Manufacturers Hanover Corporation

"Manufacturers National Bank" redirects here. Not to be confused with Manufacturer's National Bank in Maine.

Manufacturers Hanover Corporation

The 1986–1991 logo was in use until its merger with Chemical Bank
Trade name	Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company
Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: MHC
Industry	Bank holding company
Founded	1905; 118 years ago (1905) (as Citizens) 1987; 36 years ago (1987) (as Manufacturers Hanover)
Defunct	June 22, 1992; 30 years ago (1992-06-22)
Fate	Acquired by Chemical Bank and assumed the name Chemical after the 1991 merger.
Successor	Chemical Bank
Headquarters	New York City
Products	Financial services

A bronze doorway in the New Yorker Hotel in midtown Manhattan that formerly led to a branch of the Manufacturers Trust Company

Manufacturers Hanover Corporation was the bank holding company formed as parent of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, a large New York bank formed by a merger in 1961. After 1969, Manufacturers Hanover Trust became a subsidiary of Manufacturers Hanover Corporation. Charles J. Stewart was the company's first president and chairman.^[1]

The corporation acquired the former Union Carbide Corporation headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, and though it merged into Chemical Banking Corporation for $1.9 billion in 1991, the successor corporations down to today's J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have continued to locate their headquarters in that building.

History

Manufacturers Trust Company

Manufacturers Hanover traces its origins to the 1905 founding of Citizens Trust Company of Brooklyn. Through a series of acquisitions, the bank would grow into one of New York's largest banks within its first twenty years. Citizens Trust's first major acquisitions came with its mergers with the Broadway Bank of Brooklyn in 1912 and then two years later with the Manufacturers National Bank of Brooklyn (1914). In 1915, the bank adopted the older "Manufacturers" name, changing its name to the Manufacturers Trust Company. The "Manufacturers" name had been in use since 1858, when the Mechanics' Bank of Williamsburgh (founded 1853) was renamed the Manufacturers National Bank. Coincidentally, Manufacturers Trust Company had also been the name of a Brooklyn-based bank, founded in 1896 and acquired in 1902 by the Title Guarantee and Trust Company, another Brooklyn bank.^[2]

Manufacturers Trust acquired a Manhattan presence with its acquisition of the West Side Bank of New York in 1918. Later Manufacturers Trust acquired the Ridgewood National Bank of Queens (1921), the North Side Bank of Brooklyn (1922), the Industrial Bank of New York (1922), the Columbia Bank of New York (1923), and the Yorkville Bank of New York (1925), to become the 29th largest bank in the United States by 1925.^[3]

In 1932, Manufacturers Trust created the National Hotel Management Company (NMH) to centrally oversee the hotels the bank held mortgages on. They appointed hotel pioneer Ralph Hitz as President of the NMH. This was because, even at the height of the Great Depression, Hitz had been able to turn a profit at the New Yorker Hotel, which the Manufacturers Trust also held the mortgage for. By the time of Hitz's death in 1940, the NHM had become the largest hotel organization in the United States and managed the New Yorker, the Lexington and the Belmont Plaza hotels (New York); the Congress Hotel (Chicago); the Netherland Plaza (Cincinnati); Adolphus Hotel (Dallas); the Van Cleve (Dayton); the Book-Cadillac (Detroit); the Nicollet Hotel (Minneapolis); The New York Municipal Airport Restaurants (New York) and the Eastern Slope Inn (North Conway, New Hampshire).^[4]

The National Hotel Management Company was dissolved within a month of Hitz's death in 1940.^[5]

Continued consolidation (1961–1992)

 

The 1960–1986 Logo

In 1961, Manufacturers Trust Company merged with Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company (Hanover Trust) creating Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. The bank became the main source of financing for check cashing stores. The bank reached its commercial heyday in the mid-1970s, when it ran a series of commercials that used the tagline, "It's banking the way you want it to be." Twilight Zone writer Rod Serling and comedian Paul Lynde served as celebrity spokesmen. At the same time, a Manufacturers Hanover billboard advertising "Super Checking" was a prominent feature of the newly renovated Yankee Stadium. The billboard could be seen as Chris Chambliss hit the home run that won the 1976 American League Championship Series for the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals. Also during that period, Manufacturers Hanover heavily promoted its "Any Car" Loan using an "Any Car", known as the "FordChevAmChrysWagon", made up of parts from 40 different cars.

In 1987, the bank bought some of the branches of Dollar Dry Dock Savings Bank. In 1992, it bought the New York City branches of the failed Goldome. By 1992, it was running out of money due to savings account interest rates and bad loans.^{[citation needed]} On June 22 of that year, Chemical Bank purchased the operations of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, and on that day, Manufacturers Hanover ceased to exist.^[6]

Following the merger with Chemical, in 1996, the new Chemical bought Chase Manhattan Bank and four years later would merge with J.P. Morgan & Co. to form JPMorgan Chase.

Prior to acquisition, the bank was sometimes referred to as "Manny Hanny."^[7]

Timeline of mergers and name changes

 

Former Manufacturers Hanover corporate offices at 270 Park Avenue, later the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase and now demolished

The timeline below, unless otherwise noted, indicates the purchase of the named entity by Manufacturers Hanover Corporation or its immediate controlling predecessors. Exceptions include the first and last entries (original charter and dissolution of the company by buyout, respectively), and several name changes.^[8]

1905 – Citizens Trust Company of Brooklyn (original New York State charter, no direct predecessors) 1912 – Broadway Bank of Brooklyn 1914 – Manufacturers National Bank of Brooklyn, resulting in name change to Manufacturers-Citizens Trust Company 1915 – Name change to Manufacturers Trust Company (no merger involved) 1918 – West Side Bank 1921 – Ridgewood National Bank 1922 – North Side Bank of Brooklyn 1922 – Industrial Bank of New York 1923 – Columbia Bank 1925 – Yorkville Bank 1925 – Gotham National Bank 1925 – Fifth National Bank of the City of New York 1927 – Commonwealth Bank 1927 – Standard Bank 1928 – United Capitol National Bank and Trust Company 1929 – State Bank & Trust Company

1930 – Pacific Trust Company 1931 – Midtown Bank of New York 1931 – Bryant Park Bank 1931 – Midwood Trust Company 1932 – Chatham Phenix National Bank & Trust Company 1937 – Equitable Trust Company of New York (1930–1937) 1939 – Banca Commerciale Italiana Trust Co. of New York 1942 – Standard National Bank, Woodside, N.Y. 1946 – Flatbush National Bank of Brooklyn 1947 – Fidelity National Bank in New York, The 1949 – National Bronx Bank of New York 1950 – Brooklyn Trust Company 1953 – Peoples Industrial 1961 – Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company, results in name change to Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company (parent named Manufacturers Hanover Corporation) 1991 – Goldome (assets)^[9] 1992 – Purchased by Chemical Bank, and ceases to exist

Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company

The final name of the company was Manufacturers Hanover Corporation, and the primary banking subsidiary was Manufacturers Hanover Trust. This name was a result of the merger of predecessor Manufacturers Trust with Central Hanover Bank & Trust.

Central Hanover was also a large, well-known bank before the merger. It was formed in 1929 from the merger of two other banking giants of the time, Central Union Trust Company and Hanover National Bank.^[10]

Hanover National built one of the early skyscrapers of New York, the Hanover National Building at 11 Nassau Street. It had twenty-two floors and was 385 feet high.^[11]

The corporate history of predecessor Hanover Bank is as follows:^[8]

• 1851 – Established Hanover Bank, NYS charter
• 1865 – Name change to Hanover National Bank of the City of New York (Federal)
• 1929 – Name change to Hanover Bank of the City of New York (NYS)
• 1929 – Bought by Central Union Trust Company of New York (see below)

The corporate history of predecessor Central Union Trust Company is as follows:^[8][12]

• 1873 – Established Central Trust Company of New York
• 1901 – Continental National Bank of New York (est. 1853)^[13]
• 1912 – Gallatin National Bank of the City of New York (est. 1829)^[14]
• 1918 – Union Trust Company of New York; changed name to Central Union Trust Company of New York^[15][16]
• 1927 – Greenwich National Bank of the City of New York (est. 1830)^[17][18]
• 1929 – Hanover Bank of the City of New York; changed name to Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company^[19][20]
• 1951 – Changed name to Hanover Bank (no merger)
• 1961 – Bought by Manufacturers Trust Company^[21]

See also

•   Companies portal
• List of bank mergers in the United States

References

Notes

1. "Charles Stewart Dies; An Ex-Bank Executive (obituary)". The New York Times. July 17, 1987. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
2. "Trust Concerns Unite". The New York Times. 1 November 1902. Link via ProQuest.
3. "Another merger of New York Banks". The New York Times. 20 February 1925. Link via ProQuest.
4. Pearson Education; Hospitality Leaders http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_kotler_marketing_5/114/29189/7472573.cw/content/index.html
5. The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) · Wed, Jan 31, 1940 · Page 5
6. Quint, Michael (June 22, 1992). "Manufacturers Hanover Fades Out". New York Times.
7. Waite, Thomas L. (August 28, 1988). "POSTINGS: Manny Hanny's Move; 5th to Madison". The New York Times.
8. "New York Bank History - National Bank History". www.scripophily.com. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
9. Quint, Michael (November 29, 1990). "Hanover Deal For Deposits Of Goldome". New York Times.
10. "$722,000,000 MERGER OF BANKS EXPECTED; Central Union Trust Co. and Hanover National Reported in Negotiations. DAVISON DENIES ANY DEAL But Says He is No Prophet-- Wall St. Hears Terms Are 3 for 1 Exchange of Stock. SHARES SOARED RECENTLY Securities of Both Old Powers in Street Have Appreciated Greatly Since Stock Dividends. Remarkable Rise in Hanover Stock. Central Long a Wall Street Power". The New York Times. 1929-03-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
11. "Hanover National Bank Building". The Skyscraper Center. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
12. "New York Bank History - National Bank History". www.scripophily.com. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
13. "NATIONAL BANKS MERGED.HANOVER ABSORBS ITS NEIGHBOR, THE CONTINENTAL". The Standard Union. 4 April 1901. p. 12. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
14. "HANOVER ABSORBS GALLATIN NATIONAL; Both Banks Grew with Financial District and Hanover Became One of Country's Largest". The New York Times. 26 April 1912. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
15. "APPROVE MERGER OF TRUST COMPANIES; Trustees of Central and Union Give Sanction to Plan for Consolidation. STOCKHOLDERS MUST ACT Combined Deposits, Around $250,000,000, Exceeded by Only TwoCompanies the Country". The New York Times. 2 March 1918. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
16. "BANK MERGER APPROVED.; Stockholders of Central and Union Trust Companies Take Action". The New York Times. 12 April 1918. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
17. "GREENWICH BANK CHANGES.; Becomes a National Bank Today in Step Toward Hanover Merger". The New York Times. 24 March 1927. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
18. "STOCKHOLDERS FOR MERGER; Favor Absorption of Greenwich Bank by Hanover National". The New York Times. 26 April 1927. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
19. "$722,000,000 MERGER OF BANKS EXPECTED; Central Union Trust Co. and Hanover National Reported in Negotiations. DAVISON DENIES ANY DEAL But Says He is No Prophet-- Wall St. Hears Terms Are 3 for 1 Exchange of Stock. SHARES SOARED RECENTLY Securities of Both Old Powers in Street Have Appreciated Greatly Since Stock Dividends. Remarkable Rise in Hanover Stock. Central Long a Wall Street Power". The New York Times. 16 March 1929. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
20. "HANOVER BANK JOINS WITH CENTRAL UNION; Stockholders of Both Vote to Unite in New Company With $100,000,000 Funds. CORN EXCHANGE RENAMED Meeting Approves Change Into Trust Company--Parkbanc Corporation Endorsed". The New York Times. 15 May 1929. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
21. Mooney, Richard E. (7 September 1961). "MERGER CLEARED FOR 2 BIG BANKS; Reserve Board Approves Hanover Consolidation With Manufacturers COURT ACTION POSSIBLE Resulting Institution Would Be the Fourth Largest in U.S. and World MERGER CLEARED FOR 2-BIG BANKS". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 November 2021.

Bibliography

• The Bank Merger; Big Bank Merger to join Chemical, Manufacturers. New York Times, July 16, 1991
• Merging the Portfolios; New Chemical Bank to Have Big Amount of Real Estate Loans, and Their Troubles. New York Times, July 18, 1991
• Merger Announcement