The Bank of New Brunswick was established on March 25, 1820 in the pre-Confederation Province of New Brunswick, Canada as the first Canadian bank to operate under a charter. Headquartered in a new building on Prince William Street in Saint John in 1826, the neoclassical bank façade consisted of an Ionic temple of finance.
It was founded by some of the colony's most prominent businessmen. At the time, Saint John was the largest city in the Maritime Provinces, exceeding in population both Halifax, Nova Scotia, and for a time during the 19th century, even Toronto, Ontario.
John Robinson was elected the first President of the Bank of New Brunswick and served until 1824 when he was succeeded by Charles Simonds.
The acquisition of the City Bank of Saint John in 1839 and the Summerside Bank of P.E.I. in 1901, expanded the Bank's network. Following the City Bank acquisition, City Bank president Thomas Leavitt became president of the Bank of New Brunswick. Leavitt came from a family of merchants, shipowners and shipmasters of Saint John, New Brunswick, who were related to the early Simmons, White and Hazen families of Saint John.
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“That strain again, it had a dying fall;
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‘Tis not so sweet now as it was before.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)