Icate the use of the name "Montreal Bank" and it was not until 1826 that the modern designation came into continuous use. The history* of the Bank from that time onward was a part of the history of Canada in its financial, commercial and general life and the names of the successive greater officials of the Bank eloquently prove this fact:† The Assets of the Bank grew slowly until they totalled $6,444,928 in 1850; $12,413,922 in 1860; $29,605,627 in 1870; $44,661,681 in 1880; $46,166,448 in 1890; $78,852,197 in 1900; $234,438,318 in 1910; $386,806,887 in 1917. The Bank had grown with the country and its work was undoubtedly a national one in the best sense of that much-abused word. From Confederation onwards the progress of the institution was especially marked and the following table in this respect speaks for itself: The celebration of the Centenary was very quietly carried out though the comments of the press of Canada spoke sincerely as to the place held by the institution in public thought. A beautifully *See History of the Bank of Montreal, written by J. Castell Hopkins for The Canadian Annual Review Supplement of 1910. †Titles are specified as afterwards received in order to make the table clearer. published booklet was issued dealing with the historical position of the Bank and referring, incidentally, to the picturesque location of its Head Office in the heart of Montreal on a spot glorified by some of the most romantic events in the foundation of the city and where, by its very situation, the building called attention to the place of the institution in the making of Canada. Its fine Corinthian façade, darkened by smoke and stained by the weather, still faces Place d'Armes, in the centre of which rises Hébert's heroic figure of Maisonneuve, founder of Montreal. Opposite, on the southern side of the Square, is Notre Dame, greatest in capacity of the churches of the Dominion and one of the oldest in its foundation. Here, in this parish church, Dollard and his companions paid their vows before going to meet death at the Longue Sault. Adjoining the Church is the ancient and picturesque wall which shelters the headquarters of the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Within the limits of the Square, Maisonneuve is said to have fought his most terrible battle with the Iroquois, and to have killed the chief with his own hands. Tablets on the commercial buildings around commemorate the deeds of the pioneers, and state, for instance, that here lived La Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit, and there Daniel de Grésolon, Sieur Dulhut, who explored the Upper Mississippi and gave his name to the City of Duluth. In the wall of this Bank building the following Tablet was placed in honour of an historic |