 | |
| Industry | Banking |
|---|---|
| Founded | 22 June 1869 |
| Defunct | 31 January 1955 |
| Fate | Merged with the Bank of Toronto |
| Successor | Toronto-Dominion Bank |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
The Dominion Bank was a Canadian bank that was chartered in 1869 and based in Toronto, Ontario. [1] On February 1, 1955, it merged with the Bank of Toronto to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank.
The Dominion Bank's charter received royal assent on 22 June 1869. [2] In 1871, the Dominion Bank was launched by entrepreneurs and professionals under the leadership of James Austin with the opening of its first branch on King Street in Toronto, Ontario. [3] They were dedicated to creating a new institution “conducive to the general prosperity of that section of the country.” The Dominion Bank was a cautious institution, “selecting its customers carefully, serving them well, and duly prospering with them” (in the words of the official history). It too created a network of branches, and in 1872 became the first Canadian bank to have two branches in one city – Toronto.
With the maturing of the Canadian economy and the opening of northern Ontario and the West in 1880s and 1890s, the banks became more aggressive in loans to resource industries, utilities, and manufacturing. In 1897, the Dominion Bank opened its first western branch in Winnipeg. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the bank rapidly expanded their branch networks in central Canada and across the west.
To mark its rise as a significant national institution, the Dominion Bank moved to a landmark head office at King and Yonge Street in 1879. [4]
The First World War brought new challenges for the bank when they were called upon to finance war expenditures and to support the innovation of war bonds marketed to the general public. Half the staff of the bank served in the armed forces.
Except for some contraction in the western provinces due to drought, the decade following the war was one of expansion and increasing profitability due to resource development and industrial expansion. Both banks weathered the storm of Great Depression in the 1930s without great difficulty, despite a decline in earnings. Like all Canadian banks, they endured criticism of its credit policies and resisted the introduction of a central bank to control the money supply and advise on fiscal policy. Ultimately the Bank of Canada was established and the banks relinquished their right to issue their own currency.
The coming of the Second World War involved the banks, once again, in the marketing of war bonds and in participation in the control of foreign exchange, rationing, and other financial war measures. Approximately 500 staff, or almost half the total, entered the armed forces.
The Dominion Bank emerged from the war in 1945 stronger than ever, with assets more than doubled since 1939. With the post-war boom, they became more active in business lending and in the penetration of new markets. However, they quickly realized that the costs of expansion and competition with much larger rivals made their objectives difficult to realize. The bank had engaged in acquisitions or mergers in order to grow, but determined that a union with a bank of equal size would place it in a much stronger position to take advantage of the opportunities of the post-war economy.
In 1954, negotiations began between the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank, and by the end of the year, an amalgamation agreement was reached. In their brief to the Minister of Finance, the banks stated: “It is more burdensome for a small bank to keep pace with the development of our country than for a large bank, with the result that the effective growth and comparative influence of smaller banks will probably in the future decline in comparison with that of the larger banks.”
On November 1, 1954, Canada's minister of finance announced that the amalgamation was accepted, and shareholders were asked for their approval. This was forthcoming in December, and on February 1, 1955, the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank became the Toronto-Dominion Bank.
The Dominion (Toronto-Dominion) Bank building in Calgary, Alberta, built in 1911, is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. [5] The Dominion Bank Building in Winnipeg, Manitoba, built in 1907, is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. [6]
John M. Lyle was the architect for the Dominion Bank (and the Bank of Toronto) for many branches in Toronto and throughout Ontario from 1911 to 1939.[ citation needed ]
Sir William Mulock was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, educator, farmer, politician, judge, and philanthropist. He served as vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1881 to 1900, negotiating the federation of denominational colleges and professional schools into a modern university.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, doing business as TD Bank Group, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank was created on February 1, 1955, through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank, which were founded in 1855 and 1869, respectively. It is one of two Big Five banks of Canada founded in Toronto, the other being the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
TD Canada Trust, commonly shortened in marketing to simply TD, is the Canadian commercial banking division of the multinational TD Bank Group. It is the second-largest commercial bank in Canada by assets, behind only the Royal Bank of Canada. TD Canada Trust offers a range of financial services and products to more than 10 million Canadian customers through more than 1,100 branches and 2,600 ATMs.
The Toronto-Dominion Centre, or TD Centre, is an office complex of six skyscrapers in the Financial District of downtown Toronto owned by Cadillac Fairview. It serves as the global headquarters for its anchor tenant, the Toronto-Dominion Bank, and provides office and retail space for many other businesses. The complex consists of six towers and a pavilion covered in bronze-tinted glass and black-painted steel. Approximately 21,000 people work in the complex, making it the largest commercial office complex in Canada.
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The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway, the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a Canadian bank that operated from 1867 to 1961. It merged in 1961 with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which today is one of Canada's Big Five banks.
The Bank of Toronto was a Canadian bank that was founded in 1855 by a group of grain dealers and flour millers. On February 1, 1955, it merged with the Dominion Bank to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank. Its first president was James Grant Chewett, whose support was sought by financier Thomas Clarkson.
Knox Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is named after John Knox, a founder of Presbyterianism in Scotland.
Allen Thomas Lambert was a Canadian banker who served from 1960 to 1972 as president and from 1961 to 1978 as chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Albert Edward Smith, known as A. E. Smith, was a Canadian religious leader and politician. A social gospeller, Smith was for many years a minister in the Canadian Methodist Church before starting his own "People's Church". He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1920 to 1922 as a Labour representative. In 1925, he became a member of the Communist Party of Canada.
Darling and Pearson was an architectural firm based in Toronto from 1895 through 1937. The firm was prolific and produced consistently fine work though the patronage of notable figures of the Canadian establishment, and is responsible for enhancing the architectural character and quality of the city, and indeed the rest of Canada, in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Sir Frank Smith, was a Canadian businessman and senator. He was born in County Armagh in Ireland and in 1832 came to Canada with his family and his father established a farm in Etobicoke.
The Hamilton Tigers were a Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and 1948 to 1949 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1947. The club was a founding member of both the ORFU in 1883 and the IRFU in 1907. Throughout their history, the Tigers won five Grey Cup Championships and two Dominion Championships, including the 1908 title, the year before the Grey Cup was first awarded. After struggling to compete on a sound financial level with the Hamilton Wildcats, who had joined the ORFU in 1941 and later the IRFU, the two clubs merged in 1950 to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The Financial District is the central business district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was originally planned as New Town in 1796 as an extension of the Town of York. It is the main financial district in Toronto and is considered the heart of Canada's finance industry. It is bounded roughly by Queen Street West to the north, Yonge Street to the east, Front Street to the south, and University Avenue to the west, though many office towers in the downtown core have been and are being constructed outside this area, which will extend the general boundaries. Examples of this trend are the Telus Harbour, RBC Centre, and CIBC Square.
The Dominion Police Force was the federal police force of Canada between 1868 and 1920, and was one of the predecessors of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was the first federal police force in Canada, formed the year following the Canadian Confederation to enforce federal laws and perform policing duties for the Federal Government of Canada. On 1 February 1920, the Dominion Police was merged with the Royal North-West Mounted Police to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as the new federal police force of Canada.
Sir Augustus Meredith Nanton was one of the principal investors and developers of Western Canada, particularly at Winnipeg, Vancouver and Calgary. In the Canadian West, the town of Nanton, Alberta is named for him, and twelve cities and towns have streets named 'Nanton'. Committed to victory in the Great War, he gave over half of his fortune to the war effort and worked himself to an early grave supporting Canadian soldiers in Europe while maintaining Winnipeg's economy. In recognition of his war services he was knighted by George V in 1917 and made a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He died in office as President of The Dominion Bank in Toronto, but is most closely associated with Winnipeg, his home for over forty years and where he is buried.
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from the loose organization of medieval masons working in the medieval building industry.
The Honourable Hugh Ryan was an Irish-Canadian railway magnate, industrialist, banker, philanthropist and eldest son of John Patrick Ryan and Margaret Conway. His family immigrated to Montreal, Canada, from Limerick, Ireland, in 1841 during the first wave of Irish-Catholic immigration after selling Gortkelly Castle to another branch of the Ryan clan. He was dubbed "Canada's wealthiest and greatest railroad contractor".
The Toronto General Trusts Corporation was a Canadian trust company that existed from 1872 to 1961. The country's first trust company, the TGT received its charter in 1872, but did not begin operations until 1882. Founded as the Toronto General Trusts Company, in 1899 it took over the Trust Corporation of Ontario, at which time it changed its name to the Toronto General Trusts Corporation. By the 1950s, Toronto General was Canada's fourth largest trust company after Royal Trust, Montreal Trust, and National Trust.
