The following history of the Farmington Savings Bank and the Farmington Bank Community Foundation was compiled using “On Common Ground: Farmington Savings Bank, A Commemorative History of its First 150 Years.”
In August 1851, through a petition of 30 Farmington residents, the Farmington Savings Bank was created as a mutual savings bank. The petition stated the bank was to benefit “the community, especially the labouring classes…. Affording them a place for the deposits and safe keeping of their surplus funds.” The Bank’s first office opened at the home of Deacon Simeon Hart (the Bank’s first manager) at 93 Main Street. The first depositor was Miss Harriet E. Porter and the first day’s deposits came from a dozen residents, totaling $88.70. The Bank’s first loan was granted later that year in the amount of $175 to the Farmington School Society.
In 1853, after the death of Deacon Simeon, the bank’s location was moved to the home of his successor, Samuel Smith Cowles, at 27 Main Street. Cowles soon made the Bank’s first entry into public stock investments through the purchase of four shares of Hartford Bank. As civil war broke out in 1861, the Bank did its part to support the Union by purchasing the first issue of U.S. Government Bonds. After the war, the Bank’s board authorized “up to $1,200” to be used to secure the growing bank’s first building at 32 Main Street. In 1925, the Bank purchased the contiguous parcel and hired Hartford architect, W. F. Brooks to design a new facility which was expanded and added to significantly at various points in the ensuing decades.
During the Great Depression, hundreds of banks across the country failed, including 27 in CT. However, none of the failures involved a mutual savings bank, and at the end of 1931, Farmington Savings Bank had 8,539 depositors totaling $12,219,233 and posted a surplus of more than $1.3 million.
In 1949, changes to CT laws opened the door for a mutual savings bank or branch to be opened in every community across the state. In 1954, Farmington Savings Bank opened its first branch at the long-vacant, former Unionville Bank and Trust Company on School Street.
In 1970, Farmington Savings Bank was one of the first community banks to venture into computerization. In 1978 the Bank opened its fourth branch office within West Farms Mall and in 1979 it crosses the $100 million mark in total assets.
In 1981, new laws passed allowed mutual savings bank to establish business checking and loan accounts, and the Bank expanded into those areas. Despite the economic roller coaster of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, which saw the failure of over a thousand banks across the country, Farmington Savings remained strong and healthy with assets totaling $272 million in 1989. Also in that year, the Bank opened its first Avon office on Country Club Road.
The ’90s saw the Bank investing in both itself and the surrounding community. Working with local government leaders, the Bank arranged for the town to purchase land directly from a landowner – the site of the community’s first affordable housing units. Between ’93-’98, new branches were opened in Burlington, Avon and Bristol. In 1998, the Bank created the FSB Foundation, Inc. to provide a means to contribute directly to the betterment of the region through contributions, grants, and scholarships. By the end of 2000, the Bank had 132 employees and handled assets in excess of $556 million.
In June 2011, Farmington Bank went public and began trading on NASDAQ under the symbol FBNK. By 2014, First Connecticut Bankcorp, Inc., the holding company for Farmington Bank, had over $2.5 billion in assets and a network of over 20 branches across central Connecticut. In September 2014, the Bank announced plans to enter western Massachusetts with the establishment of a commercial lending office and two branches in West Springfield and East Longmeadow.
In July 2018, People’s United Bank, based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, announced that it had agreed to buy Farmington Bank in an all-stock deal for $544 million. In the acquisition, the FSB Foundation was incorporated as an independent, private foundation now known as the Farmington Bank Community Foundation. The Foundation continues the legacy of the Farmington Savings Bank by supporting improved economic viability and well-being of residents and communities in the original market area of the Bank. Since incorporation as a private foundation in 2018, it has distributed nearly $4.5 million in grants.