Accordingly, the founders used the manufacturing company (which produced chemicals such as blue vitriol, alum, nitric acid, camphor, and saltpeter, as well as medicines, paints, and dyes) as a means of securing a charter from the New York State legislature.

In April 1824, the company amended its charter to allow Chemical to enter into banking, creating a separate division for the new activity.

[2] During the Panic of 1857, while 18 New York banks closed in a single day, Chemical continued to make payments in specie.

[2] This allowed Chemical to issue government-backed national bank notes, the forerunner to paper money.

Unlike many of its peers, Chemical had been reluctant to expand into securities and other businesses and had not paid interest on bank accounts.

Both practices, considered to be highly conservative, had allowed Chemical to develop a large capital reserve but were not attracting customers.

Porter left Chemical seven years later to become a partner at J.P. Morgan & Co. in 1910 and was succeeded by Joseph B. Martindale, who was named president in 1911.

[citation needed] In 1917, Chemical named a new president of the bank, Herbert Twitchell,[9] after the death of Joseph B. Martindale.

[citation needed] Throughout the early 1960s, Chemical had begun to expand into New York's suburbs, opening branches on Long Island and in Westchester County.

[22] By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Chemical opened new offices in Frankfurt, Germany (1969), Zurich, Switzerland (1971),[23] Brussels, Belgium (1971), Paris, France (1971) and Tokyo, Japan (1972).

[24] In 1975, Chemical acquired Security National Bank, which had a 96-branch network on Long Island, for $40 million in cash.

[27] In February 1982, Southeast Banking Corporation (SBC), which had been rebuffed in its attempted to acquire Florida National sued to obtain an injunction against the Chemical merger.

[28] In early 1983, Southeast Banking Corporation dropped its takeover attempt and agreed to exchange their Florida National shares for 24 FNB branch offices and other consideration.

[29] Following the deal with SBC, Florida National was cleared to merge with Chemical, however interstate banking acquisitions were still prohibited by Federal law and required state legislative approval.

[30] With the 1990 deadline running out for its option to buy Florida National and no sign of state legislative approval, Chemical Bank sold its 4.9% interest to First Union for $115 million.

[44][45] Chemical adopted Manufacturers Hanover's logo design and moved into its headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in New York.

[46] In corporate banking, Manufacturers Hanover was better established with larger, blue-chip companies, whereas Chemical had been stronger with small- and medium-sized businesses.

[26] Nationally, the combined Chemical Bank became one of the largest lenders to U.S. companies and one of the leaders in loan syndication globally.

Chemical operated one of the nation's largest bank credit card franchises and was a major originator and servicer of home mortgages.

[47] In 1996, Chemical acquired Chase Bank in a merger valued at $10 billion, creating the largest financial institution in the United States.

Although Chemical was the acquiring company and the nominal survivor, the merged bank adopted the Chase name, which was considered to be better known, particularly internationally.

Throughout all of these acquisitions, Chemical's original management team, led by Walter V. Shipley, remained in charge of the bank.

On September 2, 1969, Chemical installed the first automated teller machine (ATM) at its branch in Rockville Centre, New York.

The first ATMs were designed to dispense a fixed amount of cash when a user inserted a specially coded card.

Chemical executives were initially hesitant about the electronic banking transition given the high cost of the early machines.

[60] By combining resources and sharing costs, the four firms hoped to reduce the risk of large and protracted losses.

[66] Despite expanding its 1907 headquarters over the years, by the mid-1920s Chemical needed more space to accommodate its growth and reflect its increasing profile.

JPMorgan Chase returned to 277 Park Avenue in 2000, following the departure of its previous tenant, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.