After Being Sold, Bank of Smithtown Awaits Name Change

Smithtown's first bank, built before roads were paved and when horse-and-buggy carriages still outnumbered cars, will soon shed the name it shares with the town.

The Bank of Smithtown, launched in 1910 as a one-man shop on East Main Street, will change to People's United Bank soon after a buyout deal closes in the fourth quarter, according to the Bridgeport, Conn.-based institution's spokesman Brent DiGiorgio.

People's purchased the local bank for $60 million last month. Bank of Smithtown had been bogged down by bad loans, leading to hefty multi-million dollar losses throughout the last three quarters.

The name change comes just shortly after Bank of Smithtown's centennial anniversary, celebrated at the end of July, which marked 100 years since a group of 18 local residents, ranging from housewives to blacksmiths and grain dealers to carriage makers, formed The National Bank of Smithtown Branch with just $25,000 in capital.

The bank wouldn't boast its more familiar name until it became state-charted on May 7, 1923.

The local branch has been a landmark on Main Street since 1925, when the bank abandoned its first 20 ft. by 30 ft. location.  The original location was constructed on land worth just $350 and was adjacent to the first president, John S. Hunting's, general store at the east end of the unpaved road.

Bank of Smithtown paid a $40,000 rental fee to the Smithtown Branch Realty Company for the new location, on the corner of Main Street and then Oak Avenue. It had almost $1 million in assets when it moved to its current office and had grown from just one to 52 employees.

The Smithtown headquarters would be the bank's only branch until Dec. 7, 1957, when expansion led to a Commack location. The bank had already built wings on either side of the main branch to handle an influx of business, and added a second story soon after the second branch's launch.

By 1970, Bank of Smithtown had five locations in Suffolk County.

Rapid expansion didn't come until the local bank's last president, Brad Rock, took the reigns from war hero Irving Schechtner.

In 1985, five years before Rock took over, Bank of Smithtown had just six branches.

By 2008, the bank boasted 15 and with a recent branch expansion push, fueled by loan and deposit gains from the fallout of big banks, the branch count doubled to 30.

Under Rock's tenure in December 2004, the bank's executive staff left its long-time Smithtown home for new headquarters on Motor Parkway in Hauppauge, though the original location remained the institution's main branch.

Although the Smithtown location will soon lose its community name, People's chief executive, Jack Barnes, said in a statement employees that serve local residents will remain.

"Our new customers can count on seeing the same familiar faces at their branches, as our objective is to maintain the excellent rapport our new colleagues have with their customers," Barnes said.