The Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank of Albany was a state and national bank that became a subsidiary of the

Bank of New York The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY, is an American international financial services company headquartered in New York City. It was established in its current form in July 2007 by the merger of the Bank of New York an ...

in 1969.

History

The Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank of Albany was formed on July 29, 1811, as the third bank incorporated in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

by the

34th New York State Legislature The 34th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 29 to April 9, 1811, during the fourth year of Daniel D. Tompkins's governorship, in Albany. Background Under the p ...

. Its first president was

Solomon Southwick Solomon Southwick (December 25, 1773 – November 18, 1839) was an American newspaper publisher and political figure who was a principal organizer of the Anti-Masonic Party. Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Southwick was apprenticed as a baker an ...

, the newspaper publisher and political figure who was a principal organizer of the

Anti-Masonic Party The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest Third party (United States), third party in the United States. Formally a Single-issue politics, single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry in the United States. It was active from the late 1820s, ...

. Among its early officers were

Gorham A. Worth Gorham A. Worth (1783 – April 3, 1856) was a president of City National Bank. Worth was born in Hudson, New York. His father Thomas Worth had been among the founders of the community. It is a common mistake, repeated here and there, tha ...

, who served as cashier (later becoming president of City National Bank). The bank's first charter expired in 1833 and the second charter expired in 1853, upon which the bank closed up its affairs and the stockholders received 115% besides their stock in the new bank, which renewed the charter for twenty years and went into operation again with the same officers. In 1834, president

Benjamin Knower Benjamin Knower (1775 Roxbury, now a borough of Boston, Massachusetts – August 23, 1839 Watervliet, Albany County, New York) was an American merchant, banker and politician. Early life By 1800 he had removed to Dutchess County, New York. Before ...

, who had been president since 1817, was forced to resign because of "financial embarrassments." He was succeeded by Charles E. Dudley as president ''

pro tem ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to 'for the time being' in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a '' locum tenens'' ('placeholder'). The phrase is ...

'' on February 3, 1834. until

Ezra Ames Ezra Ames (May 5, 1768 – February 23, 1836) was a popular portrait painter in Albany, New York, during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. More than 700 portraits have been attributed to him. Life and career He was born in Framingham, Ma ...

was elected president in June 1834. In June 1836, Thomas W. Olcott became the fifth president of the bank. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, the bank closed up its affairs and organized in 1865 under the

National Bank Act The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks chartered at the federal level, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged developmen ...

, having previously operated as a state bank. In 1868, the bank again was chartered under state banking laws, abandoning the national system. Between 1874 and 1875, the Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank building, designed by

Russell Sturgis Russell Sturgis (; October 16, 1836 – February 11, 1909) was an American architect and art critic of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870. Sturgis was born in Baltimore Count ...

, was built at State and James Streets in Albany. Upon Olcott's 1880 death, he was succeeded as president by his son

Dudley Olcott Dudley Olcott (September 21, 1838 – December 28, 1919) was an American banker who served as President of the Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank of Albany. Early life Olcott was born on February 23, 1841, in Albany, New York. He was the eleventh and ...

. Dudley Olcott served as president until his death in 1919. Upon his death, he was succeeded by his nephew,

Robert Olcott The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

in 1920. In 1943, the bank was admitted into the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

System almost simultaneously to the bank being covered by the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

. At the time, it had total assets of about $7,500,000 and was run by Robert Olcott. In 1946, Robert Olcott retired as president, becoming chairman of the board. He was succeeded as president by his nephew,

Douglas W. Olcott Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

. In January 1952, the stockholders of the bank voted to increase capitalization from $250,000 to $500,000 and authorized a 100% stock dividend plus a ten-to-one stock split. In 1968, the bank agreed to join the proposed bank holding company being formed by the

and the County Trust Company of White Plains. At the time, the bank had assets of about $30,000,000. Under the plan, each share of Mechanics' and Farmers' would be exchanged for one quarter of a share in the holding company, plus $67.50 principal amount of 6 and a quarter per cent convertible debentures (which would be convertible into holding company common stock at the rate of one share for every $75 worth of debentures held). The holding company was created in 1969 and the bank became a subsidiary of the Bank of New York. Upon the reorganization, president Douglas W. Olcott retired as president of the bank. In 1971, the Bank of New York announced the merger of the Tanners National Bank of Catskill, N.Y. (which had assets of $10.4 million at the end of 1970), into the Mechanics and Farmers' Bank of Albany. In the merger, shareholders of Tanners received 2.75 shares of Bank of New York common for each Tanners share for a total of 41,250 Bank of New York shares.

List of presidents

(1811–1813) * Isaac Hutton (1813–1817) *

(1817–1834) * Charles E. Dudley (1834–1834; as president ''pro tem'') *

(1834–1836) * Thomas W. Olcott (1836–1880) *

(1880–1919) *

(1920–1946) *

(1946–1969) *

Daniel W. Vooys Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the activi ...

(1970-)

Mechanics' and Farmers' Savings Bank

In 1855, the Mechanics' and Farmers' Savings Bank was incorporated with Thomas W. Olcott as the first president. Like the earlier bank, upon Olcott's 1880 death, his son Dudley became president. The Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank, which merged with the Albany Exchange Savings Bank, becoming the Mechanics Exchange Savings Bank. In the 1970s, Mechanics Exchange was acquired by

Dime Savings Bank Dime Savings Bank may refer to: * Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn * Dime Savings Bank of New York The Dime Savings Bank of New York, originally the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn, was a bank headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City ...

, which was acquired by

Washington Mutual Washington Mutual, Inc. (often abbreviated to WaMu) was an American Bank holding company, savings bank holding company based in Seattle. It was the parent company of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the largest savings and loan association in ...

in 2002.

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Mechanics and Farmers Bank (Albany, N.Y.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank of Albany Defunct banks of the United States BNY Mellon