Independent operation

The bank was formally organized on June 1, 1795,^[1] and received its charter on February 9, 1796, from the Delaware General Assembly with capital stock of $100,000. With Joseph Tatnall as president and John Hayes as cashier, it opened at Fourth and Market Streets on August 17. In 1816, the bank moved to a new building on the east corner of Sixth and Market Streets. The bank was issued a new charter in 1820, and doubled its stock's par value by 1850.

On July 16, 1865, it received a national charter under the National Banking Act, and was renamed the National Bank of Delaware at Wilmington, with capital of $110,000.^[1] The charter was extended in 1885.^[2]

For 127 years, the bank served an account of the E.I. Du Pont de Nemours company.^[2]

In 1929,^[2] the bank merged with Security Trust Company (1885-1954).^[1] The bank was then the nation's fourth-oldest, after the Bank of North America (Philadelphia, 1784), Bank of Massachusetts (Boston, 1782), Bank of New York (New York, 1784), and Bank of Baltimore (Baltimore, 1795)).^[2]

Post-merger

In 1952, Security Trust Company merged with Equitable Trust Company, also of Wilmington, to become the Equitable Security Trust Company.^[3] In 1958, the company revived the name "Bank of Delaware".^[1]

In 1989, the bank's holding company, Bank of Delaware Corporation, was acquired by PNC Financial Corp. for $230 million in stock ($565,336,913 today^[4]).^[5] The Bank of Delaware held $1.8 billion in assets; PNC, then the nation's 12th-largest bank, held $36.6 billion.^[6]