Canton Co-Operative Bank, 2011 (Canton Public Library)

Canton Co-Operative Bank¹

In 1890 several Canton Residents, including: E.B. Thorndike, Joseph Wattles, Jr., and James Grimes met and decided to form a lending institution that opened on February 12, 1891 in the Town Hall (at a rental rate of $1 a month) with Thorndike as president and Wattles as Treasurer and who would become the bank president in 1900, while James Grimes became treasurer. The bank moved to the Grimes Bros. Shoe Shop in 1901 and then to a building on the corner of  Washington and Rockland Streets in 1932 at which point Grimes gave up his shoe business to focus on his responsibilities at the bank. In 1941 the bank’s assets reached $1,088,000. In 1950 the bank opened a new office, built especially for its needs, on the corner of Neponset and Washington Streets. The bank, in need of expansion, moved to its current location in 1979 in a building constructed by the JP Donahue Co. at a cost of $250,000.

Resources¹ 

Canton Comes of Age, 1797-1997 by Canton’s Bicentennial Committee, 76-78.

Canton Co-Operative Bank, "About Us," http://www.cantoncoopbank.com/about-us.aspx. 

Historic Homes of Canton, vol. I: Canton Corner by Patricia Johnson, 269-275.