Hartford National Corporation Records

Hartford National Corporation(1792-1988)

In 1969, the Hartford National Bank and Trust Company became the first completely owned subsidiary bank of the newly established Hartford National Corporation (HNC). After this merger, the HNC could boast assets totaling over $1.1 billion. Soon, the HNC expressed interest in purchasing the Connecticut National Bank (CNB), a merger that would almost double the number of banks under its management and increase its assets from $2.8 billion to over $4 billion.

In December 1981, shareholders from each bank voted in favor of the merger and in 1982 the merger took place. Now among the largest banking interests in southern New England, the HNC began looking for markets north of Connecticut. Changing interstate regulation laws allowed for a merger with Shawmut National Corporation, a Boston-based “Super-Regional” banking conglomerate, in 1988. Now amongst the largest twenty five banking concerns in the nation, the Shawmut National Corporation enjoyed assets totaling over $26 billion. Hartford, CT remained one of the two dual headquarters for the corporation until its eventual merger with Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) in 1995.

Connecticut National Bank

The Bridgeport Bank was founded by a small group of prominent Connecticut men on 20 November 1806. The citizens of the young borough of Bridgeport recognized that in order to facilitate their growing trade with the West Indies and Europe, they needed the stability of currency and financial assistance that could only be provided by a local bank. On 3 February 1807, the Board of Directors selected Isaac Bronson to fill the office of bank president. This wealthy and influential citizen lent his reputation to the bank and insured its survival when the British blockade all but suspended trade along the Atlantic seaboard during the War of 1812.

The Bridgeport Bank helped guide the borough, which became a city in 1836, from its early days as a center of trade through its emergence as a manufacturing center in the ante-bellum years. This period of the bank's history was marked by several financial panics resulting from over speculation. Yet when as a result of these recessions numerous Connecticut banks were forced to liquidate, the prudence and experience possessed by presidents such as Sylvanious Sterling (1837-1848) and Sherman Hartwell (1849-1869) insured the Bridgeport Bank joined the recently created National Banking System and became the Bridgeport National Bank.

A dramatic rise in manufacturing occurred in the Bridgeport area after the Civil War. During the twenty years between 1886-1906, the bank's deposits mushroomed from $60,000 to just over $1,000,000. This remarkable success fueled a series of mergers between the Bridgeport National Bank and its local rivals. In 1909, the bank merged with the First National Bank to become the First Bridgeport National Bank. Twelve years later after a merger with the Connecticut National Bank, the bank changed its name to the First National Bank of Bridgeport. Afterwards the bank developed trust and personal savings account services and in 1929 changed its name to the First National Bank and Trust Company of Bridgeport.

In 1933, the First National Bank and Trust Company of Bridgeport opened a branch office in Newfield after its merger with the Newfield Bank and Trust Company. No other Connecticut bank had opened a branch office since 1865, but soon most banks were following the First National Bank's initiative. More and more bank patrons were moving from city centers to reside in their surrounding suburbs. Banks could no longer rely solely on one downtown office to conduct business.

The First National Bank and Trust Company changed its name to the Connecticut National Bank in 1955 shortly after its merger with the Westport First National Bank. In that year, the Connecticut National Bank could boast deposits of over $100 million. Shortly before its controversial merger with the Hartford National Corporation, the Connecticut National Bank was worth over $700 million, making it one of the largest banking operations in the state.

After its merger with the HNC in 1982, the name of the Connecticut National Bank replaced that of the Hartford National Bank and Trust Company in every one of the 115 branches owned by the HNC. This situation changed when the HNC was purchased by the Boston-based Shawmut National Corporation in 1988.