During the REBELLIONS OF 1837, the bank annoyed local commercial interests and, partly as a result, the Commercial Bank of the Midland District expanded more rapidly in the 1840s. During the 1850s, the bank held the government account, provided significant short-term capital for railway development and, in the boom years, recklessly speculated in land and railways. The bank never recovered from the 1857 economic collapse, losing the government account in 1864 and entering trusteeship in November 1866. Despite its great contribution to the development of Canadian commerce, it became a casualty of the very process it had helped facilitate: the transition from MERCANTILISM to an industrial economy.
Author PETER A. BASKERVILLE