The Astor National Bank of New York was authorized to begin business on February 9, 1898, with initial capital of $300,000.

[1] John Jacob Astor IV was the first depositor when the bank opened on February 14, 1898, with George Fisher Baker as president and Charles F. Bevins as cashier.

[13] In 1912, during the Pujo Committee inquiry, Astor Trust was included in the presentation that showed that "eighteen financial institutions in New York, Chicago, and Boston virtually constituted a 'money trust,' having a voice through the places on the Board of Directors in the management of 134 corporations, with an aggregate capital of $25,325,000,000.

[15] Also in 1912, it was falsely reported that the Astor Trust Company was merging with the Jefferson and Century Banks.

[18] The Astor continued "with no change in management, as the uptown branch of the Bankers Trust Company.

Brown & Sons in 1997, however, Deutsche Bank agreed to purchase Bankers Trust for $10.1 billion in November 1998.

[21] In 1915,[22] the Oceanic Investment Company announced the construction of a new building at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street to replace a commercial building built by the Pottier & Stymus Company c. 1884 (which itself replaced the House of Mansions, which had been built in 1856 by Alexander J.