Established by Alexander Hamilton in 1784, this is New York's oldest bank and one of only a handful of U. S. corporations that have existed for over 200 years. The bank was organized at the end of the Revolutionary War, when the population of New York had been depleted by half and the Continental currencies were worthless. The bank was capitalized with specia, precious metal coinage of foreign governments (Bavaria, Venice, France, and Spain, for example). There was no federal coinage until 1792. In New York the unit of exchange was the Spanish silver doll. Thus, the need to establish a bank to accept deposits and issue notes, was apparent. Banks were not universally favored, however. In fact, many viewed them as inherently evil because they banished gold and silver and substituted paper. Their fees were questioned, as was the interference with the rapport between known creditors and debtors. However, The Bank of New York continued to sail its course and gradually proved the need for a central credit institution to enable the city's economy not only to recover to pre-war levels but expand beyond. In 1797 The Bank of New York moved to a new two-story Georgian building at the corner of Wall and Williams Streets. It has been located here ever since, except for a brief period in 1799 when it moved to Greenwich Village after an outbreak of yellow fever that took 10 percent of the city's population. A new building for the bank was built in 1857-58 at 48 Wall, designed by Calvert Vaux, an English architect who collaborated with Frederick Law Olmstead in the design of Central Park. The building was expanded through the addition of two upper floors in 1879. This permitted an innovation--a luncheon room for officers and clerks. Until well into the twentieth century precise rules of conduct were observed. Each employee ate at a prescribed time and sat at an assigned seat under the watchful eyes of supervisors; female employees sat at separate tables. But the savings to the staff through lunches purchased on the premises, and the savings of time otherwise lost by workers going out, convinced the bank that this was a wise program. The Bank of New York merged with the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company (established in 1830) in 1922; with the Fifth Avenue Bank in 1948; the Empire Trust Company in 1966; the County Trust Company in 1969; and with Irving Trust Company in 1988. Today the Bank's parent, the Bank of New York Company Inc., ranks as one of the largest bank holding companies in the United States. The magnificent Renaissance Revival building at 48 Wall Street shown in these photographs was designed by Benjamin Morris and completed in 1928. Morris also designed the Cunard Line Building at 25 Broadway. In 1998 the bank consolidated its Wall Street operations in a much larger building at One Wall Street. Read about The Bank of New York at One Wall Street.