Washington Trust’ s history is intertwined
Washington Trust was founded in 1800, just 24 years after the colonists declared independence and a mere nine years following the establishment of the country’ s first national bank in Philadelphia. The First Bank of the United States reflected George Washington and Alexander Hamilton’ s belief that a strong banking system was essential to the young nation’ s developing and expanding economy.
A group of entrepreneurs in Westerly, Rhode Island, believed the same was true for their farming and fishing community. They sought to establish a local financial resource along the banks of the Pawcatuck River to serve the people and early merchants of southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut.
1800
On August 22 nd, 1800, we opened as the Washington Bank, named after George Washington. We’ re not only the oldest community bank in the nation, but we’ ve become part of the fabric of the communities we serve. Washington Trust has become a trustworthy financial partner, advisor, and ally over the last 225 years.
1800s
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In the 1800s when banks printed their own banknotes, Washington Trust was the first bank in the country to print a likeness of George Washington on currency. We even have a Washington Trust banknote signed by John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, displayed at our Main Office.
To put things in perspective, when we celebrated our 60 th anniversary in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was just elected president. It’ s incredible to imagine that Washington Trust was founded nine years before Abraham Lincoln was born. When the Statue of Liberty began welcoming people to the U. S. in 1886, we were already helping families reach their financial dreams for 86 years.
After 100 years, Washington Trust began offering full wealth management services. This was just around the time the Wright brothers took flight at Kitty Hawk, pioneering modern air travel. As people began to travel further from home, Washington Trust began to grow, opening our first branch just up the road in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, in 1914.
In 1925 when we needed to expand, our original building, dubbed the Little Greek Temple( pictured above and on cover), was replaced by our current Main Office building that has been our headquarters ever since.
DID YOU KNOW?
1925
Our current safe deposit vault is the original vault from the Little Greek Temple. It was so big and hard to move, the Bank’ s current Main Office was actually built around it in 1925.
Photo of Washington Trust President & COO, Mary Noons, in front of Safe Deposit Vault
4 WASHINGTON TRUST | CELEBRATING 225 YEARS