Emigrant Bank history

Bank deposits were invested in mortgage loans, with the first, at 7 percent, to a man who borrowed $6,000 in 1851 to buy three houses on a street corner of the Lower East Side.

In 1852 the bank loaned Archbishop Hughes money to buy lots on a Fifth Avenue site—then far uptown—where St Patrick's Cathedral now stands.

By the end of the year, the Emigrant Bank had nearly 300 customers, and by 1857, it was the city's seventh largest savings bank, with assets of $1.37 million.

The original headquarters had been replaced and, since 1912, the Chambers Street site housed a 17-story building in the Beaux Arts style.

The bank established its first branch in 1925, next to Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan, which had replaced lower Manhattan as the commercial heart of the city.

In 1931 it urged its depositors to draw upon surplus savings for what a bank officer called "judicious spending" in order to spark a business revival by stimulating retail trade.

Emigrant opened another branch, in Manhattan's garment district, in 1953.

In 1967 the bank dropped "Industrial" from its name and opened a midtown branch at Third Avenue and East 45th Street.

In 1970 Emigrant acquired the Queens-based City Savings and Loan Association.

In June 1982 a state official told a congressional committee that Emigrant, with assets of $3.1 billion, was in danger of failure by the end of the year if it did not receive federal assistance.

In mid-1985 Emigrant held $90 million in such certificates and would otherwise have had a negative net worth of $60.7 million.

Emigrant did not make news again until 1999, when it established a $150 million fund, Emigrant Capital, to invest in emerging companies that typically do not qualify for bank loans.

Paul Milstein, along with his sons Howard and Edward, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in 2000 seeking to remove Philip Milstein from his positions.

In 2001 the bank—somewhat belatedly—introduced Emigrant Online, a free service enabling its customers to check their balances and statements by computer, transfer funds between accounts, make loan payments, and communicate with the bank through e-mail.

Its assets at the end of 2002 totaled $9.73 billion and its deposits, $5.05 billion.

Launched in 2011, the blog takes its name from the Bank’s headquarters at 33 Liberty Street in Manhattan’s Financial District.

A 2012 title about corporate responsibility mentions the “Immigrant Savings Bank” (page 83) but makes no mention of the “Emigrant Savings Bank.” Maybe a group should actually open a new bank called the “Immigrant Savings Bank.” What a delightful confusion that would bring.