A Closer Look at Chase and J. P. Morgan
N E W Y O R K, Sept. 13 -- Key events in the history of bankingpowerhouses Chase Manhattan and J. P. Morgan, which announced they will merge to create a new entity tobe called J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
1799: The Manhattan Co. is formed to help improve New York’swater supply and fight a yellow fever epidemic. It is organized byAaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.
1808: Manhattan Co. sells water operations and begins to focussolely on banking, helping finance economic development in New York.
1823: New York Chemical Manufacturing Co. is founded.
1824: Chemical Bank is formed as a division of New YorkChemical.
1838: American businessman George Peabody opens a Londonmerchant banking firm, establishing the roots of the House ofMorgan.
1854: Junius S. Morgan, descendant of a New England family ofmerchants, becomes Peabody’s partner, eventually taking over thefirm in 1864 and naming it J.S. Morgan & Co.
1861: Junius’ 24-year-old son, J. Pierpont Morgan, establishesJ.P. Morgan, which initially serves as a New York sales anddistribution office for the European securities underwritten by hisfather’s firm.
1865: Chemical acquires a national charter under the NationalBank Act and starts issuing government-backed bank notes.
1868 : The Paris banking firm Drexel, Harjes & Co. is formed.Pierpont becomes a partner in 1871, and the firm is later renamedMorgan, Harjes & Co.
1877: Chase National Bank is founded in honor of Samuel Chase,the Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln.
1895: Five years after his father’s death, Pierpont consolidatesthe family’s banking interests, assuming the role of senior partnerin each of four related firms in New York, Philadelphia, London,and Paris.
1907: Panic on Wall Street prompts a run on the banks; the Houseof Morgan leads a rescue of the financial system. The incidentprompts the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.
1910: The London investment banking firm Morgan, Grenfellis formed, replacing J.S. Morgan as the British arm of theMorgan network.
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