AND TRUST ON FLATBUSH AND I BELIEVE FULTON STREET
29 edgar hicks // Nov 4, 2004 at 1:37 pm
I am trying to put together a stamp/post card exhibit of banks in the world that have had “corn exchange” in their name. If i a few items from England where the word corn means grain.
30 Greta // Mar 22, 2005 at 5:01 pm
Having taken a tour of your website for the first time, I want you to know that seeing the world through your eyes is a potent form of freedom.
31 Greta // Mar 22, 2005 at 5:06 pm
Having taken a tour of your website for the first time, I want you to know that seeing the world through your eyes is a potent form of freedom.
32 DAO // May 12, 2005 at 8:34 am
I have an office in this building!
AFAIK, JP Morgan Chase’s 99 year lease with Trinity Real Estate (i.e. Trinity Church) is coming up at the end of this year, and it seems the plan is to tear the building down, as was done with property next door, towards clearing space for an office or mixed-use tower.
We on the upper-floors (architects, designers, photographers and artists) will be holding a series of early evening parties this Summer to savor the building’s twilight…
If anyone’s interested in attending, I’ll post a url here with further info in a couple of weeks.
Cheers!
DAO
33 Ashlee // Aug 23, 2005 at 10:13 am
This is very interesting to me especially because my grandmother has an old checkbook from this bank in Manhatten it has a one check written out for a very high amount but it is not signed. It also has a deposit slip in it. Please write back to me on my e-mail it would be greatly appreciated.
ItalianBbay0309@aol.com
34 JOhn // Dec 15, 2005 at 7:02 pm
Does anyone know who owned Chemical Banking Corporation, the holding company for the former Chemical Bank–which merged with Chase in 1996.
Thanks
35 Wanda Lou // Dec 17, 2005 at 1:28 pm
12-17-05
Hi John,
You are looking for the same things I am. I would like to know if any of the commenter up above, somewhere in this filing, said they worked at the Chase? Do you know who your Chairman of the board is at Chase - and jamie Dimon CEO?
36 Frank // Jan 20, 2006 at 10:47 pm
I went to work for Corn Exchange Bank at 401 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. in July 1953, survived nicely through several mergers and retired from Chase in March 1998, closing in on 45 years with the same corporation. I started out in the lowest clerical position at $33.00 a week and retired as a VP at $125,000.00 annually. I’m very grateful for my career with this organization.
37 Isaac // Jan 31, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Hey, saw this interesting blog about the Corn Exchange Bank. Philadelphia indeed had their own version of the “Corn Exchange”. During the U.S. Civil War the Corn Exchange of Philadelphia outfitted a regiment of Union soldiers (118th Pennsylvania Regiment) and gave them an enlistment bonus of 10 dollars. Henceforce, the 118th was know as the “Corn Exchange Regiment”. The Corn Exchange of Philadelphia was a financial market that speculated in agricultural futures.
38 Isaac // Jan 31, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Hey, saw this interesting blog about the Corn Exchange Bank. Philadelphia indeed had their own version of the “Corn Exchange”. During the U.S. Civil War the Corn Exchange of Philadelphia outfitted a regiment of Union soldiers (118th Pennsylvania Regiment) and gave them an enlistment bonus of 10 dollars. Henceforce, the 118th was know as the “Corn Exchange Regiment”. The Corn Exchange of Philadelphia was a financial market that speculated in agricultural futures.
39 Guy Nasuti // Feb 16, 2006 at 3:20 pm
The 118th Pennsylvania Regiment “The Corn Exchange,” fought the Confederates at the Battle of Shepherdstown shortly after the battle of Antietam in September 1862. They were a “green” regiment, never having seen combat before when they were deployed up some bluffs on the Virginia (soon WVa) side of the Potomac River to pursue some of Lee’s retreating Confederates. The 118th had been given defective rifles, which they discovered to their horror when the Confederates came charging through the woods at them. Between the terror of that and the defective rifles, they turned to run, many falling down the cliffs with some making it down the slope to Pack Horse (or Boeteler’s) Ford and into the Potomac back to the Maryland side. Others tried hiding in the remains of a cement mill on the rivers edge. Of 700 soldiers in the Corn Exchange, only 431 survived. But they fought throughout the war, and were present at Lee’s surrender at Appomatox in 1865. Thought you’d be interested to know that.
40 Guy Nasuti // Feb 16, 2006 at 3:21 pm
The 118th Pennsylvania Regiment “The Corn Exchange,” fought the Confederates at the Battle of Shepherdstown shortly after the battle of Antietam in September 1862. They were a “green” regiment, never having seen combat before when they were deployed up some bluffs on the Virginia (soon WVa) side of the Potomac River to pursue some of Lee’s retreating Confederates. The 118th had been given defective rifles, which they discovered to their horror when the Confederates came charging through the woods at them. Between the terror of that and the defective rifles, they turned to run, many falling down the cliffs with some making it down the slope to Pack Horse (or Boeteler’s) Ford and into the Potomac back to the Maryland side. Others tried hiding in the remains of a cement mill on the rivers edge. Of 700 soldiers in the Corn Exchange, only 431 survived. But they fought throughout the war, and were present at Lee’s surrender at Appomatox in 1865. Thought you’d be interested to know that.
41 Ann Dersch // Jul 2, 2006 at 7:37 pm
I am interested in contacting Frank (Jan 2006) who said the following:
I went to work for Corn Exchange Bank at 401 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. in July 1953, survived nicely through several mergers and retired from Chase in March 1998, closing in on 45 years with the same corporation. I started out in the lowest clerical position at $33.00 a week and retired as a VP at $125,000.00 annually. I’m very grateful for my career with this organization.
My late grandfather worked for Corn Exchange Bank arround 1954 and in Manhattan.
Ann
42 Alan // Aug 19, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Today while rumaging though files from my late mother I came upon canceled Corn Exchange/Chemical Corn Exchange bank checks. The checks are in near perfect condition if anyone knows the value please clue me in.Car7391@Gmail.com
43 Detsy // Oct 18, 2006 at 10:04 pm
My stepfather passed away about 2 years ago and he had a savings account at Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank in Phila. opened by his mother in 1964. She only deposited 10 dollars and it looks like that was all. Does anyone know how my mom could find out how much is there and if it’s still available?
44 Andrea M // Jan 5, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Interesting information here about the bank.
In 1884, my great grandfather was 17 years old and had just graduated from Gerard college in Philadelphia. Excerpt from Girard handbook: “The master to whom an apprentice is bound agrees to furnish the latter with sufficient meat, drink, apparel, washing, and lodging at his own place of residence (unless otherwise agreed to by the parties to the indenture and so endorsed upon it); to use his best endeavors to teach and instruct the apprentice in his “art, trade, or mystery,” and at the expiration of the apprenticeship to furnish him with at least two complete suits of clothes, one of which shall be new.”
Upon graduation, my grandfather was “bound” to a banker and entered the banking business at Corn Exchange National Bank in Philadelphia
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