Our History
Explore the history and traditions that make Bank of Millbrook central to our shared community.
Committed to providing you the best bank we can for the 21st Century.
We understand that, and it’s why we’ve worked hard since 1891 to make the Bank of Millbrook a sound, stable institution you can trust, one that Bauer Financial, Inc. has awarded their Superior Five Star rating.
Our History
Twenty years after its first business was founded, the Village of Millbrook needed a bank. The State of New York granted the Bank of Millbrook its charter on May 11, 1891, and seven days later we received our first customers on Franklin Avenue.
Our first Board of Directors consisted of 15 prominent businessmen and residents of the community. In 1932, George Whalen, Sr., a local businessman who had started his own insurance and real estate agency was elected to the board. By 1938, he was named the Bank’s sixth president.
The Bank navigated both the Great Depression and World War II without so much as a mention of potential disaster in the board minutes. This history of financial soundness is one we’re proud to have extended to this day. During the second World War, the Bank of Millbrook was the central depository for the town and village Ration Funds. We also aided the war financing effort by selling War Bonds and purchasing short-term U.S. Government obligations as recommended by the Federal Reserve Bank.
In 1959, George T. Whalen Jr. joined his father at the Bank. Fourteen years later, George Sr. became the Chairman of the Board, and George Jr., the Bank’s President. In 1986, after training in a bank in Manchester, NH, George III joined his father at the bank. George T. Whalen III was named President of the bank in 1998, succeeding his father and his grandfather in this position. George T. Whalen IV joined us in 2018 and serves as Senior Vice President.
In 2003, the Bank of Millbrook opened its second location in the Freshtown Plaza on Route 22 in Amenia. This new office allowed the Bank to service its existing customer base, as well as to bring Community Banking back to the Harlem Valley.
On October 1, 2010, the Bank of Millbrook acquired Stissing National Bank. This transaction combined people, products, and services. It benefited both institutions and gave us the strength to ensure that we will remain customer and community focused well into the future.
In 2022, the Bank of Millbrook purchased the historic First National Bank of Amenia building located at the center of town in Fountain Square and moved their Amenia branch to its new home in November 2022.
George III ensures that the Bank of Millbrook is a thoroughly modern 21st Century bank, while maintaining its ties to a long history of customer service built on the strength that good relationships bring to any business.
